Share your experiences with insects, spiders, and other pests!

[lookinguptoo]

Beckjhn, your account of the jumping spider going through an air hole made my skin crawl. That is terrible! That black spider story in the shoe by Volatile is also terrible. I think I would have just died on the spot if pulled off my shoe and found a spider there. That spider must have been strong to have lived through all that. And Jaye, I hope that statistic is not true about people swallowing spiders in their sleep. That sounds dreadful. I'd prefer to swallow a worm or fly but not a spider! As for the bat story, I have also heard not to hit at a bat if it gets in your house. I heard that bats will leave you alone but if you swat at them then it is more likely they will bite you. When I was in school every home game on Friday nights we always had bats swooping in the sky, but they never bothered anyone.

 

[Lbiagm]

The squirrel one now that was funny.

 

[Beckijhn]

Speaking of bats, we have two that live in our trees. When it is about dusk we like to take a ball out and toss it up. They'll home in on it and fly really low. They are pretty cool - much better than spiders!!!

 

[AnnMercy2]

Okay, I had to get past my hebejebbies over the orginal post before I could let myself think back on my experiences with pests

When I was about six or seven, I was in the living room playing when I heard my mom let out a blood curling scream from the bathroom. When I got there, in behind the curtain where the hot water heater was kept was two huge snakes mating. Off to the side was the third biggest snake I'd ever seen......Ya reeeeeaaaallllllllly don't wanna know what happened next

Next... A time later we had some fish, and everytime I would go to feed them, one of them would jump out the tank. I've have nightmares ever since.

After that....I lived in a house where we had frequent ant guests. I don't mean no regular ants, these were these huge black ants and one of them got a hold of the skin between my thumb and pointer finger and would not let go. I still have a faint scar from that one.

A short time ago, we had this cat that would hunt rodents. He would not kill them, just bring them into the house to play with them. Well, one time he brought in a little mouse. He brought the mouse into our computer room and was playing with him. And everytime he would go to touch the mouse, the poor little thing would roll on it's back, little paws in the air and all, playing dead. I kid you not, that mouse was playing dead, it would be moving around one minute, and as soon as the cat would make a move toward it, it would instantly stiffen up, paws in air. Darnedest thing I ever saw

And don't get me started on my other pets and their antics. I have a house full of crazy pets. Including my own cat, who goes bugged eyed and crazy when she hears the word or sees a bug. My own little bug catcher, God bless her. Them pests don't last long in my house

To this day, I still have nightmares about the the fish. I don't know if they will ever end for me. I can barely go and feed the fish without going at the fish tank with one eye closed and holding their food as far away from me as possible, hoping and praying one don't jump out at me. And as for my nightmares about the snakes, ya don't wanna know......

creepies, crawlies, and nightmares,
Anna

 

[lookinguptoo]

Oh, I have another spider story. Once I saw a spider creeping towards my bedroom so I took off my shoe to squoosh it, but after swatting it, instead of having a dead spider, oodles of baby spiders ran about. I succeeded in popping out the babies and nothing more. That was scary and gross. I just ran after that probably to be mocked by those babies many times thereafter when they were grown. Now as much as I detest spiders can you believe my mother, a school teacher, brought home her class pet, a tarantula, one summer? It was actually a gentle, shy spider that would let people pick it up and pet it, but I never got attached to it! Yuck!

 

[AnnMercy2]

Oh why do I keep coming back to this thread ick ick ick ick

Please somebody kick me outa here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Beckijhn]

The baby spiders were probably hitching a ride. The wolf spider does that. We used to catch them and put them in a jar. Give it a shake and all the babies fall off and then climb back on the mama. The only thing that grossed me out about that was that the babies eat the mom to death and then go off on their own. ISH!

AnnMercy2 - get out of here!!!! ~smile~

 

[lookinguptoo]

Has anyone ever heard of "whip snakes" and "hoop snakes"? I have heard they are just a legend, but I have met a lot of people who have sworn to have seen them or known someone to have seen them.

 

[AnnMercy2]

Today at 11:37 PM lookinguptoo said this in Post #28 (http://www.christianforums.com/showthread.php?postid=684562#post684562)

Has anyone ever heard of "whip snakes" and "hoop snakes"? I have heard they are just a legend, but I have met a lot of people who have sworn to have seen them or known someone to have seen them.

I don't think I would care to know those are

/me has really really got to stay outa this thread, but her wanting to know what has been said gets the best of her sometimes. Like the old saying goes "curiousity killed the cat"

 

[waterwizard]

I used to love just sitting on the porch on a summer's evening and watching a spider make a web between the roof eave and the porch post.  I'd watch it for hours.  Fascinating.

Later, I'd catch live bugs and throw them into the webs, and watch the spiders jump out and spin a web string around and around the bug, getting ready to have supper.

Now, that's entertainment!!

 

[Brax]

I got bit by a black widow when I was 12, I got really sick, I was throwing up alot and my arm was really swolen for a while. For the most part I think spiders are cool lookin creatures.

 

[VolatileHamster]

More stories!

 

[lookinguptoo]

Ok, you want another story here it goes although it can't top that snake story! My mother got bit by a brown recluse and had a severe reaction so the doctor used an experimental leprosy drug on her for the bite and it worked! Anyway, just the idea being bit by a creepy spider is gross to me much less actually being bitten. Fortunately, to my knowlegde I have never been bitten by one expect for chiggers. I have heard they are really tiny spiders but I don't like to think of them as such. Oh, I have also been been bitten by ticks a number of times but I don't think of them in the same way as a gross creepy spider even though they are classified as spiders. I must say ticks are pretty gross though but not as gross as SPIDER spiders. The grossest tick to me are those fat, beige colored dog ticks. Those are gross.

 

[Sharky]

when i was young, i always wanted to see spiders cause they're so cool. So in a classroom in grade 2 or 3 i think, there's this huge spider living on the roof which we were like calling it Challotte (from chalottes web ).

 

[waterwizard]

Did you ever crumble up a cookie near a bunch of ants, and just sit and watch? My granddaughter was completely mesmerized watching them pick up the crumbs and disappear into the ant hill. It was the most exciting thing she had ever seen, you would have thought.

 

[Beckijhn]

Waterwizard I have a great gift idea for your granddaughter. My son loves ants (all bugs and spiders) and his grandma got him an ant farm. I think there are a ton of things put out by Uncle Milton Inc for stuff like that.

We have the tadpoles and the ants. Next we'll be hatching butterflies if my son has his way. He wants to be an entomologist and since winter started bug hunting is scarce. So we bring them in and set up aquriums - Ish.

We have two aquariums set up for spring. (They used to house rats, but the rats moved up to roomier homes.) We'll be watching nature unfold in teh hunter and the hunted!

 

[lookinguptoo]

Yes, ants are marvelous creatures. I remember as a very small child enjoying watching ants as they built ant hills and gathered food. I can understand you granddaughters fascination with them. Ants are neat, tidy little creatures that stay busy and mind their own business so they don't make one's skin crawl like a spider or snake does. I grew up in the woods where there were all sorts of ants in size and color. So I have a few ant stories too. Once my family went to another family's house to eat and their house had quite a number of ants living inside so while we were eating all of a sudden a big black ant dropped from the ceiling right into my sister's cup of water. Needless to say, my sister asked for another cup of water!

 

[VolatileHamster]

Actually, ticks aren't spiders, but they ARE in the Arachnid class which includes spiders, scorpians, ticks, and mites

 

[VolatileHamster]

I think I'm going to post some pics of spiders, just because I have such a morbid fascination of them. View at your own risk!!

Sydney Funnel Web spider!! The most venomous spider in the world!

Another funnel web

Brazillian Wandering spider pic 1

Brazillian Wandering spider pics 2

Wolf Spider!!
Now, many of you may have seen these wolf spiders in your garden or backyard.... They are supposedly aren't harmfull to humans, AND they kill pesky insects in your garden! So if you can tolerate their presence, they will help control the insect population in your garden

The infamous black window

 

[VolatileHamster]

brown recluse

Here's some really interesting spider info!

Another brazillian wandering spider pic

Look at this story of a guy who got bitten by a Brazillian Wandering spider!



Pictures of the Goliath Tarantula - the biggest spider in the world!