I always thought about what would be part of my perfect home. High on my list was the idea that a properly functioning place would include the interplay of insects and their predators. I accept that there are myriads of life forms that inhabit the same space as I do, and look  for a balance. I don't choose to use poisons and sprays to control them.
I am happy with the idea of spiders who eat ants (daddy-long legs) .. and spiders that eat  other spiders, and skinks to eat spiders etc.

I have native geckos and skinks in residence with me, and must assume they have the necessary game to keep them here. That makes me happy.

I have numerous NATIVE Geckos and SKINKS around my home. I have skinks and geckos that reside with me in my home. I don't see them all that often.. but they are definitely present.

I am NOT referring to the Asian Gecko which has infested many homes here in Australia.

Lately I have seen the natives more frequently, and I smile when I see them, usually heading for cover, because they've seen me seeing them..

Most thrilling to me is to see these native geckos, because they aren't really considered to be commonly occupying human dwellings.

So... anyway... I went to bed the other night, and thought there was an unusual smell .. I went to sleep anyway. It has been uncommonly hot and humid here recently, and sleep has been pretty sweaty.
So anyway.. I woke up and went about my minimal business, given the heat and humidity. I tend to hibernate in the hot summer days.

When I went to repair my sleeping place for the next hot night, I discovered the reason for the smell.
There was a mangled skink, dead and smelly , just where I sleep, and toss and turn. EEuuwww

Eewww  the smell was more prominent and I picked up the corpse and disposed of it and stripped off the bedding and put them into the washing machine and washed them.. pillow and all. .It was 39c during the day and the night was mid 20c.
The smell was seemingly imbedded in the underlay, but  I tried to clean it up. That night I used improvised bedding, but it still smelled .  Waking up the next morning, (Sun A.M. ) I realised that I had been unsuccessful in removing the smell. 
So.. its all outside..it is all going to be tossed...  and I shall have to get a new mattress it seems. 

Who'd have thunk such a small skink could make such a big stink..
i

Emma wrote on Jan 16^th, 2017 at 6:17am:


Well then sounds like you've never had a huntsman crawl over your face when you're asleep....

Emma wrote on Jan 18^th, 2017 at 3:49pm:


An Orb spider..........??

I got a large huntsman in the car door cavity last week, he was a tan brown color similar to this one.



I opened the door and he quickly hid between the seal rubber and the centre column all I could see were his fangs and front legs, I took of my shoe and squished him, if he got in while I was driving well I have prepared myself should this occur to stay calm but you never know.

I don't like spiders and when I stayed in Sydney for an extended time for my work I had a mild case of arachnophobia, before going to bed I would always look around for Sydney funnel webs.

BTW I never did see one, which was a relief....

Dont talk to me until you've had one of these arseholes chase you down the corridor.

so anyway,         have been seeing the gecko ...
Oedura robusta Robust Velvet Gecko..
on the wall . It stays near a mirror  that it can hide behind. Have been observing it , and it started to looked a bit deflated. I'd been wondering if it was really inside by choice. 

After a couple of half-hearted attempts I captured it the other night, and placed it outside. I figure, if it wants to live inside, and it can gain entry, I might see it again.
Either way I feel better.

I saw this very thing many years ago in my back yard.

The wasp was dragging a massive huntsman spider across the lawn.



[/quote]

The wasp stings and paralyses the spider and then drags it back to its mud nest.

A single egg is laid inside the abdomen of the huntsman.

Once hatched, the larva eats the spider from the inside out.

They tend to leave the vital organs till last, as the spider needs those to stay alive and the wasp wants the huntsman to be as fresh as possible to be consumed.

It seems cruel and gruesome to us, but that is the way nature is.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-06/huntsman-killer-spider-wasps-turn-crawlies...

It's also been used as proof that there is no God. Why would God have created animals with such an incredibly cruel and painful life cycle?

The_Barnacle wrote on Mar 4^th, 2017 at 10:48am:


I saw one of these wasps fly into the rafters of a paling fence and emerge with a common black spider that you find around the house, the ones that build a funnel web, good size too.