Out of action for a few days.....

[Northern Lass]

Wow!!

And I thought we had it bad with earwigs!

hmmm not sure I could get used to those critters.

[mikleed]

Rob,......Where is that post I put on about the Ausies wishing us Happy St. Georges Day......did it hit a vital spot on someone???
Mike.

[dianel]

Thanks all for the Australia Day good wishes. I feel a bit uncomfortable about it - Don't like flag-waving much.

Mark's right that you get used to the bities and crawlies. Mind you I don't like those Funnel-web spiders at all, at all! When I stay in Sydney, I inspect the bedclothes very carefully each night before jumping in. Then I lie awake for hours thinking that I can feel something crawling on my leg.

I also would not swim in the sea up North between September and May for anything. Those little Irukandji jellyfish are truly scary ... and small enough to get through stinger nets! ... and as for going in rivers and creeks up there where dozens of crocs are hiding, just waiting for a taste of me - not on your Nellie!

I think we tend to get complacent about the dangers that are close to us, and are scared of those that are not in our everyday experience.
New Zealand sounds a good place to be:
"New Zealand doesn't have any snakes, scorpions, bears, wild cats (of the ferocious variety) or alligators/crocodiles. We do have spiders but only one of them is capable of causing a nasty bite - and it's never fatal."

[Northern Lass]

are possums protected in Oz but not in NZ...they are so cute!

[peterd]

if i remember right australia has 8 out of 10 of the worlds deadlist spider and snakes ?

[MarkCDodd]

In terms of potential to kill we have the worlds deadliest snakes. If you take into account the number of deaths though, the Cobra and other snakes are way ahead of ours in terms of actual mortalities. If you had some of our snakes in such dense populations then they would be a problem.

Mosquito kill far more people than any other animal by far.

Also, the snakes and spider venom is nowhere near as scary as the stonefish, blue ringed octopus (that lttle blighter stopped me enjoying rockpools when I was a kid), jellyfish and some sea snails.

One spider I do not like is the White Tailed. It will quite happily bite you and leave you with a horrible flesh eating enzyme that leaves great holes in your body. My father has a lovely scar on his thigh from one of those.

[apowell]

Hi,

I'm glad you're ok and back because we've missed your help and input on the military section.

Regards
Adrian

[dianel]

are possums protected in Oz but not in NZ...they are so cute!

Unfortunately we exported some of our possums to NZ and they liked it there too much - bred like ...um... rabbits.

So those NZ possums are our possums and they're eating out the habitat of the native NZ animals and birds. So New Zealanders are making them into very warm and attractive beanies and gloves.

And, yes, ours in Oz are protected. If we trap the ones that live in the roof (munching on the wiring), we are not supposed to take them too far away to release them. You can imagine what happens then ... you release one and it skedaddles straight back into the roof again.

But you're right, NL, they are very cute. Especially the little ringtail possums see here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2028/1912272374_14bf37f89e.jpg

[MarkCDodd]

I hate possums. I did the right thing and bought possum homes for them, trapped them and placed them in the trees hoping they would prefer a nice quiet apartment over my roof and walls.

Not a single one of the 8 possum homes have been occupied by anything other than Magpies and a lovely Kookaburra family.

I hate the little blighters but they look so harmless and vulnerable when you have them trapped in a cage you feel pity and wouldn't consider harming them.

My Collie hates them as well. She sits under the power line and tree barking at them as they look down at her with contempt.

She did corner one just before christmas and I could see it was all a show on her behalf becasue she was just happy to herd in a corner and let me catch it rather than try to hurt it.

I couldn't say the same for rabbits that have crossed her path.