Spider central

"Judith Latham" wrote in message
...
In article , Christina Websell
wrote:
Normally I only see house spiders in the autumn when it's breeding
season but atm they are appearing somewhere in the house most days. So
I have big fluffy towel nearby to scoop them up if they are crawling up
the walls and flap it outside but I swear they are homing spiders.
Boyfie keeps his eye on the floor, and sorts out the ground attack with
a paw pat and a crunch as he eats them. He will watch for ages if he
sees one go under a piece of furniture, it's sort of like mousing.
Wait long enough without moving a muscle and they think you are gone -
but you are not - voila!

I think that with my putting outside strategy and Boyfie's ground attack
there are none left today. Or at least I can't see any...

Tweed

We've had several spiders too. I think it's the cold weather.

I haven't seen Sootie with a spider yet, so I don't know what she would do
with one. As she's a hunter with mice and birds I'm expecting her to hunt
them too.

Judith

As Sootie is a hunter, like Boyfie, she would probably catch one and crunch
it like he does.
He makes a face when he does it, as I don't think they taste as nice as
mousies, but as he waits very patiently like a stone for this prey to
emerge, he probably feels obliged to eat it.
BTW, only had a smallish spider today (1") too far up the wall for me to get
because I can only raise one arm after the accident I had falling over
Boyfie.
I am sure that Sootie will hunt spiders if she likes hunting. Boyfie
employs the wait and watch silently, pat very hard technique which he would
like to pass on to her as a spider hunter virgin, so to speak..

Tweed





--
Judith Latham
Stourbridge, West Midlands. UK.

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"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

No, I definitely wouldn't have liked that!

Fortunately, except for the tiny spiders on the playpen, my worst spider
experience really wasn't bad, although I was quite nervous. Someone took me
on a hike near Sydney, Australia. We were very close to the water; in fact
we were going to a ferry terminal. On one side of the trail there were
houses. On the other side there were large trees. The trees were filled
with gigantic spider webs, crawling with dozens, maybe hundreds, of large
spiders. Their bodies must have been at least an inch in diameter. I don't
have a spider phobia, although as I said, I really don't like the large
ones. The only thing that kept me on the trail was that the trees weren't
too close to it. If there had been one of those webs full of spiders over
the trail, I don't think I could have gone there. I'd have kept thinking
one of them might drop on me.

Joy

On 6/13/2013 8:31 PM, jmcquown wrote:

Hopefully your invasion has stopped. I've got some spiders spinning
webs again on either side of the front door. The infusion of peppermint
oil didn't discourage them. Spraying the area with a hose doesn't stop
them. They keep building webs there. There are already egg sacks out
there. (sigh)

Jill

Spiders are one of my big fears. I keep walking through webs or drop
lines or whatever every time I go outside. OOooo..
--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On 6/13/2013 9:05 PM, Christina Websell wrote:

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

Same here, Tweed.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On 6/14/2013 9:17 AM, jmcquown wrote:

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.

A couple of years ago I was sitting outside on my front porch, more like
a slab of concrete in front of my door. I heard a soft noise and turned
around, and a rat snake was slithering down the wall right behind me!
OMG I don't think I've run in the opposite direction so fast in my life!
It was a little bigger than your black snake friend, but still a
juvenile because it still had stripes. I haven't seen it, or any
others, since. They sure do stay hidden.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On 6/15/2013 3:49 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


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"?)

Someone brought a snake to the blessing of the animals? They do that at
my mom's church, and she's the designated picture taker for the event.
She loves it. She's never mentioned animals other than dogs or cats in
the years she's been doing it.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On 6/15/2013 9:49 PM, Cheryl wrote:
On 6/13/2013 8:31 PM, jmcquown wrote:

Hopefully your invasion has stopped. I've got some spiders spinning
webs again on either side of the front door. The infusion of peppermint
oil didn't discourage them. Spraying the area with a hose doesn't stop
them. They keep building webs there. There are already egg sacks out
there. (sigh)

Jill

Spiders are one of my big fears. I keep walking through webs or drop
lines or whatever every time I go outside. OOooo..

When I lived in TN I'd occasionally walk between two trees to get to the
mailbox at the end of the driveway. One day I almost walked through a
huge web strung between the trees. It made me feel "ookie" even though
I never touched it. There's just something unsettling about a spider's web.

Jill

"Cheryl" wrote in message
eb.com...
On 6/15/2013 3:49 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


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"?)

Someone brought a snake to the blessing of the animals? They do that at
my mom's church, and she's the designated picture taker for the event. She
loves it. She's never mentioned animals other than dogs or cats in the
years she's been doing it.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

They do that at my church, too. We get mostly dogs and cats, but over the
years we've had a snake, a rabbit, a guinea pig, a horse, and once even a
tarantula.

Joy

Cheryl wrote:
On 6/15/2013 3:49 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


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"?)

Someone brought a snake to the blessing of the animals? They do that at
my mom's church, and she's the designated picture taker for the event.
She loves it. She's never mentioned animals other than dogs or cats in
the years she's been doing it.

Well, I DID say it was a church in Hollywood! ;-) You'd often
encounter a few exotics, there. (Pets, that is.)

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


Cheryl wrote:
On 6/15/2013 3:49 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


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"?)

Someone brought a snake to the blessing of the animals? They do that at
my mom's church, and she's the designated picture taker for the event.
She loves it. She's never mentioned animals other than dogs or cats in
the years she's been doing it.

Well, I DID say it was a church in Hollywood! ;-) You'd often encounter
a few exotics, there. (Pets, that is.)

My church is in a small city about 40 miles from Hollywood.

Joy