Hey Havi, just one question, have you ever had spiders in you caveman cave, just wondering, Garry

 

Yep.

Quick story: 3 of us as teens were exploring an old lodge deep in the woods in MN. The root cellar went into the earth, and the outer door could open just enough for us to squeeze through one at a time. The inner door was the same, and as we got inside, it was about 5 feet by 5 feet by 7 feet tall. One of us had a flashlight, and we were there for a few minutes looking at the shelves, they were empty (bummer), but I caught a shadow move above us, and I said, "Shine the light up." He did, and we saw millions of big black spiders crawling all over the ceiling. Now, imagine 3 of us trying to squeeze through the door as fast as we could to get the Heck out of there.

As I've told others about this cellar, I've dared anyone to go in there for $50. (that was a lot for a youngster back then) I've had zero takers.

 

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Man i can just see you guys trying to get out. I was a carpenter for a number of years and i got to the point of refusing to crawl under old houses in this one are we would work at sometimes because of rattlers and black widows. I almost lost my job from it. Later after i started my own construction co. i never did work in that area.

 

I was laying under a car last year,it was dark and I had a flash light with me.All of of the sudden i felt something crawl inside my shorts.For a second I thought it was just debris but i had the the feeling it wasnt.I crawled from underneath in less than 2 seconds,got up,shook my shorts and nothing came out.So I started squeezing my shorts from the outside and I felt something by my rear pocket to I squeezed it tight and surely it was a stupid sun spider.

 

You guys are creeping me out. Like I said before, below 0 temperatures aren't looking so bad now.

Tardster, you said you have them around your house? I bought an '37 Buick a year or so from a guy in Peoria, it was sitting behind his shop for who knows how long and before that he said he bought it from someone further south. I asked if they have Brown Recluses in the area and he didn't even know what I was talking about. My concern was dragging a few of those b**tards back home with me and finding one the hard way while ripping the car apart. I didn't.

 

I knew a person in AZ that was bitten by a "Recluse" on the top of her hand while digging in the garden.

It took months for her to heal and it was not pretty.

There is a LOT of mis--info on the Recluse.....I found some interesting "stuff" here: UCR Spiders Site: Myth of the Brown Recluse

It's long and rambling but worth reading.


According to Wa State University, One doesn't find the Brown Recluse on the west coast.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spiders

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublicatio...48/eb1548.html


Bottom line on spiders is that you run more risk of poisoning yourself with the pesticides that you try to kill them with than getting hurt by one.


My "man-cave" is full of spiders... until I go on a vac- "rampage" with my shop vac! ( I use it on "killer" bees too!!)


It works well to use the shop vac and vacuum them all up on a regular basis......

 

I've only run across 2 species of snakes that I don't care for: live ones & dead ones. Always try to make sure they are in the latter group when I leave them.

 

Thats why I like Starter Fluid and a Bic

 

Not that I would have any personal expirience with that, but I heard tell that you can knock those giant hornets right out of the air that way!

Besides, I would rather talk about hornets and such than spiders and snakes!

 

I cleared some small trees around the property today trying to get it done before the snakes come out and before the leaves are on the trees. You can bet that I was looking where I was stepping though! As for the spiders, after all of these stories, I think it's time to spray again! We have brown recluses, black widows and scorpions too.

 

the crawl space under my house was super tight, and dirt floor muddy damp ect. i dug a basement under it. It used to have zillions of spiders and bugs liveing down there. then i put a de-humidifeire in there and it is like night and day now. now no bugs at all. they must suck that moisture in through their little shells or something because once i got the humididty down they all just dissappeared.

 

Oh yea we have them down here. Here in the Guard we have a program called RSP (Recruit Sustainment Program), its suppose to help the new soldiers who just joined but havent been to Basic and AIT yet. It is to teach them what to expect and they actually get to do the things that are taught in Basic. Anyway here at Camp Licoln its put out when units are here for drill to becareful for the Brown Recluse and they keep a few medics around just incase. I've killed a few of them that have gotten in the building that I work in...

 

wow some wold stories....
I never mentioned that we get rattlesnakes every year outside the house.Its always 2 or 3 of them last year we had 3.
1 a day for 3 consecutive days.
Last week we went to bury the remains of my gf's great grandma in a little cemetery in the middle of the desert and the guy who dug the hole found one trapped in there right after lunch

 

Actually Ross, he was in three pieces after two shots. Belt and suspenders, you know. The shovel was to bury the pieces. His head still looked alive even though there wasn't much body left. I understand they can still bite for some time. Is that a scorpion in your hand? Scary!

 

I dont think I have enough for a belt.anyone interested in a hat band?????
I hear stories of people going to the hospital because they ran their hands on their tires to check for nails and they would find rattlesnake fangs stuck in there.