Believe me, I didn't want to paint myself as a super migrant. When I did something new - and didn't die in the process, I wished to share. I did not expect anyone to celebrate each of my micro victories. Similarly, I expected no sympathy when I screwed things up, such as getting myself injured or into trouble by plain stupidity.
Eugene warned me long ago when I was his tenant. As a man living in Australia, you have to protect your family from wild creatures. I raised my eyebrows, questioning without words. He went on to prepare me mentally. I feel that I have the responsibility to warn Singaporeans who wishes to migrate to paradise. That is, if your idea of paradise consisted of insects, arachnoids and reptiles that you don't have to deal with in Singapore.
I'm not pulling your leg. Just last weekend, a 13 year old teenager had a Dingo pulling her along in her sleeping bag during camping. [link]. In the same week, a shark took the 5th life in 10 months. [link]
Shark and Dingo, they look friendly but not really. So beware
Australia is almost a huge mass of desert. Perth was probably once a desert, judging by the landscape and the amount of sand you see everywhere. I mean, everywhere. In a desert you meet creatures. We are in fact the intruders in the creatures' land if you think about it. So don't think too much about it when you cross path with any. Unless you have a taste for unconventional pets, it's WAR.
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| When you see them... |
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| ....you smack them.... |
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| ....and smack... and smack... |
Eugene and Kok Wah warned me about Red Backs spiders here. Those are the meanies. Those were dangerous enough to kill a child and sicken a full grown adult. I've yet to see one and long may that last. Sometime last week though, 3 buddies decided to intrude into our house. They weren't Red Backs and to be honest, I didn't wish to know what they exactly were. The mystery was that, as big as they were, they managed to find a way through the insect guard but was trapped instead by a closed glass sliding door.
When Jen discovered them, a yelp and some panic gestures followed and I knew I had a job. I didn't expect my 3 opponents. Rather large ones too. Their appearances and movements were enough to sent shivers down the spine, adding to the effect of the freezing Winter morning.
With the same chemical can that I used to kill the small scorpion sometime back and my trusty roll of newspaper, I took them on. The insecticide were as useless as the last fight with scorpion. Apart from bathing them in white foam and temporarily immoblising them, the final decider was still the newspaper roll. The limitations of hantuming one of these with a good newspaper roll was a need to have a flat even surface to allow me to give them a good swat each. I flicked them out one by one and sent them packing. A few more kiasu wacks just to make sure. Even their shriveled dead state made me uncomfortable. I converted the newspaper roll into hockey sticks and scored a few goals towards a imaginary faraway goal post.
Victory!
You gained 3 experience points.
The spider in your picture looks like a huntsman spider. Not considered dangerous and eats the dangerous spiders like redback spiders. We normally catch these in a jar and release it into the garden. Apart from the huntsman spider, daddy-long-leg spiders are your friends because they too eat the baddies.
ReplyDeleteWe first encountered redback spiders in our first year in Oz and were very alarmed. Now, we see them all the time while doing gardening. Although they are dangerous, they have short fangs that do not penetrate garden gloves. So it's better to be gloved and booted when in the garden. The spider to fear is the funnel web spider, but you do not need to worry about them because they are not found in Western Australia. We found and caught a funnel web spider in our backyard. It was a very scary experience. We didn't kill it because funnel web spiders are needed for the production of anti-venom by the Australian Reptile Park in NSW. We brought the spider into our local hospital which has a unit that sends venomous spiders to the Park.
Our neighbor has a red bellied black snake living in the retaining wall next to her swimming pool. It doesn't bother her. I think it sometimes comes over to our frog pond to eat the frogs. Red bellied blacks are dangerous but because they eat the young of brown snakes, we are quite happy to have the red bellied black in the vicinity. There's nothing worse than a brown snake. Not the most venomous of snakes, but still very venomous and extremely aggressive. Brown snakes will chase you and they move very fast. We've never encountered one, but with spring around the corner, we have to be careful because that's when they come out of hibernation and are hungry and angry.
Stay safe.
Ok.. now you've officially scared me. Your neighbor keeps a snake in her backyard?
DeleteYes, I saw a red-back the other day, it was hiding in the garden furniture. When we were cleaning, it suddenly sprang out. Of course, a spider is a spider is a spider. Got crushed like a cockroach.
Next time, I'll yell out a warning before crushing: "Identify: are you a huntsmen or a red-back?"
Despite my younger brother having stayed in Australia for years, he seems indifferent to the many beautiful and deadly creatures, first in Tasmania, now in Queensland.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he's never had any encounter that turned out a big deal.
I hope he does not have to actually have an unpleasant biggie, to begin truly respecting the native wildlife.
Check those shoes which have been left lying outside before you out them on. Those are great hiding places for redbacks
ReplyDeleteyep, their kind usually suay suay kena "friendly fire" from still blur king "recruit immigrant"...hope you will sooner get use to them,just pick them up with a bottle or poon tau & chuck them outside or the further edges of your garden.
ReplyDeleteRed backs appear in spring and lay their eggs, as do many snakes who come out to bask in the sun. Avoid long grass if you don't want to meet a snake. If you keep birds, snakes will come for the mice who eat the birdseed. Always something to look out for!
ReplyDelete