Wildlife, living next to nature

[Clodfobble]

A 41-lb. rat would be as big as a 5-year-old child.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Sundae, what do your boys weigh (I sad 'boys', not the girls, I'm talking about rats, here)? A pound, pound and a half?

Never weighed the little chaps. And I am completely rubbish at estimating weight.
I just know that when I came back from staying at Mum's, and picked up Otis, he was skin and bone. Broke my heart, especially after what happened when I gave Diz into someone else's care.

Duncan was still fat as butter though.

FTR - Otis has put weight back on. He's looking healthy and climbing around as before. But his breathing is still like someone sawing a log. But I made the decision NOT to take him back to the vets. He's better off with Duncan, with me. Time away from us is punishment in his ratty brain.

But back to the O/P - wow, that's a big-arse rat, forced perspective or not!

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

A 41-lb. rat would be as big as a 5-year-old child.

...and wouldn't taste half as good.

[Clodfobble]

[xoxoxoBruce]

Doesn't it depend on whether it a 5 year old boy or girl? I mean sugar and spice vs snakes and snails?

[fargon]

I can't say it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Beetles be wildlife, and the closer you look the wilder they be, especially in slo-mo.

[Carruthers]

Giant goanna gives Australian man a shock after climbing across his house
Eric Holland heard a banging noise and emerged from his shed to discover a five-foot goanna splayed across his side wall



A man who discovered a five-foot goanna climbing across the side of his house in Australia said he “couldn't have been more shocked if a Martian had landed”.

Eric Holland, 80, was working in the shed in his back garden when he heard a banging noise and emerged to discover the giant reptile splayed across the side wall of his house.

He said the creature’s claws “had to be bloody 40 millimetres [1.6 inches] long at least".

"It blew the cobwebs out of me," he told ABC News.

"He climbed up the bricks and got under the eve and his tail was twitching and hitting on the pipe... My yellow streak started to show and I jumped back in the shed."

This goanna was thought to be a lace monitor, a native Australian reptile, which can grow to up to about seven feet in length. For the most part goannas are wary of humans, but are considered dangerous on account of their sharp teeth and claws.

Mr Holland, who lives in Albury in New South Wales, said the goanna quickly left the property and has not been seen since.

He took a photograph of the creature and was surprised when it made the local paper, though the image has since gone viral on social media.

"I couldn't have been more shocked if a Martian had landed," he said.

"I'll be wearing my long pants and my big boots outside, that's for sure.”

Daily Telegraph



Incidentally, the original text said that '...goannas are weary of humans'. I think they meant 'wary'.

I dunno, though...

[Griff]

Damn Australia...

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Griff

Damn, Australia...You crazy!

Fixed it.

Also:

If I walked outside and saw that thing on my house, I'd u-turn between steps, go back in and start packing a fucking bag to GTFO.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

Damn Australia...

Well, to be fair, there are 30 species of goanna, but only 25 of them live in Australia.

[Carruthers]

Friends of mine emigrated to Western Australia a few years ago.
Initially they rented a house before buying their own.
They visited the dwelling, in the later stages of construction, while the kitchen was being painted.
The painter opened the pantry door and retreated at best speed having found a Dugite in there.

The world's first formation laundry moment was narrowly avoided.

[Gravdigr]

Dugite? See? I haven't even heard of that one!

The venom of P. affinis is potentially one of the most lethal in the world...

Fuck you Australia. You are beautiful, but, fuck you.

[Gravdigr]

A dugite can grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in total length (including tail).

Aren't snakes nothing but tail from, like, the eyes on back?

[Clodfobble]

Dugites are protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 and to kill or injure one attracts a fine of up to A$4000.

Welp... thar's yer problem.