It is a Presidents Day miracle!!! Eric started cleaning his den and he is letting me "help". Think I'll find any critters in there?

It is a Presidents Day miracle!!! Eric started cleaning his den and he is letting me "help". Think I'll find any critters in there?

Yes, there will be six legged ones. Likely squashed some long forgotten time ago.

---

Eeek! Representatives from Class Insecta do not tend to be amongst my favorite critters.

Eeek! Representatives from Class Insecta do not tend to be amongst my favorite critters.

Me neither, As long as their outside where they belong, I leave them alone, But they come in here and I kill them, Heck I used to be really afraid of spiders for a long time.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Spiders are arachnids, not insects, but I imagine I will find a few of them in Eric's den as well. I'm hoping all the Black Widow spiders I find will be dead ones.

Spiders are arachnids, not insects, but I imagine I will find a few of them in Eric's den as well. I'm hoping all the Black Widow spiders I find will be dead ones.

Yeah I know, But I can't stand the things no matter what. Me too, the deader the better.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Do you have Black Widow Spiders in your area Vic? We definitely have them up here...

Several years ago I thought I saw a Black Widow in my tool shed so I called upon Eric, the mighty-mighty spider hunter, to dispatch her for me. Well Eric went outside with a can of Raid and pretty soon I heard a big whoosh as he sprayed the spider with Raid. Then Eric moved a flower pot in the shed and I heard another mighty whoosh. Then he moved a broom and whoosh went that Raid can again. After several more "whooshes" Eric finally threw up his hands in disgust, got in the car and drove to a local hardware store. He came home with a flea bomb, set that baby off, threw it in my shed, slammed the door shut and said to me (totally deadpan) "Don't open the door for a few days."

My husband is a paragon of efficiency.

We see more brown recluses in the desert.

---

Yeah they exist in the High Desert as they also do in the Central Valley, As I'd lived in Tulare once, I loved the fog as a kid.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

We have a Brown Widow down here. Same markings and poison as the Black Widow but as the name implies, they are a shiny brown. Of course the Black Widows are around too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrodectus_geometricus

---

PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Yeah, As Angela said Raid works for Eric and for Me too.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

When I was in NC for college, we had a dorm clean weekend and when my RA and I went to check the window gutters there was a load of them infesting several wells. Since the area was just dirt and no bushes around the wells we just threw lighter fluid in and lit em up.

---

The RAID we get here is like spraying flies with water ... absolutely useless.

Spray a fly, surrounding it with a cloud of atomised RAID, and it just sits there unaffected. Spray is 6 or more times and it may eventually start rubbing it's legs together to show something irritating has landed on it. But nothing as an effect.

Bring back DDT when fly and insect killer was as it said on the tin. But this completely de-leathilised sprays they sell on Health & Safety grounds is absolutely useless.


Aaaarrrggghhh!

---

It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

Sorry John, you wouldn't want to be near DDT ;)
Something with Pyretrum tends to do the trick for airborne critters - and non-toxicity to humans is under review there as well.
That happens if you want safe. Unless there are economic interests at work - so don't try to ask for safe toys (e.g. from China).

For spiders I use a glass. And one day the @*&$ thing followed me back...

---

Carola
-------
I'm multilingual - I can misunderstand people in several languages!

For me, Raid works okay for most bugs but trying it on spiders they just start looking for their umbrellas. Same way with wasps. I've found they make a special formula for spiders that works really well and another for wasps that shoots a stream about ten feet out so they die before they figure out who sprayed them and attack!

---

PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

For me, Raid works okay for most bugs but trying it on spiders they just start looking for their umbrellas. Same way with wasps. I've found they make a special formula for spiders that works really well and another for wasps that shoots a stream about ten feet out so they die before they figure out who sprayed them and attack!

Yeah, Wasps, Bee very afraid, As they reputably can sting like Killer Bees, Over and over and over and, Well You get the idea, Their crazy... Spiders are tame by comparison though.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

As Dr. Vladimir Ovtsharenko has stated, "No matter where you are, you are never more that six feet from a spider".

Sleep well, my friends.

My friends, this thread is so wonderfully picture-heavy that out of courtesy to our dial-up users I think is time to start a new thread.

See you all in the next installment of the Critter Cafe!

Fondly,
ang.