What kinds of dangerous bugs are in New Zealand?

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Spectre

Yea Gidday, Spectre is here
The old white tail has a bit of a nasty bite but as far as I know aint killed anyone so thats always gotta be good
The worst I know of is what their Southerners refer to as Jafa's. Not sure if I should explain, what the hell it is Just another F...... Aucklander
The other one to watch for is the Poly tichion which spend most of their time swarming around The Behive in Wellington

HaggisKiwi

Most bugs are defensive, if the think your are attacking them they will attack you.

Death by white-tail spider is unrecorded. The most anyone has ever got is a very huge allergic reaction to it's defensive bite.
On the other hand, if you get bitten by a Katipo (NZ's equal to the Ozzie Red-back) and leave it untreated... well good luck to you.

There's no snakes, well there's not supposed to be.

There is of course the Aucklander bug, very defensive, very stinging & will more likely bore anyone to death!

Mrs H

New Zealand seems to be dangerous bug free except for the katipo spider and I've read they're rare and only bite if disturbed. Of course Spectre would be the expert here ; )

Dreaming Along..

Well, I've lived in New Zealand all my life, and the onyl poisonous bugs I've ever heard about are white tailed spiders (which I've never been bitten by, and they're not really strong enough to kill a person) and katipo spiders (which I've never seen, nor met anybody who has seen one).
If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone :)

Overall, we're a pretty good country if you're wanting to avoid things of a creepy crawly nature, you've got nothing to worry about.

Hope I helped!

mrs mole

Yes just white tails,and they're an Aussie import. Like most things Australian, squish them and you'll be fine:-)

dookie

There's almost nothing that can kill you in the form of bugs in New Zealand. Ok there are a few but you would have to go looking for them under rocks etc before you get bite.

Cait â™«

I live in NZ and I haven't come across any.

Never fear, KiwiJoey's here!

If you're not allergic to bee/wasp stings, it is the white-tailed spider that you should fear the most, and since that doesn't worry you, you have nothing to worry about.

Jess :)

none really ,maybe just white tail spiders but not really

Driver T

Yeah, as they all seem to agree - the white tail spider. It's imported (accidentally) from Australia.
Another import is the common wasp. We have our native wasps too, but most people never see one in their lifetime.
And the jelly-fish and sea snakes. The snakes are rare, and the jelly-fish seem to come in waves in the warmer waters during the summer. (pun intended).
The katipo spider is our only native spider, but you'll never see it. It's got a red stripe across its back so it's easily identified should you be lucky (or unlucky) enough to see one.
Some areas of the country, usually around the ports, may have the occasional outbreak of fire ants.
And at Otorohanga there are termites.

Added. There is one good thing about having your house inhabited with the white-tailed spiders. As these arachnids eat other spiders, there are no other spiders around your house - only the white-tails.

Joe Kab

Spectre said it all, didn't he!
Well, he did except for the jafa part.lol

Echo Scout Dog

nope, nothing, theres only one species of spider called the WhiteTail, because it has a white tail, it can give a nasty bite, but rarely leads to death, just maybe loss of fingers or something. But otherwise theres nothing. Although some of them look rather disgusting (google: "giant weta") but those are harmless and usually only found deep i nteh forest or at the zoo.

Hero.

I've lived in New Zealand my entire life, and the only "dangerous" thing I've heard of is the white tail spider.
But I've never actually seen one before.. and I only know of one other person that has.. so.. I don't think you'll have to worry about running into one lol.

^__^

You rarely get White Tails around. They aren't too harmful.

All the other spiders in New Zealand are harmless House spiders that just park themselves outside your windows but don't come inside. If you see a white tail at your house thats the only one you'd get because they never travel in packs.

Sofia Z

like everyone else said,
ntohing apart from the white tail and the kakapo (red back),

white tail may deside to live in a house but even if it bites, has no venom so is not dangerous and it wont bite you because they keep to themselves and dont like humans, they like dark corners, not pantry type but more like atick type corners

kakapo are so rare! and they dont come near or in houses, they like shrubs by the beach so that might be something to be cautious of

but seriously

you wont get stung by anything worse than a bee
i guarantee you
and most likely not even a bee
seriously
you wont get stung

have fun
xxx

nik the hultin

Nz doesnt have large amounts of dangerous insects.there are only a few slightly dangerous native insects the rest have been brought in from other countries. the white tail isnt a serious threat but it can make you ill same with the thunnel web spider. im not really sure about any other insects besides spiders.

am38

THere are loads of spiders in NZ. As above answers have said only one is truly poisonous, and that only inhabits a small part of NZ. Semi-poisonous white tails are newly introduced and mostly found around Auckland.

But if you are terrified of spiders, you will find that the climate suits spiders very well, and there are many many non-poisonous ones all waiting to get you when you are not paying attention.

Some are hairy, some are shiny, most are small but some are huge - avondale spiders and a small variety of huntsman to name two. We don't get the bird eating variety here.

Frankly, and I say this as one arachnophob to another, there are better places in the world than NZ if you are scared of spiders. Try England - I never saw a single spider there during all the years that I lived there.

edit: just had to add that the Australian red back is not terribly poisonous in that you have time to get to hospital and get treatment and hardly ever causes death. I've been bitten by one while I was pregnant, took a long time to heal, and made me sick, but didn't kill me. The Australian funnel web spider on the other hand is extremely dangerous and you really need to get the antidote in minutes rather than hours.
Also wanted to add that yes, I've heard in London that you can get pet tarantulas (well you can't do that in New Zealand.) YUCK!

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