How Do You Guys Survive

Gypo Logger

Out there in Australia with so many venomous plants, insects, fish and reptiles?
I would say very carefully.
Just watched a NatGeo show and couldn't believe it.
Anybody ever dumped a tree on a big Croc?
John

Sean Freeman

Just sometimes things here in Oz are exagerrated a little...

Cole

welcome gypo nah not that ive heard of yet....however i dont live near crocs, how ever when we were doing some highway development falling some big eucs goannas, possums were flying through the air as the trees were falling, gotta watch out for drop bears as well mean fckers those things....

Gypo Logger

Great Vid, got a kick out of the comments lol
John

Gypo Logger

I bet the tree huggers and leaf kissers loved that! Lol

JohN Dee

Haha, if you ever meet Ed Carpenter ask him what that is! Pretty funny at the vermeer expo.

Lol, I always get a kick when people from around the world freak at our everyday nasties... Remember clemmy and our huntsmans? haha!

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stirmantrees

drop bear???
had to ask.

Drouin Tree Service

John i try to stay clear of the bush out here to be honest its not a nice walk thru the woods.

A week before christmas i had to drop some decent sized bushfire affected trees in thick undergrowth i was only in there 1 hour with every bug ,mosquito taking turns on my neck while i was cutting.

The best part of having a running chainsaw is that snakes don't like the vibration and generally head the other way.When its real hot 42c+ they can get moving and not much fun if your there just qouting a job with no saw running.

Havn't dropped one on a croc but have had couple of upset goannas up a tree we were trimming doing r.o.w work.

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Eric Frei

The three most common to piss you off are, ants, spiders then snakes.

If you haven't seen a venemous snake then you aint been outside, coz they're around.

Some are , don't mess with them, it aint no little league here.

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Apocalypsse

Ants?! You pussy... Its possums that are annoying, they piss on you and try to scratch you up.

Jeff Darby

I had a pearla of a spidy on me today, but I had to take care of business so No pictures..so you all can have a sence of it's size its abdomen was around the size of your thumb..gave me goose bumps it did!

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jmcg.insight.gardens

hahaha(evil thoughts)

this is a favourite subject of mine.

well, there are without doubt many critters, nasty, bitey here in Australia .

But evil, no!

And I've lived amongst them all, at all times in my life.

And I give them all my due respect.

What would we be without all of nature.

Yes,

Ive dealt with most of them including snakes(couldn't come to acceptance of the Death Adders, they freaked me out a bit, they hide in the mulch and wait for their prey, but in their territory I never came across one),

But I have trod on a big brown snake once, it was more scared than me!!! took off like a rocket after I'd jumped about six foot ( 3metres). Well it seemed about six foot!

very large goannas( they used to sneak into the house, straw broom deals with them the little, or not so little buggers).

Yes in the past I lived in an area that was on the edge of Pristine wilderness here in Australia, loved it, no money though, or should I say not enough money.

But the bottom line is if you live in their territory

you must give them your respect.

Respect you say?

Learn to understand them,

give them space to drop off( spiders), is there a tree that does'nt have a spider here in Australia.

or run away (snakes) ( they are more scared than you Bro')

Are you climbing trees or not?

Those Huntsman that are the size of the dinner plates (yes I have seen them, swear on that !)

They are more scared than you 'bro'.

I,m not Aboriculturalist ( I give you all my respect my friends, wish I could climb trees),

but I am a Horticulturalist (proud), for some time now.

Ive spent many a time in the bush and lived at times in 'the sticks'.

Yes, without a doubt we do have many many toxic friends here in Aussie, but who cares!!!.......

We are big grown Horticulturalists and in this country

Not much scares us.



We are scared of nothing,

but the Taxman.

Julie

jmcg.insight.gardens

Stirmantress, me again

yes the truth about drop bears aka Koalas. Cute aren't they.?

When you meet one in the wild they are in variably in a tree, they don't come down much, except to mate or in a fire.

But boys being boys they do occasionally go walk-about to look for the reaally good looking girl on the block.

Beware!!

What looks likes a cute fluffy Japanese Tourist photo turns into Freddy Kruger in an instant, given a chance.
I have known one, in situ, to turn my friends canvas jeans into shreds in one swipe and permanently scar his legs, then once it was picked up and realised it was is'nt in threat to turn into the a Japanese Tourist Photo, cute and able to be carried. It was a rescue after all.

They have HUGE claws. But strangely instantly sweet when they realize they aren't threatened. I would hate to relocate one from a tree if needed. Imagine Freddy Kruger in a tree.

Julie

Drouin Tree Service

When i was 18 i worked on a line clearing crew thru the "mallee" region very flat and dry and big distances between jobs,I knocked on the door of an old homestead there was one old lady there who answered the door looking behind her down the hall way were shotgun holes everywhere from snakes getting inside.

While doing a job on her property the cattle divided like mosses dividing the sea and a huge red belly blacksnake was moving thru the paddock we were working in heading straight for us we had to make sure he had "moved on" before we continued.

snake eats cat, snake eats roo, snake eats goanna.

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dov

Perhaps you don't work around Bull Ants. they're about 3-4cm long where I grew up. Feels like a red-hot skewer being stuck into you when they bite.
I've got a couple of scars from a brush-tail possum from when I was a kid, but are you serious when you say ants are nothing? I still remember my brother when he connected a winch to a tree - with a bull ant's nest in it - to get his car out of a bog in the dark. Hehe. Was covered with the bastard things by the time he realised - in his jocks and all. Never seen anyone strip naked that quick in all my life...

dov

I have a general rule that I teach to new immigrants to Australia.
"If in doubt, it's poisonous."

Apocalypsse

Ive been in scouts for the last 15ish years, spending approx a month every year in the bush, im no stranger to bull ants and they really are nothing. The only time I get worried is those war ants that are like 3-4 times the size of a bull ant, those things will fudge you up baaad. Spiders arent soo bad, its mostly huntsman we get here, bit distracting as I try chasing them to pick them up...

dov

War ants? What are you talking about? I've never heard of them, just did a google search for them and nothing there either. I've spent over 20 years of my life in the bush and I really think you may be talking about Bull Ants. There quite literally isn't anything bigger around in Victoria. I think when it comes to ants, 40mm long Bull Ants are about as big as it gets and yes. If you have ever been bitten by a bull ant you will remember the pain for a very, very long time.

If you're into chasing Huntsman spiders, they will bite if you try to pick them up. Even worse, in Victoria I believe we also have venomous Wolf spiders which look pretty similar. Are you sure you're not talking about Daddy-Long-Legs?

Apocalypsse

It hurts more getting my finger caught in my harness buckles than being bitten by a bull and. I dont know the name of these ants but someone called them war ants, there were on average about 30-40mm long. I can tell the difference between a daddy long legs and a huntsman, its not very hard. Huntsmans are common under the bark of dead trees, especially wattles in Parks Victoria.

Done it

I've been bitten by a lot of things but these hurt. The ones we call bull ants are these.Romsey Australia: Lethal Ants

I had one get into my boot once, talk about bite. My foot looked like a football by the time I got my boot off. [Always carry a knife]

And I reckon the red ones are worse.

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Garry Brockley

I met my first bull ant in Nov it bit me on the leg under my trousers i flicked it off and it stood there looking at me like well is that all you have, it was like being kicked in the leg bloody bull ants.

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JohN Dee

War ants? Maybe you're thinking of Army ants... They make carnage!

I'm always working in the bush and come across a massive variety of ants... The worst ones being Fire ants and them Jumping black ants... When walking through the bush I tend not to leave my feet standing in the one spot... Always stepping on the spot if I stop moving.

I almost got bitten by a snake a few months back... Felled a lilly pilly in the bush by a creek and on its way down it collected the branch of a fig and dragged it to the ground. So I went over and started dicing up the lilly pilly then cut/released the fig branch it had dragged down. It flung back up (I kept dicing up the lilly pilly) with this large orange snake hanging out of this fig branch within centimeters of my head sussing me out, by the time my off sider got my attention onto it it had coiled back ready to strike at me... Talk about a massive adrenalin rush!

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We are what we repeatedly do... Excellence then, is not an act, but HABIT...

Red : Green : Blue

dov

The ants that you call War Ants ARE Bull Ants. Huntsmans and Daddy-Long-Legs are easy to tell apart as they look nothing like each other and live in different places. Huntsmans and Wolf Spiders look pretty similar and live in the pretty similar places. Beware.Big grey/brown things the size of you palm with fangs to match.

jmcg.insight.gardens

hey A Lopa


those pics are absolutely awesome snake shots, especially the wallaby shot.

I'm assuming its a carpet snake in the top pic, a tiger snake in the second, and another carpet taking the moggy. Good to see a photo of how big Carpets get. A lot of people don't believe me, I think I'll save it.

We had a big one that lived in the stable block block where I lived once, he used to sit on the Besser brick wall partition of the stables,next to the feed troughs , the horses weren't fazed by it at all, he used to stretch the length of one side of the stable and then some of the next wall and sit and wait for the rats to visit the feed. I estimated him to be about 15-17 feet. In the morning he climb the concrete brick wall vertically and sleep in the Roller Door.I used to call him Monty, he was a carpet snake, they get used to people, handy to have around.

The second snake looks like a tiger, they are another story altogether, highly aggressive, even as they are in death throes. Stay away!! Had Night tigers at Five Day Creek where I lived. They are to be treated with extreme respect and yes the cattle do know they are lethal. Bitten by one would be a great concern.

Huntsman are another one to treat with respect, they are timid but although the spider experts say they don't tend to bite I disagree. I,ve been bitten by a very large one,fang marks a centimeter apart. I was sick about a month, the first week I was very sick.

Dov, that is the best policy to take, they still are discovering new species of spiders here. I respect them.Without a doubt. Some peoples kidneys can't handle toxins as well as others, seen my brothers face swelled right up by an unknown spider bite, his kidneys couldn't handle the toxin.

Often wondered how you guys managed them up aloft, I know they try to hide and have seen them run around a tree amazingly quick, but some just won't budge, it's like they freeze. I like them, as long as their not on me.


Here the jumping ants are called Hoppy Joes their orange and black, larger than the average bull-ant and attack by jumping on you, saw the most funny thing when an apprentice of mine got some into his overalls, the whipper snipper went flying so did his overalls and so did he,........ hehehe,...... just out of school he was. I don't think in that instant he remembered I was there.

Yes I,ve been bitten too, they hurt bejeezus.

Julie

Drouin Tree Service

Great reply Julie,Brown snakes are bad but a big red bellied black snake strikes fear into me on a hot day.

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jmcg.insight.gardens

I respect blacks but they will slither straight past you if you stay very very still, but don't corner them, oh no, not a wise move. Beware their mating season, they are aggressive and outright cantankerous and need to be left well alone.

Perhaps you haven,t seen a King brown, they are in South Australia, pretty bloody big up to 3 meters, I grew up down there, now I'm scared of them. Very territorial.

But in general snakes have their place and should be treated with respect.

But I'm still wondering what you guys do when you find that really big huntsman spider when up a tree?

hehehe

Julie

Eric Frei

Flick it off onto a groundy.

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jmcg.insight.gardens

lol'

thought that might be the answer


if I was up there probably what I'd do.

Julie

kieren

i had a f@#&ing koala try and have a go at me when dead wooding the tree he was in they look all cudly but by god have they got some sharp claws and if they don''t like you they let you know

Gypo Logger

Lol
Here in Canada, if there is a grizzly attack, you simply throw rocks at your mate.
That way the bear knows who's side you're on.
Gypo