Topic: Don't mess with a Redback

[mick7504]

Come to  Australia , where our spiders eat our snakes !

***************

An office receptionist got the shock of her life earlier this week when she found a 70cm long snake entangled in the web of a deadly spider.
Tania Robertson, a receptionist at an electrical firm, came in to work on Tuesday and spotted the sight next to a desk in her office.
The snake, which had obviously died from the spider's poisonous bite, was off the ground and caught up in the web.
Leon Lotz of the arachnology department at the  National  Museum said it was only the second time that he had heard of a snake getting caught in a spider's web It is believed the snake got caught in the web on Monday night.
But it did not take the spider long to bite it.
A red mark on the snake's stomach was evidence of where the spider had started eating it.
Throughout Tuesday, the spider checked on her prey, but on Wednesday she rolled it up and started spinning a web around it.
She also kept lifting it higher off the ground, while continually snacking on it.

[Hush]

Ah but we have the much feared Taniwha!
No one has ever seen one but they had to move construction on a Motorway up north because local Maori believed the road was going to pass over the Taniwha's home (swampy hole)!
Many thousands of dollars later the road is moved and the locals are satisfied again, just going to show that we Kiwis are....BLOODY STUPID!!!!!!!!!

We also have the deadly Katipo spider which is so small you have more chance of seeing a Taniwha than a Katipo!

Funnelweb spiders, white tail spiders, possums and wallabies also seem to have crossed the Tasman.

[Old75_ratafe]

70cm... you know how big that spider had to have been 

[Hush]

You obviously haven't seen the Australian Huntsman spider then!

[bill440cars]

      Man alive, Sure don't want to tangle with ANY of the ones mentioned here!

      While I am not up on the different spiders and such that WE have to deal with, the worse I know of is the Brown Recluse, whose bite causes the affected area to be eaten away.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Don't forget Black Widows, those pack a wallop if you get bitten.

[bill440cars]

Don't forget Black Widows, those pack a wallop if you get bitten.

    OOooppps    I had! Thanks for reminding me.

[Laminar]

Those pictures are a nightmare of mine just waiting to happen. I can't imagine seeing that outside somewhere, let alone NEXT TO MY DESK.

[domer]

ive been bitten twice by black widows... bastards they are. while it can be deadly if not treated, its more of a pain in the ass than anything. bastards had to cut my carharts off because of the swelling, lucky for me the last bite i got on a construction job at a hospital 
now those aussie spiders... thats #$%*in scary.

[Franken750]

Ummmm ... I think they meant 70mm.

If it WAS 70cm then I'm sealing all doors and windows and blocking the chimney.

Redbacks are common here in dry areas (like along the back of my house). I never put a foot in a shoe that's been outside the back door for a few days without without stomping on it a few times.

They're part of the Black Widow family and do give a nasty bite, with symptoms lasting for a week or two.

The absolute nastiest spider we have is the Sydney Funnel Web. Its fangs have been know to penetrate a small fingernail. There's a good anti-venene available now but before that kids have died in as little as 10 minutes from a bite. Only affects primates (that's Us!) but not dogs or cats.

Then there's this octopus ... naaah better not go there ...



Franken.

[BeSeeingYou]

I have heard it said a few times that there are more creatures that can kill you in Australia than anywhere else.  We spent a week north of Cairns in the Daintree Rain Forest and had to be a bit careful on the remote beaches.  Stingers, crocs, sharks, and the forest itself too.  And then there are these guys.  They will rip you limb from limb if given the chance.

[Caaveman82]

 And then there are these guys.  They will rip you limb from limb if given the chance.

He looks so docile.

[Franken750]

You obviously haven't seen the Australian Huntsman spider then!

Huntsmans are ok. Got a shed full of them also.

Not dangerous but takes a bit to get used to the size - up to 8" or so span.

Gets really interesting when you jump into the shower and find one in there with you on the back of the shower curtain.

But it gets hysterical when it's someone else - like your girlfriend.

No, it's not that you don't want to help her .... it's just that  you  can't  walk  when    you're     on     the    floor    paralytic   with    laughter. 

Every so often they move into the house into 'territories', where they stay - 1 per territory -  for 12 months or so eating the crawlies like cockroaches. Can't remember when I last used insecticide.

Got to know each of them. One lived under the microwave. Had 6 legs so we knew him as 'Hex'. 

But I do get this feeling that some ppl don't understand me. 


Franken.

[tramp]

lets see
large spider eats large snake
i love michigan

[HondaLover77]

  OH my just looking at those picks made my skin just wanna runaway ooooooo, I hate spiders, I quit working at job at k-mart before because they refused to get rid of the black widows that were there, i one day caught one climbing my pant leg and i freaked out and one of the custmoers look at me like was crazy, then she saw the spider and propmtley took her high heel and steped on it for me, there just way to many of them and I was not gonna deal no longer.

[HondaLover77]

re looking at that spider that has that snake, that "red back" looks just like the black widow. it has the red hourglass on the stomache, OOOOOO ok getting off, my skin is trying to run away again.

[Old75_ratafe]

lets see
large spider eats large snake
i love michigan

Two word tramp... Brown recluse.  Those bastards are nasty I know a few people who have been bit by them.

[Don R]

A brown recluse almost cost my barber his foot. Very nasty.

[Old75_ratafe]

Yep and most people think its just a regular bite or something usually.

[scottly]

As if rattlesnakes, brown recluse, Gila monsters, black widows, and killer bees weren't enough, we've had a rash of rabid bob-cats in Arizona.... 

[dave500]

i live in a very hilly area and we get hoop snakes!if your out bush walking they put their tail end into their mouth forming a hoop and roll after you from a higher vantage point,the only escape is to run uphill so they lose momentum.

[Laminar]

i live in a very hilly area and we get hoop snakes!if your out bush walking they put their tail end into their mouth forming a hoop and roll after you from a higher vantage point,the only escape is to run uphill so they lose momentum.

Sightings are still occasionally reported, even though the existence of the hoop snake has never been accepted by the scientific community. Naturalist Raymond Ditmars placed $10,000 in trust at a New York bank for the first person to provide evidence of a hoop snake.[4]

[mick7504]

We've got these guys in Darwin too.
Mouse Spiders.
They live in a hole in the ground.
Part of the Funnel Web family.

[dave500]

hoop snakes also have to shed their skin at more frequent intervals than sliding ones,they have scales with a little bump a few millimeters under them,when the scales wear through and this bump is rubbed on the ground it triggers the shedding.,the new skin is very soft and grippy,however in the harsh australian sun it quicky hardens up and gives a longer wear rate at the expense of traction,to kill a hoop snake when you are confronted with your bare hands,stand very still next to a tree,then quickly take the snake around your body and spin it like a hula hoop,each time the head/tail comes around try to slam it against the tree untill it dies,,along with this story.

[fastbroshi]

wow.  The hoop snake.  Nature's own radial tire. 

[dave500]

university tests have shown that over a ten year period,the pressure in hoop snakes has been dropping at about twelve percent per year,,scientists have agreed that at this rate the hoop snake need not be feared anymore as it will be called the flat snake and will be replaced by its natural foe,,the spare snake!when a hoop snake dies,the pregnant mother spare snake lays her eggs under the dead hoop snake,when they hatch the male spare snake fumbles around for ages,mostly in the rain lifting the dead hoop snake up with a pumping motion and allows the baby spare snakes to slither out,they have a short life as they are soon replaced by new hoop snakes and so the cycle continues.

[Retro Rocket]

70cm... you know how big that spider had to have been 

70cm is just over 2 foot long, that is a tree snake  and it is also a "real"  redback spider. If that snake was pulled out in a straight line it would be in better proportion, the redback is related to the Black widow spider.

This was in North Queensland last year.



Mick

[Don R]

CREEPY

[the technological J]

is that  hoop snake real? have u ever seen one?

[dave500]

no,but we have had a few cases of snakes that have bitten their own tongue and died,suicide was ruled out,as it was tongue in cheek at the time.

[Old75_ratafe]

no,but we have had a few cases of snakes that have bitten their own tongue and died,suicide was ruled out,as it was tongue in cheek at the time.

Insert drum taps here