Spider debrief

[Jsaint]

Time for a investment in anti spider tech!

Go 2watt and never look back, remember your laser goggles!

Advantages: you can be a mile away or even outside looking in the window.

You can hit them faster than they can move.

Disadvantages: burns dark surfaces not recommended for dark walls.

I have seen a 2 watt laser fry a spider at 12' in 2 seconds.

[Quiet_Hollow]

He bent over and took a drink of water directly out of the outdoor faucet, then proceeded to dance around the yard, spitting.

Good tip. [Y] I'll make sure to exercise more caution around spigots. Ranks right up there with trailer tongues and wasps.

Go 2watt and never look back, remember your laser goggles!

Great idea. Looking into that, as I write. []

Now that I know what a hunstman looks like, and what their demeanor is...my next encounter shouldn't be such a cluster.

I hope.

Hasn't kept me from plugging up every nook and crevice before going to bed however. [:$]

[TasDom]

That is one menacing looking spider! Makes me not mind the tarantulas and scorpions around here as much. But if you ever had a 12" centipede charging in your direction, you might prefer the huntsman![:|]

[oscarsear]

Eons ago (whence I was maybe 7 or 8) my older brother and I were advised (told) that we had to attend a birthday party for a girl. This edict (from Mom) was non negotiable, so - we determined to add some flare into the event. We had a big rubber spider outfitted with a suction cup such that you could stick it upon a wall.......... or a ceiling. And so we went about figuring out how to throw this artificial arachnid in a way that we could routinely and predictably get it to stick upon the ceiling. Yessir, we did, and we got real good at it. It worked - 1 one toss resulting in a perfect "POP' and a solid stick, dead center upon the living room ceiling! The squeals and the panicked, mass exodus was priceless. We got caught. Of course somebody saw us fling the dang thing. They took away the rubber lizard before we could use it. It was one of those events that hatched a life dedicated to perfection - regardless of the consequences. You could say it lead me to Klipsch. It was one of those finer moments - when a plan comes together (mostly).

[Quiet_Hollow]

Two things:

1. I guess it's a good thing I stay up a little later than usual...maybe.

2. The cat is definitely earning her keep.

Last night was attack of the ants. Over the course of an hour, she found six of the little bastards. Some foraging near the pantry door, and a couple larger ones hanging out around the bicycles. Pest control dropped by last week and put down some bait, so we're not too surprised. Found a couple dead ones the next morning. Good to go there.

[Y]

Tonight was the clincher though...

We were all enjoying Galaxy Quest on Blu-ray when the cat went into sniper mode again.

Ears forward, and staring straight at the thermostat, without so much as a flinch.

"Yep. Another crawler. What'd ya find this time kiddo?"

I turned on the light to see some kind of six-legged creep chillin' out on the wall.

This time around, one good whack with the sandal was all that was required.

No drama, until I tried to identify the thing....

"Hmmm..some kind of bug. Let's see....Boxelder? nope. Love? nope. Leaf-footed? nope. Netwing? nope."

"Ahhh....Kissing Bug....Hmm."

"blah...blah...blah..blood sucker...(~oh great~) blah..blah-blah...blah....Chagas Disease?! What's that?"[:|]

Oh holy hell! What a pleasant way to die!

Well, at least I think I discovered what the Huntsman was probably after.

Can't say I'm all that excited now knowing that as of late, the three of us have probably been on the local menu. [:S]

The problem with this feller is...they're actually a pretty big deal right now. The CDC has taken notice. If we happen to see one of these things., we're not even supposed to touch the blasted thing. [8-)]

Trap it, asphyxiate it, and report it. See here: http://today.agrilife.org/2013/03/13/never-kiss-a-kissing-bug-4/

Check out the biter on my would-be assailant!

"Gonzo called, he wants his nose back!" [:|]

[Islander]

First: Yikes! The kissing bug looks like really bad news. I hope the country is able to get them under control to at least some degree.

Second: I had good results with insecticide chalk. It used to be sold in corner stores when I lived in Toronto. A pack has two sticks of what looks like normal white blackboard chalk. You make a stripe on the floor or wall with it, wherever the bugs are travelling, and any bugs that walk on it die within a couple of hours.

One day I had a little highway of ants going to and from the cat's dish, but once I put a stripe or two across their path, in a couple of hours there were fifty ants lying around the bowl, twitching their last twitches.

The only bugs not affected were millipedes. I guess with all those feet, they step too lightly to absorb any poison.

I eventually got rid of all the bugs in that house, but the first year was pretty aggravating.

[oscarsear]

Ants............ I came upon a very successful ant kill strategy some years ago. Typically I would tackle individual incursions, trying to knock them down one invasion at a time. But they always found ways to return. When I became single again I got into a habit of loading a dishwasher over several days time before operating a clean cycle. The ants found their way inside the unit and happily dined upon the still dirty dishes (no, I do not prerinse). Easy enough, just run the thing and they're gone. Then I thunk about it. I started to seed ant bait traps inside the unit. And for the 1st time they gorged the stuff down. Over several days time they'd empty like 6 of these regular OTC ant bait traps. Then you look inside and it becomes very creepy. The entire infestation goes slo-mo. They do all the same moves only really sluggish. Then you know they've had it. And it is not just the ones inside the dishwasher at the time. You kill the entire nest this way. They take that stuff back to their nests and feed everyone. You do need to make certain to remove all the ant bait traps before running the unit. But this is the cure where ant spray is just a band-aid. Here's another tip. Yellow jacket bait traps - use fried chicken instead of those pheromone packets.