is australia that dangerous, spiders and snakes ect?

Question

do you get scared before going to bed thinking there may be a funnelweb spider in your bed? or one in your toilet?

Answer 1

Hi,
That was a really good answer from the poster above "tentofield"

Where I live I'm aways having to get Huntman Spiders out of the house. They are very large, non venomous last running spiders. There sheer size can scare the life out of you.

If you are up for a laugh and mind reading a bit more, I wrote down 2 of my spider story's that I emailed to my friends.

Hi Guys,
You know how I am always having spiders around me, well I thought I would share some of my latest Scary Hairy Spider stories with you.

SPIDER STORY 1
The first one is as follows… this one took place during the school holidays and David (husband) was still away on business. It was a cold and dark night outside “isn’t it always cold and dark out side when you have a spider inside” and there appeared on the wall above the window “well you guest it” Mrs. Huntsman.

NO HELP FROM JONATHON
Our Yellow leather lounge is pushed up to the window and to the left is a wall with two large glass sliding doors which open onto our timber deck. I don’t like to hurt spiders if I don’t have too, so I needed Jonathon’s (15yrs) help to get the spider out of the house. Well Jonathon was about as useful as airbags on a motor bike. He would’t go near it. He’s was just a big six foot tall chicken.

THE PLAN
What I did was taped a clear plastic cup to the end of my broom so I wasn’t close to Mrs., Huntsman then I put the cup over her, I called Jonathon again for help, if you can imagine there has been an awful lot of screaming going on from Taylor (Male 9yrs) Tiffany (8yrs) and myself and now from Jonathon. As I am holding the spider on the wall I ask Jonathon to take over and hold the broom. I slipped a book between the cup and the wall. Then we threw the broom, book and spider out onto the deck while we were still screaming at the top of our lungs

BOOMERANG
Next second she gets up on all eight legs and runs at 200 miles per hour to get back inside the house again, as fast as I could I closed the fly screen doors, now looking very carefully though the screen doors I could’t see her. So about 5 Min's later I opened the fly screen doors and closed the two glass sliding doors and locked them.


ALL IS NOT CALM
All was calm for only about 2 Min's. When Tiffany starts screaming her head of again and climes on top of the dinning table, some how the Huntsman got back inside and is running towards me, I start to scream and run. The spider turns and runs up onto my kitchen bench top were she stops and looks at us. She is not happy!!!


SUCKED IN
As a last resort there was only one thing I could do. Because she stood between me and the fly spray in the kitchen I got Jonathon to get the vacuum cleaner, while I kept one eye on the spider. I took the head piece of the end of the cleaner and Jonathon sucked her in, as she was been sucked down the pipe Jonathon could feel the thud on his hands as she went past. It shocked the life out of him so he dropped the vacuum cleaner hose jumped back and lands standing over the top of vacuum cleaner where the exhaust blows out the top of the cleaner. Jonathon is now screaming louder as the though the spider was going to blow out the top of the cleaner and up his shorts. He jumps about 4 foot high and does what kinder looks like cart wheels across the lounge room.
The End

SPIDER STORY 2

A couple of mornings ago there was another Huntsman above the kitchen window so I asked David (Husband) to get rid of it, all he did was open the kitchen window take out the fly screen and told me it will walk out all by itself, then he went on another business trip overseas. Well it was still there at diner time and there was no way I was going to cook with that thing above my head.

TRYING OLD TRICKS
So I tried the old trick of taping a clear plastic cup to the end of the broom but that did’t work, it just looked at me with a big hairy angry frown. There was only one thing I could think of to get it out of the house and that was to suck to out with the vacuum cleaner.

THE SUCKER
I got the vacuum cleaner and pulled the long metal pipe part out of the flexible grey hose and put a piece of sheer fabric in between and pushed the hose and metal pipe back together so when I sucked it in, it wouldn’t go into the vacuum cleaner but stop half way down the pipe. I sucked it in then as fast as I could I pulled the grey flexible hose out of the sucking part of the vacuum then into the blowing part and blew that sucker out the window.

Good thing know one was walking past, they could have been very shocked by that spider if it landed on them “or should I say be shot by that spider.”
The End

This sight shows you what they look like.
http://www.amonline.net.au/factSheets/huntsman_spiders.htm

PS: I live on the Northen Beaches in Sydney and I have heaps of spiders in my yard. Because we have lots of vegetation growing in the area. Answer to your question. No I don't get scared about spiders when I go to the toilet or bed and Funnel web Spiders are more common in Sydney.

http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/dangerous/funnelweb/index.htm

Answer 2

no, you will never find a funnelweb in your bed. There may be spiders in the toilet if you still have an outdoor dunny, but if you sit down without checking then it's your own fault if you get bitten. thats the basic rule, australia isnt any more or less dangerous than any other place, just dont go doing stupid things like putting your hands under rocks or wading through thigh-high grass. most snakes and spiders will flee if you approach and will only attack you if they think you are a threat. if you see one just walk away slowly in the opposite direction.

Answer 3

While Australia has the most venomous snakes in the world, it doesn't have the most dangerous. Our snakes are shy creatures that will get out of your way if they hear you coming. Most people bitten by snakes are trying to kill them. There is a krait in India and Sri Lanka that is responsible for 50 deaths per million of the population every year. It is not as venomous as the Australian snakes but it is venomous enough. In comparison, all Australian snakes are responsible for 0.13 deaths per million every year.

I lived in Sydney for twenty years and never saw a funnelweb. Most people don't. The dangerous ones are the males which go wandering around looking for females. The females stay in their holes and are not dangerous unless you pick one up. A few people get bitten every year but there is an antivenom now.

Again let's put things in perspective. Nearly five million people live in Sydney and it has always been Australia's largest city. It has one of the world's deadliest spiders and yet only 13 people have died from funnelweb bites in the last 100 years and they were all before the antivenom was available.

Don't worry about our wildlife. Treat it with respect and you will have no problems.

Answer 4

Hi there! I live in Outback Australia and thought you should know, we're towards the end of our summer and have seen a TONNE of snakes. They range in sizes, 1 foot to 3 metres (had to kill the 3metre one with a shot gun, it was in our backyard). The snakes slither away when they hear you coming, unless they get 'startled' by you they will bite in self defence or if they are sleeping in between logs and you step in that spot or put your hand in (for whatever reason), they'll bite ya.
Throughout the summer, there have been ONLY THREE snake bite deaths here in Oz (which isn't really that many).

Spiders - never in my bed. See alot of redbacks and funnelwebs in the sheds etc. (never in the toilet).

Answer 5

You are more likely to get run over crossing the road if you forget that Australians drive on the left. I don't know anyone who has ever been bitten by a spider or a snake. Dogs, yes.

Answer 6

Hi i have lived in the bush all my life and spiders dont worry me its the snakes that put the fear into every day life out here! We see aproximatly 3-4 a week in our house yard, they come looking for water, so we try to not have any lying around for them. We have little kids and letting them outside is a constant worry! Once, when i first moved on to the farm, when my son was 2 he was playing on the back patio , and calm as day he sung out..."mum there is a snake out here...." yeah yeah i thought.... then i thought twice and looked out the window and there he was calmly playing trucks next to a 6ft brown snake! They like our back patio, and will crawl into anything, to stay cool so we never reach anywhere with out poking around with a stick first! One other time i had hubby chasing one that was in my laundry, " its out here under the step now i called out to him" "no its not i just hit him on the bloody head says hubby!" "well theres another one here i shouted!" They love getting into the laundry, because it is cool in there with a cement floor, and there is a shower and a toilet there too, and yes i have had one in the bloody toilet! Needless to say we look before we sit!! I have lost a good dog to the mongrels too! Hubby got scratched by one when he was trying to get one out from under the dog kennel one day, he was sooo lucky, because town is quite a distance away! Naturally we keep snake sticks and the rifle near the back door! Bugger all these dogooders who turned them into a protected species! What they dont know wont hurt em!! My brother has been bitten twice, once when he was in bed and dident even know...untill he woke up in the emergency room! And they often get into the shops in town! That a funny sight i can tell you! Any way you get the picture.... I hate the buggars!!

Answer 7

Not really......but white tail spiders freak me out, I hate them

My mate had a brown snake (deadly) in his garage the other day......took 2 hours to get the bastard out, and thats in the inner suburbs of Perth

Answer 8

not really! ill just make sure the roms r closed, also the thing i should be scared of are funnelweb spiders in my pool, coz i heard they can live in air bubbles

Answer 9

Depends where you are, in cities not really much to worry about, in the bush you want to take care but most wildlife will try to avoid you

Answer 10

yes we all live in extreme fear, that's why you NEVER see us relaxing back, enjoying a coldie, having a bbq, camping or surfing....we're just way toooooooo scared to leave our houses in fear of all the deadly creatures that lurk outside just waiting to attack aussie's......

Answer 11

And the fear of Rolf Harris lurking near every wall and wanting to tie my kangaroo down, sport.