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[Casper223]

This is just FYI, but here's a pic of my daughter when she was eight years old. The goanna sniffed our barbecue on the wind and came to lick the fat off the cooling plate. When Ellie offered him some sausage, he was happy to nom it all up. In the end, he had his (three-inch, razor sharp) claws on her foot and was eating sausage from her hand.

It's a half-grown Lace Monitor, second-largest of the Australian goannas after the Perentie from Western Australia. The only larger monitor is the Komodo Dragon from Indonesia. Just recently, it has been discovered that lizards of this genus (Varanus) secrete true venom in their saliva. No wonder a bite from one almost always turns septic!

Of course, goannas come in all shapes and sizes in Australia and they *all* enjoy meat, eggs and carrion. I'd hate to think of one getting inside my birds' cages!

Oh Heck No..... I have a DEEP respect for reptiles, they have their place in the world, and I have my place which I assure you isn't close to their place, I don't cross boundaries and they shouldn't either. Only thing I like with scales are fish.... and they are delicious!!

 

[Ellie777Australia]

We have a 'granddaddy' goanna in residence, about three times the size of the one at Ellie's feet, plus other smaller ones of course. As for snakes: normal tiger, black tiger, eastern brown, red belly, copper head, eastern small eyed...and more...all encountered within a few feet of the house! Going to the chook (chicken) pen for eggs is another adventure in 'spot the snake' ha ha...

 

[Casper223]

We have a 'granddaddy' goanna in residence, about three times the size of the one at Ellie's feet, plus other smaller ones of course. As for snakes: normal tiger, black tiger, eastern brown, red belly, copper head, eastern small eyed...and more...all encountered within a few feet of the house! Going to the chook (chicken) pen for eggs is another adventure in 'spot the snake' ha ha...

Debbie, your a better person than me, If I had to gather eggs and deal with snakes, I'd be an "Amazon Prime" ordering person, or better yet, I wouldn't eat eggs. I'll go one step further, one of those grandaddy lizards in my house, just one time, I would be on the phone with a Realestate agent telling them sell it cheap as a reptile farm. There isn't no way in heck (and I'm saying this politely because some bad words are running through my mind), Tiger snakes? Black Tiger Snakes?? Eastern Browns??? red belly snakes???? copper heads????? eastern small eyed's?????? Geeesh, I wouldn't stay on the same continent to all that.

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Casper223 ...If I had to gather eggs and deal with snakes, I'd be an "Amazon Prime" ordering person, or better yet, I wouldn't eat eggs. I'll go one step further, one of those grandaddy lizards in my house, just one time, I would be on the phone with a Realestate agent telling them sell it cheap as a reptile farm. There isn't no way in heck (and I'm saying this politely because some bad words are running through my mind), Tiger snakes? Black Tiger Snakes?? Eastern Browns??? red belly snakes???? copper heads????? eastern small eyed's?????? Geeesh, I wouldn't stay on the same continent to all that.


LOL!!! You cracked me up! It's everyday life here in the bush ha ha ha...

 

[Casper223]

QUOTE=Casper223 ...If I had to gather eggs and deal with snakes, I'd be an "Amazon Prime" ordering person, or better yet, I wouldn't eat eggs. I'll go one step further, one of those grandaddy lizards in my house, just one time, I would be on the phone with a Realestate agent telling them sell it cheap as a reptile farm. There isn't no way in heck (and I'm saying this politely because some bad words are running through my mind), Tiger snakes? Black Tiger Snakes?? Eastern Browns??? red belly snakes???? copper heads????? eastern small eyed's?????? Geeesh, I wouldn't stay on the same continent to all that.


LOL!!! You cracked me up! It's everyday life here in the bush ha ha ha...

It's quite okay Debbie, We can be friends, but at a distance!! The oceans over there are filled with Great white sharks, y'all have snakes of every color and breed slithering around, and if that ain't bad enough, you have Granddaddy lizards spitting venom with Razer sharp claws crashing BBQ's and being bribed off with sausage!! That covers land and water, then you have predator birds flying around seeking a snack, that pretty much covers air, land and sea.... I mean as for us, we have a couple of small gators around, that doesn't bother anyone, we have a couple of poisonous snakes around, usually around trash piles and water holes, and every now and then we hear a screetch owl at night, so keep and eye on a small stray dog or cat running loose, I would think you would have to be armed and pistol packing just to walk out the door. I'm just saying if I walked out your font door one morning on the way to the chicken coop, and seen those many and different kinds of snakes, Those chickens wouldn't be the only thing laying eggs in the yard!! Most folks in the US like to watch thriller movies, if I want a thrill I just turn on National Geographic and Steve Irwin to the Australian channel. What scares me the most, is that the Black Momba, it gets so aggravated (Which doesn't take much might I add) and you can literally see it breath, as it get big and small taking in air and breathing. I don't know anything about that giant bbq lizard you have, but I haven't ever seen an alligator crash a party! Once in a while, someone will spot one in a pool, but wildlife and fisheries hauls them off so far away, that they'll never see blue water or smell chlorine again. No wonder TV never shows y'all with swimming pools in your back yards!! There isn't a bit of telling what kind of wildlife party a pool would bring over there. Could that be where the Term Blood Bath came from???

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Casper "Those chickens wouldn't be the only thing laying eggs ...There isn't a bit of telling what kind of wildlife party a pool would bring over there. Could that be where the Term Blood Bath came from???"


LOL...we also have crocodiles and funnel-web spiders that like swimming
Funnel-web spiders go to pools in Australia heatwave

...and... when you go out at night you have to be on guard for the killer drop bears that hang out in gum trees...ha ha ha ha.....

 

[Casper223]

QUOTE=Casper "Those chickens wouldn't be the only thing laying eggs ...There isn't a bit of telling what kind of wildlife party a pool would bring over there. Could that be where the Term Blood Bath came from???"


LOL...we also have crocodiles and funnel-web spiders that like swimming
Funnel-web spiders go to pools in Australia heatwave

...and... when you go out at night you have to be on guard for the killer drop bears that hang out in gum trees...ha ha ha ha.....

Geeesh Debbie, I’ve heard of going to the buffet for dinner, but the buffet comes to your house just waiting on opportunity!! Every living creature around your house is waiting on dinner to come walking by!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Casper223 "Every living creature around your house is waiting on dinner to come walking by!"



LOL!

 

[Betrisher]

Hey Debbie! Where do you live? I'm in Newcastle, NSW, but on the western outskirts, so we get plenty of wildlife (although not enough for my liking).

We had a red belly living under our house for about five years (had to put perspex round the bottoms of the birds' cages) and he did a brilliant job of keeping the mice away. Our horses lived up the end of our street and we often saw brown snakes and goannas basking or hanging out in the casuarinas. Now the family has moved a bit closer to 'civilisation' and I truly miss the interesting creatures that regularly visited our place.

Casper223, while there's a long list of potentially lethal creatures that live in Oz, the fact is that people meet them very rarely. Of course, if you go looking in the bush or certain parts of the coast, you'll find them (and they might find you), but largely we just go about our lives unaware of any nasty beasties hanging around.

LOL! In the spirit of this thread, I simply have to mention the fact that my spidophobic daughter nearly had a coronary last night when a huntsman spider the size of a saucer sashayed across her ceiling. It's kind of ironic that a child brought up in an animal-focussed family should be a spidophobe, but there it is. So, she squealed and came rushing out, ashen-faced and trembling and her big brother calmly went in with an empty Vegemite jar and relocated Mrs Huntsman (she was heavily pregnant).

Another time, a great big green leaf insect (Phasmid) blew down from the top of one of our gum trees during a storm. It was about a foot long and brilliant green to match the young leaf-tips. I've never seen one in the flesh before, but all the neighbours were apalled at it. Why? It was a lovely creature, perfectly adapted for life in the treetops and eating leaves (which means it doesn't even big enough mouth-parts to hurt you with).

I find that creepy crawlies and even the larger dangerous creatures are all so interesting, I forget to be nervous around them. If you keep a respectful distance and walk away slowly, it's unlikely any animal will go for you. 'course, if you stumble upon a hungry shark or crocodile, that could end differently, but hey! Y'just stick to swimming pools and it's all cool.

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Betrisher "Casper223, while there's a long list of potentially lethal creatures that live in Oz, the fact is that people meet them very rarely." It's too late to sweet-talk Casper223 now Trish...I do believe that Australia is probably on the last of Casper's list of places to visit ha ha ha. Especially now that we've told Casper223 about the killer drop bears and foot long insects in the gum trees, plus now you just had to mention that darn huntsman spider... LOL

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Betrisher "Where do you live?" Sorry Trish, I was having so much fun that I forgot to answer this question...I'm inland, mountains, south coast NSW...I literally do have all those snakes, goannas, eagles, hawks etc... Besides the Ellie threats (air, land, sea ha ha), the bird/wild life here is simply amazing...

 

[Casper223]

QUOTE=Betrisher "Casper223, while there's a long list of potentially lethal creatures that live in Oz, the fact is that people meet them very rarely." It's too late to sweet-talk Casper223 now Trish...I do believe that Australia is probably on the last of Casper's list of places to visit ha ha ha. Especially now that we've told Casper223 about the killer drop bears and foot long insects in the gum trees, plus now you just had to mention that darn huntsman spider... LOL

Spiders, Snakes....Foot Long Insects, Killer Drop Bears Reminds me of the two bears looking at the bumper sticker on the back window of a woman's soccer van, of the stick figures, Momma, Daddy and 3 little kids holding hands. The little bear asks the big bear, What is that.... The Big Bear replied.... Looks like some kind of Menu!! Roflmbo

 

[Casper223]

Casper223, while there's a long list of potentially lethal creatures that live in Oz, the fact is that people meet them very rarely. Of course, if you go looking in the bush or certain parts of the coast, you'll find them (and they might find you), but largely we just go about our lives unaware of any nasty beasties hanging around.

Growing up, folks use to brag the same thing....for example we have a coral snake in the area, beautiful creature, bites with a neurotoxin venom, ask 99 kids if they's ever seen one except in a book, they all answered no, But me.... I had met one.....They grown to almost a foot long, and would have to bite like the webbing between your fingers or toes to bite you, But I won't ever give them that chance. I'm that 1 in a million person.... enough so I don't venture into the woods. I play the lottery because of my luck, but my run don't run that way, I'd be the guy who met a crocodile the minute I stepped off of the plane on the runway!! You say rare, and rare has my name all over it except with the lottery and such!!

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Casper223 "Spiders, Snakes....Foot Long Insects, Killer Drop Bears Reminds me of the two bears looking at the bumper sticker on the back window of a woman's soccer van, of the stick figures, Momma, Daddy and 3 little kids holding hands. The little bear asks the big bear, What is that.... The Big Bear replied.... Looks like some kind of Menu!!" Good One!

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Casper223 "I'd be the guy who met a crocodile the minute I stepped off of the plane on the runway!!" Hey Casper223, you have heard of the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' theory yes? Well, give Trish and myself a heads up on your ETA to Australia and we'll meet you with the crocodile, killer drop bear, and a lovely sweet King Brown Snake for good measure...ha ha

 

[Casper223]

QUOTE=Casper223 "I'd be the guy who met a crocodile the minute I stepped off of the plane on the runway!!" Hey Casper223, you have heard of the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' theory yes? Well, give Trish and myself a heads up on your ETA to Australia and we'll meet you with the crocodile, killer drop bear, and a lovely sweet King Brown Snake for good measure...ha ha

Yep.... I'm pretty sure you two ladies still don't understand, so I'll post a real life picture of me at my home, and how I deal with insect problems, Now this is just insect, There is no way in HECK I would deal with foot long insects, Giant Lizards, Snakes, Killer drop bears, so just to clue you in, I handle just one battle at a time, but I handle them very well!!

https://imgur.com/4UcvIvc

 

[EllenD]

This is just FYI, but here's a pic of my daughter when she was eight years old. The goanna sniffed our barbecue on the wind and came to lick the fat off the cooling plate. When Ellie offered him some sausage, he was happy to nom it all up. In the end, he had his (three-inch, razor sharp) claws on her foot and was eating sausage from her hand.

It's a half-grown Lace Monitor, second-largest of the Australian goannas after the Perentie from Western Australia. The only larger monitor is the Komodo Dragon from Indonesia. Just recently, it has been discovered that lizards of this genus (Varanus) secrete true venom in their saliva. No wonder a bite from one almost always turns septic!

Of course, goannas come in all shapes and sizes in Australia and they *all* enjoy meat, eggs and carrion. I'd hate to think of one getting inside my birds' cages!

This is why I've always been so jealous of people who live in Australia!!! I've often heard many Australians complain about how strict it is owning pets there, having to have certain permits, it's illegal to bring any wild animals/birds in as pets, etc., but you guys have access to the coolest captive-bred pets in the world!!! I love the large Monitors, we have had a very large male Black-Throat Monitor living at the Rescue for the last year or so, he was purchased at a Petsmart of all places when he was a tiny baby who was less than a foot long, and then he grew to over 7 feet long, and his owners dumped him on our doorstep inside of a metal dog-crate for the Manager to find first thing one morning when she opened-up...He's a little sweetie, loves to be handled/held and have under his chin scratched, and he LOVES hard-boiled eggs, he swallows them whole in about 5 seconds, lol...I have a female Bearded Dragon who will be 3 years-old in October...I brought her home when she was about a month old or younger, only about 4" long from snout to the tip of her tail, and now she's 22" long and FAT!!! She's actually on a diet right now because she has "side-boobs" (I should be ashamed of myself)...When she turned a year old I cut back her live-protein from every day to 3 days a week and gave her huge salads and fruit every day, and she got very angry with me, so I went back to giving her a huge salad and veggies every day along with a few large Superworms and Black Soldier-Fly Larva (NutriGrubs/Calciworms), and she has ballooned up and grew what my CRV calls "side-boobs", and he told me she has to lose weight (he actually scolded me at her last Wellness-Exam in February, lol)...She's also going through her yearly full-body shed right now, which takes a good month or longer to finish, so right now she's a grumpy, angry, insane lizard...

I've not seen too many Lace Monitors, in fact there was recently someone locally who was breeding another type of Monitor that I'd never seen or heard of before, and he had them on Craigslist for sale...I forget what they were, they weren't "Lace" Monitors, but they looked extremely similar to yours, which is gorgeous by the way...

 

[Betrisher]

One of the commonest lizards in suburban Australia would be the Blue Tongued Lizard. It's a stout yeoman of a lizard belonging to the skink family, but it bears little resemblance to the whip-fast skinny little things that live on fences and under logs. No, the Bluey is about fifteen inches long, three inches across and has a disturbingly (to some) snakelike head. When he opens his mouth, he sticks out his long, bright blue tongue (usually to snag a juicy grasshopper or similar). Mrs Bluey doesn't lay eggs: she gives birth to live babies, which are *adorable* when tiny. Nearly every garden in the country has a few nearby and you generally happen upon them basking somewhere sunny.

The thing about Blue Tongues is that they have the most endearing facial expressions of any lizard (even cuter than the swaggering devil-may-care grin of the monitors). They remind me of nothing more than a cat which has just polished off a fat mouse. Smug, y'know?

So, one day many years ago, I was changing my daughter's nappy and gazing out the kitchen window wondering why there were no fruits on my cherry tomato vines. As I stood there, I noticed a bustle in the herbaceous border and a hunormous Old Lady Bluey emerged, oozing along the garden edging (as they do). She stopped at the tomato vines, raised herself upright so that she was standing balanced on her two hindlegs with her tail making a tripod and commenced to nom-nom-nom on my just-reddening baby tomatoes! As I stood there, the greedy old girl gobbled up all of my budding tomatoes and then collapsed to the ground to bask in the sunshine and sleep off her sizeable meal with a look of ultimate smugness and contentment on her lizardly little face.

My husband wanted me to put wire netting around the tomatoes to stop the lizard from stealing them. I didn't, though. I'd rather watch a lizard stealing fruit any day than worry about a few lost tomatoes!

On another occasion, we went for a barbecue with friends to a local national park. While hubby fired up the barbie, the rest of us checked out the local wildlife, notably a Bower Bird's bower lined with blue plastic objects. Suddenly, hubby let out a bellow which brought us all running.

Two juvenile Lace Monitors had come to the barbecue area, lured by the smell of cooking meat. Totally unfazed by a human presence, they had climbed onto the barbecue surrounds and nicked off with a piece of meat! We were astounded at their audacity and laughed about it as we ate our meal.

Much later, the two young lizards came back, clearly looking for more tucker. They came right up to our picnic table and one of them, quick-as-a-wink, dived into my friend, Chris' backpack! For a minute or two, there was a great rummaging and then the long black head rose up like a periscope to check out the surrounds. Having found nothing in Chris' bag, the lizard took off with his mate for pastures greener. We continued to be astounded!

I have many lizard stories about many different kinds of lizards. The thing is, they're everywhere: all it takes is for people to pay attention in order to share and enjoy their lizardly lives being played out alongside our own.

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=Casper223 "how I deal with insect problems..." Ha ha ha...I'd bet that your walls are covered in hammer holes (probably what you use as your fly swatter?)"

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=EllenD "This is why I've always been so jealous of people who live in Australia!!!" Thanks EllenD.... Did you read what EllenD just said Casper223? "Jealous"...now that is definitely not how you expressed your feelings...ha ha ha



Hey Trish, maybe we should start a thread in 'other' titled the 'top 10 reasons to visit Australia':1) killer drop bears, 2) venomous snakes ...ha ha..


LOL
Debbie