Viewers’ Letters – Spiders, Power Lawn Aerator, Blue-tongue Lizards
Thank you to everyone who sent letters and emails in response to last week’s show.
Spiders
Self-confessed arachnophobe Julie Barbetti, from Heidelberg in Victoria, emailed to say how much last week’s segment on the Spider Catcher really freaked her out. (Arachnophobia is a strong fear of spiders.) Sorry Julie!
The Spider Catcher costs $29.95, or $45.95 for two plus postage and packing. To order phone (02) 9918 5055, or visit: www.spidercatcher.com.au
Power lawn aerator
Graham Homes, of Montrose in Victoria, emailed to ask about power aerators and if they are available for hire.
If your lawn is patchy and full of weeds, chances are the soil is compacted. To reduce compaction, you must aerate the soil. You can go over the lawn with a garden fork, thrusting it into the lawn so the tines penetrate the soil well. An easier way is to hire a power aerating machine, called a lawn corer. It removes little plugs from the lawn, making it easier for air and water to move through the soil. These machines are fairly easy to use, and cost around $63 for 4 hours or $117 per day to hire. (Look under ‘Hire’ in the Yellow Pages for your nearest specialist hire shop.)
Blue-tongue lizards
Many people sent feedback on our story about blue-tongues with missing limbs and toes. Some viewers agreed that blueys fighting amongst themselves probably caused the damage. Others thought a bacterial or fungal infection might be the problem.
Dr Phil from Allambie Vets emailed to say that the missing toes are likely to be due to incorrect skin sloughs, where the unshed skin forms a tourniquet around the toe and it falls off due to lack of blood supply.
Fiona Thompson, from Highbury in South Australia, emailed to say how much she enjoyed our first show for the year. Fiona then went on to talk about feeding fresh banana to blue-tongue lizards. Reptile experts tell us that high glycaemic foods such as banana are not really good for blue-tongue lizards (high glycaemic foods contain carbohydrates that are digested quickly). They do like canned dog or cat food, and the best of those is Whiskas Jellymeat (but not the fish).
Letter of the week
The prize for Letter of the Week goes to Julie Barbetti from Heidelberg in Victoria for her spider email. Congratulations Julie, you’ve won a year’s free subscription to Burke’s Backyard Magazine and a Spider Catcher!