Spider central

jmcquown wrote:

The thing that freaked me out last year was a large (about 1") for this
area spider on the floor of the kitchen.

When I first moved to California, I was a little freaked about the size
of the local arachnids. They're not really that big in the grand scheme of
things, but compared to the ones in Massachusetts, they were enormous. And
the first apartment I lived in was on the top floor, with a ceiling that
was little more than the inside of the roof. It looked pretty, but it was
very easy for spiders to crawl through the cracks between boards and hang
out on my ceiling.

On the upside, all the ants around here are tiny. The ones I would see in
Massachusetts were on average about half an inch long or maybe a little
smaller, but some species were as long as an inch.

--
Joyce

"Riveting reading that keeps readers reading."
-- The Midwest Book Review

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
jmcquown wrote:

The thing that freaked me out last year was a large (about 1") for this
area spider on the floor of the kitchen.

When I first moved to California, I was a little freaked about the size
of the local arachnids. They're not really that big in the grand scheme of
things, but compared to the ones in Massachusetts, they were enormous. And
the first apartment I lived in was on the top floor, with a ceiling that
was little more than the inside of the roof. It looked pretty, but it was
very easy for spiders to crawl through the cracks between boards and hang
out on my ceiling.

On the upside, all the ants around here are tiny. The ones I would see in
Massachusetts were on average about half an inch long or maybe a little
smaller, but some species were as long as an inch.

--
Joyce

"Riveting reading that keeps readers reading."
-- The Midwest Book Review

It's funny how we react to things we're used to and things we don't. I
don't want ants in my house, but they don't bother me as long as they stay
outside. However, the big ones, which I see occasionally, give me the
creeps. Of course, one reason for that is that the red ones can sting.
However, I've seen black ants that large too, and they still make me
shudder.

Joy

Joy wrote:

"Bastette" wrote in message

On the upside, all the ants around here are tiny. The ones I would see in
Massachusetts were on average about half an inch long or maybe a little
smaller, but some species were as long as an inch.

It's funny how we react to things we're used to and things we don't. I
don't want ants in my house, but they don't bother me as long as they stay
outside. However, the big ones, which I see occasionally, give me the
creeps. Of course, one reason for that is that the red ones can sting.
However, I've seen black ants that large too, and they still make me
shudder.

Eek. For some reason I've never seen any big ones where I live. I've only
seen the tiny Argentine ants. They don't bother me much when there's only
one or maybe a few, but occasionally I'll get the ant superhighway going
across my living room to the cat food. Actually that hasn't happened in quite
a long time and I hope not to have it again.

How big *are* these red ones??

--
Joyce

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good
many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
-- Joseph Wood Krutch

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
Joy wrote:

"Bastette" wrote in message

On the upside, all the ants around here are tiny. The ones I would see
in
Massachusetts were on average about half an inch long or maybe a little
smaller, but some species were as long as an inch.

It's funny how we react to things we're used to and things we don't. I
don't want ants in my house, but they don't bother me as long as they
stay
outside. However, the big ones, which I see occasionally, give me the
creeps. Of course, one reason for that is that the red ones can sting.
However, I've seen black ants that large too, and they still make me
shudder.

Eek. For some reason I've never seen any big ones where I live. I've only
seen the tiny Argentine ants. They don't bother me much when there's only
one or maybe a few, but occasionally I'll get the ant superhighway going
across my living room to the cat food. Actually that hasn't happened in
quite
a long time and I hope not to have it again.

How big *are* these red ones??

--
Joyce

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good
many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
-- Joseph Wood Krutch

Oh, they're probably half an inch long, or maybe even a little less, but
that makes them huge compared to the ones I usually see. Actually, I
haven't seen a red ant in years, and I'm very happy to keep it that way.
I've been stung, or bitten, or whatever it is they do a couple of times, and
it *hurts*!

Joy

Joy wrote:

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
Joy wrote:

"Bastette" wrote in message

On the upside, all the ants around here are tiny. The ones I would see
in
Massachusetts were on average about half an inch long or maybe a little
smaller, but some species were as long as an inch.

It's funny how we react to things we're used to and things we don't. I
don't want ants in my house, but they don't bother me as long as they
stay
outside. However, the big ones, which I see occasionally, give me the
creeps. Of course, one reason for that is that the red ones can sting.
However, I've seen black ants that large too, and they still make me
shudder.

Eek. For some reason I've never seen any big ones where I live. I've only
seen the tiny Argentine ants. They don't bother me much when there's only
one or maybe a few, but occasionally I'll get the ant superhighway going
across my living room to the cat food. Actually that hasn't happened in
quite
a long time and I hope not to have it again.

How big *are* these red ones??

--
Joyce

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good
many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
-- Joseph Wood Krutch

Oh, they're probably half an inch long, or maybe even a little less, but
that makes them huge compared to the ones I usually see. Actually, I
haven't seen a red ant in years, and I'm very happy to keep it that way.
I've been stung, or bitten, or whatever it is they do a couple of times, and
it *hurts*!

Sounds like fire ants. Fire ants are red, and they're aggressive, and
their sting hurts a lot. I didn't realize they lived in California. I
always think of Texas when someone mentions them.

I wonder if the tiny ants even recognize the bigger ones as their own,
well, not species, but family? I guess that's how a domestic cat might
view a lion.

--
Joyce

The heck with top and bottom -- I want relationships with strangeness
and charm.

Spiders don't bother me in the least. I have a calendar this year a friend of mine was selling that has shots of UK spiders on it and some of them in close up. I wouldn't mind seeing a spider. I wanted to get into macro photography so last year I spent £375 on a 90mm macro lens and guess what? I haven't seen a spider since apart from once when I didn't have my camera with me.

My odd fear is stag beetles- I've never even seen a live one but pictures of them make me shudder. Years ago I was spending a day in the Natural History Museum (one of my favourite places in London to spend a day) and I strolled around the insect gallery and as I came out I looked up. They had a massive model of a stag beetle about to take off mounted over the exit. I thought "if that falls on me I'll have a heart attack".

When the LOTR movies came out I went with 2 severe arachnophobes and when Shelob came on the screen they both covered their eyes and begged me to "tell them when it goes away"

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs