Sunday, November 9, 2008

The Wildlife Round Here.

"Will you walk into my parlor?" said the Spider to the Fly; "'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spyMary Howitt
Wild shrieks from the kitchen began the day. Ditz had found Arachnid Harry & was not impressed by his size. Even for us this Huntsman was an impressive size. They eat the big black bush roaches that fly in at night so I'm actually rather fond of them. That's an impressive pair of pincers! I am not popular for pointing out that it was not a snake. Ditz really, really does not like snakes.
We live in the bush. We get wildlife. I can cope with most things. There are exceptions. I do not like parasites: ticks, fleas, leeches are high on my personal list of the screaming heebie~jeebies. Snakes? It's a brave snake that hangs around this house. Spiders? I grew up in funnel web country. My brothers caught blue~ringed octopus for the CSIRO anti~venom program. The monitor lizards around here get to over 8' & move faster than a speeding bullet.
Mind you I did a bit of a flip the year we came home from an extended holiday & found multiple snake skins draped up our inside walls! No it did not help knowing that they were carpet snakes & perfectly harmless. There were lots of them! The kids did the whole musical beds thing when the snakes moved in to their rooms & I know there's still one living in our roof. Every so often he bumps the t.v antenna in passing & we lose reception. Anyone going up to rectify the problem takes care that he's not around before climbing into the ceiling.
I count myself lucky. Our neighbours had a cat with a penchant for catching tiger snakes & bringing them inside. A live tiger snake in the house you do not want. They are both aggressive & poisonous! No, my neighbours don't like snakes.
So how come I have spiders the size of a bread & butter plate? Well, I learnt that if I didn't remove the spiderwebs at my outside windows I would get scores & scores of small birds coming to feed at the windows where I could sit & watch them without frightening them away. That's my story & I'm sticking to it lol. Undisturbed webs, big spiders, & yes, lots & lots of birds.

7 comments:

The HoJo's said...

Ewwwww
Ewwwww
nope, can't get past
Ewwwww

xc

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

YOWIEEEE! At least it was in the kitchen and you didn't wake up with it dangling over your head. This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

molytail said...

I think he's pretty cool looking! they shed their skin too ...neat! :-D

Mrs. Darling said...

Okay thats more than I could handle. I cant stand tiny little insects and spiders let alone huge beasts like that. That just makes my skin crawl!

MamaOlive said...

My mother used to catch any spiders that came inside and take them out. Me? I squish the little ones and get someone else to squish the big ones. I don't like the 'crunch.' I used to not mind critters as much as I do now - comes from staying inside too much.

The HoJo's said...

I had to go and google them to make sure I wasn't in mortal danger as I know we have these over this side of Oz too, panic over, I don't fancy the symptoms much but at least they aren't killers, stil Ewwwwww though
xc

Ganeida said...

Moly, it looks like it's just you & I. I think these are pretty cool myself.

Hojo's, my brother's in~laws are Brits too. Out for a visit one of these monsters dropped in to lunch whereupon MIL bolted into her bedroom & locked the door declaring she wasn't coming out until the spider had been removed. The Aussies at the table all just looked at each other trying hard not to laugh. We all knew there was an even bigger spider in her bedroom! :D