Spider central

I don't find many spiders in the house. Most of them are stuck in the
bathtub or sink and are small. They get in there and the surface is
too slippery for them to get out. I put them in a small glass and put
them outside. Sometimes I see one on the carpet but the cats aren't
interested.

---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44� 15' N - Elevation 1580')

On 6/14/2013 6:20 PM, Joy wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
As for snakes, just the other day I was sitting here in the corner of the
living room, typing away. I glanced out the glass door and saw a large
black snake was slithering across the patio. I'm not exaggerating, that
sucker was over 3 feet (about a meter) long.

I'm glad it was too hot for me to be sitting outside. I probably would
have screamed like a girl... wait, I AM a girl! These black snakes
aren't poisonous but I sure don't want one slithering over my feet.

The thing I have an absolute horror of is Palmetto bugs. They look like
really large cockroaches, but they can fly! shudder

Jill

I'm sorry, and don't want to belittle anyone's fear of snakes, but the idea
of a snake that small being considered large strikes my funnybone. The
rattlesnakes that grow in the hills around here easily reach twice that
size. I avoid poisonous snakes, and any snake if I don't know whether or
not it's poisonous. However, I like the nonpoisonous ones, and have held
them several times. Once I was one of several people holding a snake that
was about 20 feet (6 or 7 metres) long. Another time I held a little one,
about one and a half times the size of yours, for about 20 minutes. It was
draped across my shoulders, and wound its tail around the temple of my
glasses. When the owner went to take it back, I had to take off my glasses
so we could unwind it. I quite enjoyed that.

Joy

Okay, so 3 ft long is small to you. You wouldn't have picked this
guy/gal up and draped it over your shoulders. Why? Because they're
extremely aggressive. They do have fangs and they won't hesitate to
bite if they feel threatened. If I'd been sitting outside and it
slithered over my feet and I jerked my foot I'd have probably gotten a
nasty bite.

Same thing with the skinks (large lizards) around here. A young
broadhead skink took up residence under the cover over my firepit.
They're not aggressive but if you try to pick one up they will latch on
with their teeth and not let go. This is "Rosie" (my nickname for him/her):

http://tinypic.com/m/hsorb4/4

These can grow to 13 inches long, which probably doesn't sound very big
either.

Jill

On 6/14/2013 9:02 PM, ---MIKE--- wrote:
I don't find many spiders in the house. Most of them are stuck in the
bathtub or sink and are small. They get in there and the surface is
too slippery for them to get out. I put them in a small glass and put
them outside. Sometimes I see one on the carpet but the cats aren't
interested.

---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44� 15' N - Elevation 1580')

Yes, I find them occasionally in the bathtub, in the guest bathroom. (I
don't use that tub, just give it a rinse once in a while.)

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 went to scoot a piece
of cardboard under it to set it outside, literally hundreds of baby
spiders came swarming off it! Sorry to say, I had to resort to
pesticide because I sure as hell didn't want hundreds of spiders growing
up in the house.

Persia's not interested in spiders. Moths are a different story.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 6/14/2013 6:20 PM, Joy wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
As for snakes, just the other day I was sitting here in the corner of
the
living room, typing away. I glanced out the glass door and saw a large
black snake was slithering across the patio. I'm not exaggerating, that
sucker was over 3 feet (about a meter) long.

I'm glad it was too hot for me to be sitting outside. I probably would
have screamed like a girl... wait, I AM a girl! These black snakes
aren't poisonous but I sure don't want one slithering over my feet.

The thing I have an absolute horror of is Palmetto bugs. They look like
really large cockroaches, but they can fly! shudder

Jill

I'm sorry, and don't want to belittle anyone's fear of snakes, but the
idea
of a snake that small being considered large strikes my funnybone. The
rattlesnakes that grow in the hills around here easily reach twice that
size. I avoid poisonous snakes, and any snake if I don't know whether or
not it's poisonous. However, I like the nonpoisonous ones, and have held
them several times. Once I was one of several people holding a snake
that
was about 20 feet (6 or 7 metres) long. Another time I held a little
one,
about one and a half times the size of yours, for about 20 minutes. It
was
draped across my shoulders, and wound its tail around the temple of my
glasses. When the owner went to take it back, I had to take off my
glasses
so we could unwind it. I quite enjoyed that.

Joy

Okay, so 3 ft long is small to you. You wouldn't have picked this
guy/gal up and draped it over your shoulders. Why? Because they're
extremely aggressive. They do have fangs and they won't hesitate to bite
if they feel threatened. If I'd been sitting outside and it slithered
over my feet and I jerked my foot I'd have probably gotten a nasty bite.

Same thing with the skinks (large lizards) around here. A young broadhead
skink took up residence under the cover over my firepit. They're not
aggressive but if you try to pick one up they will latch on with their
teeth and not let go. This is "Rosie" (my nickname for him/her):

http://tinypic.com/m/hsorb4/4

These can grow to 13 inches long, which probably doesn't sound very big
either.

Jill

I'd never pick up a snake unless I knew it was a safe kind.

Rosie is cute. I think 13 inches is fairly large for a lizard that isn't one
of the varieties that get huge.

Joy

Joy

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 6/14/2013 9:02 PM, ---MIKE--- wrote:
I don't find many spiders in the house. Most of them are stuck in the
bathtub or sink and are small. They get in there and the surface is
too slippery for them to get out. I put them in a small glass and put
them outside. Sometimes I see one on the carpet but the cats aren't
interested.

---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44� 15' N - Elevation 1580')

Yes, I find them occasionally in the bathtub, in the guest bathroom. (I
don't use that tub, just give it a rinse once in a while.)

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 went to scoot a piece of
cardboard under it to set it outside, literally hundreds of baby spiders
came swarming off it! Sorry to say, I had to resort to pesticide because
I sure as hell didn't want hundreds of spiders growing up in the house.

Persia's not interested in spiders. Moths are a different story.

Jill

Eww! I'd have done the same thing. Although I've seen much larger spiders,
I'd definitely consider that one large, especially if it was in my house.

Joy

Joy wrote:

I'm sorry, and don't want to belittle anyone's fear of snakes, but the idea
of a snake that small being considered large strikes my funnybone.

I can still laugh at my reaction to the first snake I ever encountered
in the wild (I was a city girl, born and bred). I KNEW it was just a
harmless "garter" snake - which do not grow very big. However, in my
perceptions it took on the dimensions of a very large boa constrictor!

Fortunately, the shock didn't last - in later years when I encountered a
pet python at the annual "Blessing of the Animals" my Hollywood CA
church held, I asked if I could pet it. (Lovely - so silky smooth.
Where did snakes get the reputation of being "slimy"?)

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


Joy wrote:

I'm sorry, and don't want to belittle anyone's fear of snakes, but the
idea of a snake that small being considered large strikes my funnybone.

I can still laugh at my reaction to the first snake I ever encountered in
the wild (I was a city girl, born and bred). I KNEW it was just a
harmless "garter" snake - which do not grow very big. However, in my
perceptions it took on the dimensions of a very large boa constrictor!

Fortunately, the shock didn't last - in later years when I encountered a
pet python at the annual "Blessing of the Animals" my Hollywood CA church
held, I asked if I could pet it. (Lovely - so silky smooth. Where did
snakes get the reputation of being "slimy"?)

That "slimy" reputation puzzles me, too. I love the smooth, cool feel of a
snake. Of course, if you rub them the wrong way, they aren't so smooth.

Joy

"Sjouke Burry" wrote in message
...
On 14.06.13 3:23, jmcquown wrote:
cut
They freak me out too. That's why I bought peppermint oil. But it
didn't work. So no, I won't buy chestnut oil from those people who tout
all those natural deterrants. They don't work. It's like snake oil
salesmen. (A USIAN term for people who sold patent medicines in the
1800's that didn't do what they said they would do.)

I don't know what they heck else to do to keep them from coming in.

Jill
Well.... They like healthy air and environment ,
so, congratulations!!!
You have a clean, healthy home.........

That's what my mother used to say, Sjouke, but it's not a consolation.

Tweed

Chestnut oil is supposed to be their least favourite but I'm not about
to
pay loadsa money for it from the "don't like spiders? buy chestnut oil
from
us" people.
It's supposed to be a good thing if spiders like your house, apparently
means it is free of pollution.
Once upon a time, I was very afraid of them but now I've braved up
enough to
get them into a big fluffy towel. It has to be a big towel otherwise I
can't do it. I do not want to harm them just because I have a loathing
which I haven't entirely been able to control.

It does not matter how much I tell myself when faced with a big spider
"it
cannot harm you" they freak me out.

I'm pretty sure there's a biological component to the fear of snakes -
many
people seem to have it and so do many other animals. I'm not so sure how
that works for spiders, though. I have a feeling that's a much more
cultural
thing. Seems like in some places, people are a lot more easygoing about
bugs,
unless they know one to be dangerous, and then they seem to know what to
do
to avoid them. I don't think any other species of animal has a spider
phobia,
either (that I know of). So that one is probably taught.

But whether you were taught or you inherited it genetically, you have it
now, and it's not so easy to get rid of.

I am not afraid of snakes, not in the slightest, could easily handle one. I
am not afraid of beetles, moths, any insects, mice, can handle them with
impunity. BUT I cannot, simply cannot, get over my fear of large spiders.
Whether it's learnt behaviour I don't know as my mother didn't show me any
fear of them, but interestingly, one of my brothers is afraid of them and
the other is not.

You're doing a pretty good job, IMO!

Thanks. I've worked on it and I think I've gone as far as I can.
If anyone placed a tarantula on me, I am fairly sure my heart would stop.
I think that would be beyond a fluffy towel..

Tweed


--
Joyce

Hi, this is the Sylvia stress reduction hotline. At the sound of
the beep, repeat after me: "This week, let someone else strive for
excellence." -- Nicole Hollander

"Joy" wrote in message
. ..
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 6/14/2013 9:02 PM, ---MIKE--- wrote:
I don't find many spiders in the house. Most of them are stuck in the
bathtub or sink and are small. They get in there and the surface is
too slippery for them to get out. I put them in a small glass and put
them outside. Sometimes I see one on the carpet but the cats aren't
interested.
Yes, I find them occasionally in the bathtub, in the guest bathroom. (I
don't use that tub, just give it a rinse once in a while.)

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 went to scoot a piece of
cardboard under it to set it outside, literally hundreds of baby spiders
came swarming off it! Sorry to say, I had to resort to pesticide because
I sure as hell didn't want hundreds of spiders growing up in the house.

Persia's not interested in spiders. Moths are a different story.

Jill

Eww! I'd have done the same thing. Although I've seen much larger
spiders, I'd definitely consider that one large, especially if it was in
my house.

Joy

Blimey, you wouldn't have like the 3" girl that set up home behind my spice
jars a while ago. I really did have to gird my loins to deal with her.
Although I knew she was there (she had big eyes and it seemed like she was
staring at me) it took me ages to finally brave up to that one..weeks.
But eventually, you have to do what you have to do. No good calling on my
brother Andrew, who lives nearest, he's worse than me about spiders and I
doubt my other brother, John, would travel 60 miles to do it.
He would say "get Andrew to do it" (as he doesn't know, AFAIK, that Andrew
has this fear too, and I'm not going to tell him either)

Tweed