Hello Everyone
Just thought I'd tell you that today I'd have a sweep of the patio (must 've been feeling energetic or bored) and I thought I'd have a check of our patio furniture and sure enough nestling in a hole on the underside just where you would grab the chair to pull it forward was a red-back.
I dealt with it calmly but unfortunately it was a choice between me and him and as we can both kill I went for him first! Don't like killing spiders but then I don't want my boys picking them up either.!
Oh and about 10 minutes later I was sitting down with a cup of tea (don't tell Daz) and i felt something on my wrist and there was another spider crawling up my arm I didn't really know what to do so as it looked harmless enough I blew it away and then spent the next 10 minutes on my hands and knees trying to find out where it went. Never did find it! Never mind
Never thought when I was in england that I would deal with poisonous spiders so well but now if a snake comes near me I really would **** myself methinks!!!!
All the Best
Rach :bouncing smiles:

Apparently if it's big enough to be identifiable as a redback it's a 'her' not a 'him' Rachel! The males are only a few millimetres long and have to be very careful about approaching their great, big, hungry, poisonous mates :(

Well done for dealing calmly with 'her' though :D

Elaine

Hi Rach,
Yes as I think I've said before redbacks love metal so if your outdoor setting is metal I would surface spray underneath just for peace of mind. I know we had a spider on the wall in the lounge and I was just going to leave it there until my friend came round and said it was a white tip! I soon took of my sandal and bashed it one!

Our washing line a rotary one is a haven for webs too and they don't last long, also my hubby had left some pegs on it and a web and a baby spider was inside one of the pegs so I told him not to leave any more out.

Juls

Juls you just made me shudder a bit.... when we arrived here there were old pegs all over the line and I just picked them all off with bare hands without even thinking about it, several dozen of them!

Elaine

Our garden funiture is green plastic!! May just surface spray them to be on safe side!! So the redback female keeps her mate in his place does she! Should we be taking lessons!!
Rach :D

What is this surface spray everyone keeps talking about? Is it specifically for spiders? Can you buy this in any supermarket? Is it just called surface spray?

Sorry for all the questions folks, but I want to make sure that I am armed and dangerous when faced with these blighters! :D

Am I also right in saying the redback is part of the black widow family?

Theresa :what?: :doh:

Rach...you are now a fully paid up member of the Creepie Crawlie Clobbering Club...WELCOME ABOARD..thats you me and Juls so far!!!

:cool shake: :cool shake: :bouncy: :bouncy:

Hi, I'm also wondering about the surface spray. Is it just for using on furniture or can I cover myself in it! :lol:
I really should avoid reading these threads, cos I am absolutely petrified of spiders. I'm bad enough when I see one over her, let alone in Oz. For example, I won't even attempt to go in our garden shed and I hate garages. I'm itching just sitting here, writing this. :doh:
But ... I may have found some hope. I'm going to do a course at London Zoo sometime this year, which apparently hynotizes you to take the fear away. After the course, I can't see me ever being buddies with them, but I just want to try and get rid of the panic I feel when I see or feel one.
Also, I'm afraid I'm one of those who kills them :( (my thinking is, if I kill it, it's one less to come in my house, which I do know that's a really bad way of thinking) so I'm hoping this course will at least give me the courage to put them out of the house in a nice way!

I was in Sydney last year and one tour guide kept on saying to us that the huntsman is the friendly guy, so DON'T kill him, cos he gets rid of the redbacks. Whether I will be thinking this logically, the first time I see a huntsman, I really don't know. I will probably have a heart attack, on the spot, but hey, here's hoping the course will work.

Natasha :cool shake:

I spoke to someone yesterday who was terrified of spiders before she came out and is now very calm with them. I suppose you just have to face it here and sometimes that makes it better than being able to avoid it. Does that make sense??
:mr man:

I know what you're trying to say.

At least there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, although I still wouldn't go in the tunnel, just yet ;)

Natasha

I've got a can of Mortein spray, available in all the supermarkets. I don't actually have too much of a thing about spiders but we were getting ants and roaches in the house so I went around all the skirtings with it - it's supposed to work for up to 6 months and so far so good. It kills on contact.

Mind you I have still had the odd roach in the house.... the other morning I got a bread roll out of the bread bin to make the kids' lunch, opened it up and found a roach nestled inside. Had to ditch everything in the bread bin and it still makes my skin crawl to think about it. I resprayed all the kitchen skirtings again!

Elaine

This may sound like a silly question but what are the ants like? My sister in cyprus has ants the size of small dogs running around and just so that I am prepared. I can cope with the big wolf spiders running around our house but I hate ants - I have been caught up several times by the flying ant departure from their nests and it totally freaks me out, plus the summer is always a nightmare as by my washing line there are always loads of nests and I always end up covered by ants whilst putting out the washing - not my favourite past time I can tell you! :o I'm often caught doing a jig around the garden freaking out!

Do you get loads of roaches in the house? How do you prevent all these little creatures getting into your house all the time?

Sasha :)

Sorry to say the ants here are not that nice. There are big ones but you just avoid them its the small blighters that give you a nip, not dangerous but hurts a very little bit, many a time I've done the washing line jig. Seem to be worse in the very hot weather for some reason?? Have just bought myself a tumble dryer in readiness for the winter :D but have found myself using it even now as it is one less hassle pegging out the washing with those little blighters going for your ankles. :bouncy:

So leg protectors are another thing on my list then!! :lol:

Sasha :)

Head out into the hills and countryside a bit and you get 'inch ants' which are supposed to give one hell of a nip, but here in Marion I've only seen very ordinary looking little tiny ones. They are still all over the place though and until I sprayed that included a marching column from one side of the house right across the living room floor to where the kids had dropped crumbs from the table.

Elaine

It is quite funny how they go in exactly a straight line from a to b. Even surface spraying outdoors doesn't kill them. Have tried many a means to get rid of the nests outdoors but they are resilient little blighters. At least you can stop them coming indoors. :D

See, I told you I shouldn't read these threads.

I didn't even think about the ants and the cockroaches. :( I hate them both aswell. Well actually I hate anything creepy crawlie. Rats and mice I can handle, anything else, noooooo waaaaaaaaay!!!!!

Now I'm scared and itchy all over again. :

Natasha

LOL you make me laugh Natasha :lol:

I can handle most things so long as they leave me alone but it's just the ant thing I hate. I can see myself spraying myself and not washing for 6 months in the hope they won't be attracted to me! :o

Sasha :)

Hey, if it works, I'm with you. :lol:

Also, I've gotta tell you this. As I am on the computer, my son is watching childrens TV and they have just advertised a programme called "The Yuk Show" which is about to tell you why cockroaches can live for a week WITHOUT their heads. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!! Can it get any worse! :

PS. If anyone out there knows it can, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!!! :angry: :lol:

Natasha

I was always told that they give birth when they get squashed but this might be just hearsay! :o I'll let you know when I get my creepie crawlie book that I've ordered from Amazon!

Sorry Natasha but I just couldn't resist sharing that one with you :lol:

Sasha :)

I've been bitten by an inch ant before - or could have been a bull ant. It wasn't a pleasant experience - my ankle puffed up enormously and it was painful for days. People have been known to die from inch ant bites.

Now what about those HUGE ginger colored killer centipedes? I remember when we first built our house my hubby got up one morning and put his slippers on, only to find there was an 8 inch long mega centipede in one. We found out later that their bite can kill too!!! Horrible things :blink:

On the subject of giving birth when they are killed. That happens to these really disgusting hairy flies here like bluebottles!! That has happened twice to us. You spray them with fly spray and then they give birth to these wriggling maggots and they try to eat the maggots. Now that is a disgusting sight to see!!!
Sorry to be gross but it's the truth!!!! :blink:
Rach :sigh:

I have to say that I feel very itchy at the moment from all these tales! :o

I haven't heard about the centipede before........ I would be a bit scared to find a 8 inch ginger hairy thing in my slippers! :blink: Do you see alot of them? and where do they tend to hide - apart from slippers!

Sasha :)

I feel a bit left out, ive not seen much while i've been here and what i have seen has been mostly deceased

1) large dead huntsman in a house

2) very large dead moth near a house

while walking near lake alexandrina i would frequently be startled by somthing large flying off and loudly clicking at me, but it was so well camoflaged against the grass that i couldn't see it properly and when i aproached it just flew off clicking, i could tell it was big though by it shadow!

there are some big mean looking ants here too, they hang out in gangs near cavities in the ground.

NATASHA DONT READ THIS
Hi Sean
Funnily enough I remember Daz saying about something clicking at him and then launching itself into the air. This was one of his tales about work, he said if it was a cricket, it would have been a bloody large one!! Oh and he has to deal with loads of redbacks at work being a mechanic!!
Rach :D

On a lighter note, Daz has been working down at west beach so took Jack down there this morning to have a look at the big diggers there. It was really nice Jack adores the sand and can think of nothing better than rolling around and around in it, needless to say there is sand in every crevice, I got buried a couple of times up to my knees as he thinks this is hilarious. A very nice warm autumn day :D

Natasha

Just so you don't panic totally my middle man over here who is an Aussie has been bitten by a red back - needless to say he is still alive and kicking! He says that there is always a big deal made of them but in reality they try stay out of your way if you go near to them.

Sasha :)

Thanks for that. But ..... it's like watching a horror movie through a pillow .. your'e scared to watch, but you can't quite help yourself! :o

Also, my husband keeps telling me that'll I'll be fine and seeing as though I don't go near spiders here, I shouldn't have a problem over their, cos I'll just avoid them at all costs. And they can't be that bad to handle etc. etc. (Easy for him to say!!) But ..... he is a mechanic aswell ... so we'll just have to wait and see how good he deals with them, hey :lol: ;)

Natasha

Sean
If you still feel left out by the time I come over .. don't worry, I'll send anything I find, over to your house. :lol:
Natasha

I have just scared myself stupid by looking at a link from the yahoo website about dangerous creatures in Australia. There I was thinking it was the redback that would scare me until I saw the mouse spider - has anyone seen one?

The link is:-

http://www.avru.unimelb.edu.au/avruweb/creatable.html

It is a good site for information but it scared the s**t out of me :o I have to say not so much as to what they can do it was more what they looked like! - Can I also add Jumping spiders (many species) - uwwwww I'm seriously itching now!

Sasha :)

I just had to add this comment which I came across:-

"If bitten by a spider always try to capture and preserve the culprit in spirit for identification purposes, even if it has been squashed"

Too flipping right it would be squashed! ;)

I do feel a bit better now as my hubbie pointed out after a manic phone call that Australia is a very big place so now I'm so glad I'm not moving to Queensland or Sydney. Seriously though do you really get a snail that bites?? Are cone snails common throughout Australia? :o

I'm more worried about the kids and teaching them what they can and can't touch and we often go out shell hunting on beaches around here, plus kids being kids love slugs and snails and anything revolting.

Sasha :)

Sasha
Just HAD to have a look. All I can say is OOOOOOHHH MMMMMMYYY GOOOOOD!!! cry baby

Did you look at the cupboard spider. :o I have already said to my husband that I am going to have a spider friendly house, i.e. not a lot of clutter so they haven't got many places to hide, high legged furniture so that if one runs underneath I can easily get it, light colours on the walls and floors, so again, I can see them easily. And now because of the above ....... I have decided ..... NO CUPBOARDS!!!

Not that the above will stop them coming in, but at least when they do, I can see them and take the appropriate action! :ph43r:
Natasha :D

What made me think was when I see a very large spider over here I call it a wolf spider but then I saw a wolf spider on there and ours is just a meer babe of a spider in comparison. I do have to say that I rang my Aussie man over here and told him that he didn't tell me about the amount of spiders that are actually out there and said about the mouse spider - he replied he had never seen one, so I'm kinda hoping I never will except in a photo or stuck on a pin in a museum (sorry Andy as I know you love them!)

Sasha :)

My friend Harvey saw a big mouse spider in Belair park last year. I've never seen one yet :(
We have quite large trapdoor spiders in our garden.....you can only see them if you get a torch and peer down their holes.
It always makes me smile about the amount of consternation that goes on about spiders. It really should be the least of your worries!
If you're seriously phobic, you need to either get treatment, or reconsider your move, because you don't want to move out here, then spend your day wrapped in a mosquito net.
If anyone wants to have a go at conquering their fear, give me a shout, and I'll bring a couple of my "big girls" round, and introduce you slowly.
:D

Andy

:lol: :lol: thanks for the offer Natasha, it was very ..erm thoughtful
can't wait to see my wife face when she rips open a parcel of hunstman.
I dont feel quite so left out anymore, as i woke to find a spider in bed with me this morning!

on a slight tangent .. every-one i've spoke to here has hardly ever seen a snake.
dangerous or otherwise, i saw loads in England.

I seriously think I need teatment but not for spiders : :loopy: lol:

Seriously I could handle shining a torch at spiders in the garden, I could even handle seeing spiders on the other side of my patio doors. It was just the fact that I didn't realise how many different types are actually out there and even though alot of them wouldn't really bother you it's the fact they all seem so big.

I'm just glad I found that website as now I feel a bit more prepared as if I had seen a mouse spider I wouldn't have a clue what it was I would have seriously thought that the red backs can grow into big mamas! :o

With ants it's a different story but then we do get nasty ants in our garden and I can live with that so it won't change my mind about moving although..... do mosquito net protect you from ants ????? :lol:

Sasha :)

To all of you that are scared of the creepy crawlies. I have the perfect solution, it is GUARANTEED to remove any creepy crawlies from within the house and probably from the garden and next doors garden and house come to think of it.

But this solution i'm afraid is not very cheap, you will only need to use it twice a year, one years dose will be enough though for probably 5 years. Thats why it costs about $150 each time.

The solution is not very pretty to look at, but the crawlies see that and are scared off normally first time.

The solution is called "MY MOTHER IN LAW WITH NO TEETH IN" !!!!!!!!!!

Steve and Lynsie :bouncing smiles: :bouncing smiles: :bouncing smiles:

You are terrible :lol: I bet you nick her teeth just for the fun of it! :devil:

Sasha :)

hi ya all
i hate spiders they make my teeth itch.
if you like them so much andy how do you deal with the redbacks and huntsman.
Don't know what i will do yet, they look too big to squash and will probably leave a nasty mess on the wall.
i heared thet spiders were lucky (SPLAT) that one wasnt. ;)

Huntsmen I generally leave alone, they're a bit too impressive looking for squishing, (besides, they'll catch lots of little nasties about the place)
Redbacks too i generally leave alone, unless they're in a spot where they might come into contact with someone....then I squish em.
I do quite like the look of redbacks....beautiful shiny berry-like bodies, with that vivid red on their back.

Andy :rolleyes:

Have you ever been bitten ?
whats the worst that can happen if you get bit.maybe i shouldnt have asked that with all us whimps going out there.
oh by the way any chance of a Adelaide clock next to the uk clock :rolleyes: