THE SHOPPING THREAD :-)

[judydawn]

It's funny Gretchen but when I lived in Darwin in 1970/71, geckos were the only creature I could stand being in the house. I don't remember them making a noise but then that was a  l o n g  time ago for anyone's memory. What amazed me was the size of the cockroaches and white ants 

[cookie1]

My DH hates crickets. He will chase and spray them at all hours of the night.

Gretchen those geckoes are out to get you. I must admit when we lived in Broome I loved them. But we didn't have windows as such as all the openings were just flywire with shutters. The geckoes could chase the moths.

The cockroaches are yuk. I kept all food in the fridge, crockery had to be washed again before use and cutlery was in a container. The electric kettle was put in the fridge etc. The house had been built in 1904 and the cockroaches had occupied it that long as well. We used to spend a fortune on surface spray. Even the legs of our bed were in tins of water so they couldn't run up the legs and get on me. All furniture etc was supplied to us. Lots of funny memories go with them as well.

We tried to get the termites to eat it by putting pieces of pine etc from the ground up to the floor of the house. (the house was up off the ground about a metre). It never worked.

[gertbysea]

Nothing much has changed in that respect cookie 1. I have 4 refrigerators to cope with EVERYTHING that has to be kept in the fridge. I should start putting the toilet paper there as well as I discovered the  cockroaches were eating it  in the bathroom cupboard.

Wanna talk about the maggots? Bloody  cockroaches won't eat them and neither will the geckos. I used to freak out but now it is just part of living in the tropics.

Gretch

[gertbysea]

And....... The geckos ate the circuit board in an air conditioner,$800. Then they demolished the innards of our Bang & Olufsen  outside speaker, $3,000. Needless to say we no longer have a speaker outside and I misss it so much as we live outside. Bought the cheapest of TV's for outside  so we can watch the cricket from the pool to keep cool. Life ain't so bad I guess.

I do have to remember to check inside the TMX before I use it as I like to leave the lid on loosely . If you don't you are likely to be picking the cockroach legs out of your teeth after making a lemon sorbet.

The air is about 32 and the pool is 30. Better jump in to cool off!!!!!!!

Gertbypool

[dede]

Gee Tassie is pretty good, no problems with critters around here where I live. I complain about 1 or 2 little flys inside and the occasional ants. No big creepy crawlies to worry about as such. And never had to worry about sperm on my windows lol that is just crazy.

[DizzyGirl]

No sperm on windows here either. We have the occasional field mouse inside and few flies but not much else. Only have to worry about snakes in summer but the dogs keep them away. I did have a lovely big brown at the back door nearly 2 years ago though.

Our biggest problem is rabbits. Rabbit holes everywhere but the dogs get them too.

Couldn't live in the tropics. Im too much a scaredy cat for that 

[Cuilidh]

I've just caught up on this thread after being off if for a week or so and followed through on the free Kindle book web site - it's just about the best thing since I bought the Kindle itself!

As for creepy crawlies - earwigs are our big problem, how they get into half the places they get in to I simply don't know ... then there are the huntsmen spiders UGH.  I was driving in Melbourne the other day and one crawled past on my side window (fortunately for everyone in the vicinity it was on the outside).  It must have been in our car for about a week before it showed itself - had it been on the inside there would have been big trouble!

[judydawn]

That is my greatest fear Marina - there would be an accident for sure.

[gertbysea]

Wimps! I get a lot of field mice when the cane is cut down the road. Cheeky things are very brave and just sit there when you tell them to bugger off. Snakes, Oh yes lots but mainly harmless. Had one in the  bedroom once when I let the dog out and I was on the toilet.  Next time I got up in the dark I nearly stepped on it.  Dark green tree snake but  scary when it wiggled. Had to gently encourage it out the door. Now I never get out of bed without looking first.

Gert

[Cuilidh]

My scariest snake story was told to me when we lived in Hong Kong.  Most of the ex-pats living over there have amahs and one of my colleagues told me that their amah was cleaning in the bedroom and opened the wardrobe door ... to find a cobra lying in wait - apparently she grabbed the fly spray, sprayed the snake and ran!  personally, I wouldn't have bothered with the fly spray at all, I would have simply ran.

[cookie1]

Me too. I am truly terrified of snakes. I'll bash anything else, or perhaps remove it to a safer site.

Gretchen you can keep your cockroaches. I saw imaginary ones running round on the floor for about 3 years after we shifted south. I found a number 11 thong (DH's) was very good at dispatching them, except outside at night near the drains where the ground was alive with them.

[gertbysea]

I have had several encounters with snakes and have had to call the local sneaker catcher. I took myself off to the  local critter habitat to get some Info  and acquaint myself  with the locals. Feel a lot better knowing. DH not so much!!!

Gretch

[gertbysea]

Not to mention the frogs under the toilet ledge.

Gert

[cookie1]

Are they the green tree frogs? I love them. At first I used to get quite a fright when I sat on the toilet and they squealed then I learned to look first. When MIL came to visit we had to remove 2 tree frogs who lived in the bathroom.She refused to shower if they could see her. (our bathroom was on the back verandah and the laundry in the backyard and the toilet between the two.)

[gertbysea]

Yup lovely free tree frogs. So beautiful.

Gert