# Meanwhile in Australia..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 9, 2013, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779 "2013-02-09T10:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/41 "2013-02-12T02:16:17Z")
> [@madrabbitwoman](#): > > Don’t forget the drop bears. Oh and the drop possums - to which I was a first hand witness and near victim on more than one occasion (100% true by the way). Pfft. I’m from Louisiana. We have drop _snakes_. Venomous, ill-tempered ones. Also, [our possums](http://www.mymcpl.org/blog/more-just-roadkill) are not as cute as [yours](http://cdn.bobinoz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/possum-by-photolaps.jpg) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/42 "2013-02-12T02:19:56Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Wait a minute, I’ve been to Oz a couple of times and I didn’t see a single deadly spider or snake! I feel ripped off! It’s OK, they were watching you. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/43 "2013-02-12T03:09:54Z")
It’s the victims our wildlife reject that make 'em the best ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/44 "2013-02-12T03:39:52Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Yep I live in a mice leafy suburb and yes we get tons of redbacks, have had a couple of snakes etc but what really freaks me out are the white tailed spiders, they have flesh eating venom… I’ve been bitten by a white-tailed spider. It was really very very itchy. It didn’t cause any necrosis, but I do have a scar (which was caused by my excessive scratching of the bite before I knew what it was). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/45 "2013-02-12T04:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=Balance;15996015Also,our possums] are not as cute asyours [/QUOTE] The hell they aren’t! I confronted one here in Arkansas in a trash can. I tumped it over to let him run away, and of course, he played dead. I backed off, and waited for him to leave. The cute little bastard “woke up” and looked at me to ask, “I’m playing dead. How am I doin’?” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/46 "2013-02-12T06:15:14Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Also, [our possums](http://www.mymcpl.org/blog/more-just-roadkill) are not as cute as [yours](http://cdn.bobinoz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/possum-by-photolaps.jpg) > 😛 You wouldn’t say that if you heard one clambering around in your roof and [hissing all night](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHulXzuc_9Y). ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/47 "2013-02-12T07:31:56Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You wouldn’t say that if you heard one clambering around in your roof and [hissing all night](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHulXzuc_9Y). Are you under the impression that opossums don’t also make [unpleasant noises](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP1DcppluRs)? I’m willing to call it a draw on the vocalizations, but I stand firm on the general assertion, and my old stomping grounds were so far out in the backwoods that they kept possums for yard dogs. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/48 "2013-02-15T02:52:05Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve been bitten by a white-tailed spider. It was really very very itchy. It didn’t cause any necrosis, but I do have a scar (which was caused by my excessive scratching of the bite before I knew what it was). sshhh we’re trying to scare the yanks 😛 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/49 "2013-02-15T03:12:54Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > sshhh we’re trying to scare the yanks 😛 :smack: Hey! I’m from the South! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/50 "2013-02-15T03:25:38Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Hey! > I’m from the South! > 🙂 To us ya’ll are yanks 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/51 "2013-02-15T03:57:26Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > To us ya’ll are yanks 😉 My Daddy came over Down Under in 1942 in the 5th US Army Air Force and saved your ass for _this_?!?! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/52 "2013-02-15T04:03:11Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > That’s not usually a problem for most other tourists I’ve met. I mean, I know they’re described as ‘cuddly’ and all that, but really… Hey. True love is true love. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/53 "2013-02-15T04:07:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > My Daddy came over Down Under in 1942 in the 5th US Army Air Force and saved your ass for _this_?!?! > > 🙂 There was a saying in those days that my Grandpa used to use ‘over-sexed, over-paid and over here’. But yes we thank you for coming down under and defending us from the invading Japanese hordes 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/54 "2013-02-15T04:52:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have lived in Australia for almost 15 years. I have never seen a snake, and never seen a redback spider, despite frequently being in their favourite kinds of locations. > > I have seen a few uniquely Australian beasties in the wild, but none of them have been dangerous or aggressive, let alone venomous. America has bears and coyotes and mountain lions, for pete’s sake. You don’t see them but they see you… I have seen two brown snakes in Mt Druitt (one of Sydney’s outer western suburbs). Also I recall a teenage boy died from a bite from a brown snake in Mt Druitt a few years ago. Funnel Webs are all around you. Thankfully they don’t often come inside. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779/55 "2013-02-15T07:49:12Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve been bitten by a white-tailed spider. It was really very very itchy. It didn’t cause any necrosis, but I do have a scar (which was caused by my excessive scratching of the bite before I knew what it was). Meanwhile my dad has just spent a couple of days in hospital for a spider bite (never saw the spider so we don’t know what kind). He had a nurse coming by to give him an injection every night for a week, then went back to work on light duties - for a fortnight now, because the swelling hasn’t gone yet. Really knocked him about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meanwhile-in-australia/649779.md?page=2)