How do you feel today? v. 3.0

[Shuram Gudatetris]

I have a lot of wolf spiders come and go through my house. They don't seem to bother anything, so I let them be. The dogs pounce on them once in a while though haha

[deer of the dawn]

In Nigeria we have what we call wall spiders, because they're usually on the wall and they are very flat. We leave them alone because they don't bite and I do like to think that they are preying on other bugs. There is a jumping spider here (jumping spiders pounce on prey rather than build a web) that has a taste for blood-engorged mosquitos, so I read.

What I don't like are the cockroaches (the big, Palmetto-bug type), the centipedes, the ticks, the scorpions. Killed the biggest one I'd ever seen the other day- if you stretched the tail out, it would have been 5 or 6 inches, not really sure. They are not fatal here but the bite is said to be phenomenally painful. The cat keeps the house clear of them, thank God.

Then there are mango worms. Trust me- you don't want to know. But basically no matter what you are doing here, an insect wants to be a part of it.

[wayfriend]

Wikipedia contains a page about it, and also explains the runic inscription. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaksala_Runestone

The Vaksala runestone is one of the approximately forty runestones made by the successful runemaster Öpir. ... The inscription on the stone reads "You have entered the cave of Jörmungandr. Make a saving throw vs. magical fire."

[Cameraman Jenn]

Apparently the darker the color of the scorpion's carapace, the less poisonous it's venom. So watch out for the light colored ones. I had a black emperor scorpion named Bosco and she was about 8 inches from eyes to tail. She was very gentle and we used to take her out and let her crawl on us when I lived with Julie and Syrena (and Heatherly who didn't pay rent) in college. She would motor around the house and crawl up on your hand if you put it down next to her, I think she liked the body heat. I had Bosco for a year and a half and then she had babies! Apparently female scorpions can mate and store the sperm in their bodies for even a couple years and when they feel secure or comfortable enough to raise a brood they impregnate themselves. I was shocked to come home and find Bosco teeming with tiny white babies all over her back. Of course my ex husband Jeff who was at that time my fiance and we had only been living together for less than a month was less than pleased. He wigged out. I ended up calling the entomology department at Oregon state and they were thrilled and begged me to let them have her during her maternal phase. Apparently they had been trying to breed them for years with no success. I agreed and took her there with the promise that they would only observe her and get to keep the babies when they dropped. Female scorpions tend their young. They carry them on their backs and feed them until they are old enough to start fending for themselves at which point they abandon Mother and go off on their own, She mothers them for 4-6 weeks depending on species. I got her back a month later and she was listless and died about two weeks after coming home. I'm still bitter. I think they poked and prodded her despite the agreement. I actually learned a lot having Bosco. She was a total impulse buy. I had gone to the pet store with Syrena to get some iguana food for her iguana, Cabal and they had this big tank with all the scorpions in separate little clear plastic boxes at the counter. When we went to pay I was fascinated at how beautiful they actually were and Syrena said, "Just get one Jenn, I already have Cabal's old tank with all the lights and the heat rock we need so we can set that up and I think it would be cool." We both watched them all for a while and then agreed that Bosco seemed like the one we wanted most. The very next day I came home to find Syrena sitting there with Bosco chilling on her arm. At first I was kinda like, "WHOA." because I never intended to handle her but Syrena told me she did a bunch of research and found out that the emperor scorpion sting is about as venemous as a bee sting and if she got stung the worst part would be the fact that Bosco's stinger was over a quarter inch long. So I thought what the heck and held Bosco on the back of my hand. It was magical.

[Cambo]

COOL Jenn!

[Shaun das Schaf]

I love this thread. You never know what you'll be reading about. Great Scorpion story Jenn!

I never kill spiders here either (but I understand those with phobias who do), on account of the insect-management function they perform, second only to my cats. Cockroaches are more of a problem. My first tiny little flat in this neck of the woods (Wollongong, 80ks down the coast from Sydney) was directly over the road from the beach and infested with the buggers (I didn't have cats then.) I'm mostly a live-and-let-live girl, but when you wake up to them crawling over your face or discover two large adults mating on your bedside table, well something inside you snaps and you become a kill-and-let-die girl! No problems in my current place, further from the sand/surf that our cockroaches love and also protected by two guard cats.

[Avatar]

Apparently the darker the color of the scorpion's carapace, the less poisonous it's venom. So watch out for the light colored ones.

Don't know about the colour, but do know that what you need to look for is the ratio between claws and poison sac.

Small claws and a fat stinger means it hunts with its venom. Big claws and a thin stinger means it relies on claws to catch things.

(I've been stung by a scorpion. Felt like a lit cigarette. Wasn't too poisonous...venom was sorta like a low-grade trip, but that might have had something to do with the hangover I was suffering at the time.)

--A

[Shuram Gudatetris]

What I don't like are the cockroaches (the big, Palmetto-bug type), the centipedes, the ticks, the scorpions. Killed the biggest one I'd ever seen the other day- if you stretched the tail out, it would have been 5 or 6 inches, not really sure. They are not fatal here but the bite is said to be phenomenally painful. The cat keeps the house clear of them, thank God.

Your cat hunts the scorpions, too? If so, that's really cool. Does she (or he) ever get stung?

[lorin]

or discover two large adults mating on your bedside table, well something inside you snaps and you become a kill-and-let-die girl!

If I found two adults messing up my bedroom furniture like that, I'd snap too! Night tables were not designed for that much weight. Besides, all that activity right next to me and no invitation????? Intolerable!


I am scared of box jelly fish in Australia.

[Shaun das Schaf]

or discover two large adults mating on your bedside table, well something inside you snaps and you become a kill-and-let-die girl!

If I found two adults messing up my bedroom furniture like that, I'd snap too! Night tables were not designed for that much weight. Besides, all that activity right next to me and no invitation????? Intolerable!

And now if you would kindly offer a replacement image for the cockroach-threesome that is currently crawling around my mind, I would be most grateful. (This would be a good time for a collective Watch 'Ewwww!')

I am scared of box jelly fish in Australia.

You should widen that fear. Though we apparently have the most venomous type (surprise surprise), members of this JF Clan get around other parts of the globe apparently too. In fact, from now on, you shouldn't leave home without a jelly fish net.

[Frostheart Grueburn]

And now if you would kindly offer a replacement image for the cockroach-threesome that is currently crawling around my mind, I would be most grateful.

Baby seals make everything better!




The most annoying experience with spiders I've had was when I woke up to feel one crawling on my cheek and that this bugger had spun a web with my fragging nose as one of its supporting points. The only thing strong Scandinavian schnozzles are good for, I guess...

[sgt.null]

Sonny has killed two possums in our house...



one in our bedroom and one in the dining room.

our awesome, possum killer...

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Zorm, thank you for the runic stones photos and for the attempt with the seal, even though I doubt it helps a lot... and not everyone needs that)

Very interesting area this topic went into)) Got to admit, I generally don't like when insects spread contamination and diseases or are otherwise harmful, and would rather see those that do, roaches, flies, parasitic worms and the like, out of my living area, but don't mind them much if they don't mess with people. Had killed a few centipedes long ago, before I understood the ones that live in our area weren't really dangerous, I mistakenly thought they could be at first( and feel sorry for that, they can sting and are poisonous, but not to a seriously threatening level and unlikely to do it, so now I'm more fine with them.

By the way, what is that the problem with possums? I'd guess they mess with trash, right? Because from the looks they're quite cute. Or at least for me, my view on such things is sometimes very unreliable, I can give you some photos that are cute in my opinion if you'd like to check it out

And I have particularly warm and fond feelings for scorpions and spiders. One of my favorite book characters is an alien that looks partially like a scorpion, and also somewhat like a rat and a few other creatures, with a chitin body, thin long claws, hairy presumably spider-like or maybe roach-like legs, short transparent wings and a scorpion-like poisonous tail.

[lorin]

By the way, what is that the problem with possums? I'd guess they mess with trash, right? Because from the looks they're quite cute. Or at least for me, my view on such things is sometimes very unreliable, I can give you some photos that are cute in my opinion if you'd like to check it out

Seems like the perfect place to put this link.
kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19018&highlight=possum

[aliantha]

And now if you would kindly offer a replacement image for the cockroach-threesome that is currently crawling around my mind, I would be most grateful.

Baby seals make everything better!

Yes, yes they do! <squees>

And Shaun, here you go:
EWWWWWWW!!!

[I'm Murrin]

Lost nearly an hour messing about on the new design Google+... despite the fact that I do not use and have no reason to use my G+ account at all, so it's time totally wasted.

[sgt.null]

going to zoo on friday - the two boy grand children will be along. i get my choice of lovely rental wheel chair.

went to a friends house and witnessed the red sox lose.

leg hurts some.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Shaun - a collective eww? Some are just not interested... and some hard to get an eww out of for any case, reading things like mentioned above from such an age I don't even remember how old I was may have something to do with that I can just write "eww" if you'd like me to though Actually did that many times already.

Murrin - well, you practiced your skills with getting acquainted with new interfaces at least

Sarge - about your leg, hope you get better and have fun with the zoo

[Cameraman Jenn]

What's wrong with opossums? Does this mean I get to tell another heartwarming pet story?

Suffer people, here it is, the story of "Ain'tFerLong the Opossum."

When I was a teenager I came home one saturday night and my Dad said he had something for me in the basket over by the coal stove. I ran over to look and there were blankets and a water dish so I immediately looked carefully in the blankets and there was a tiny baby opossum, so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand. My Dad had been out gardening and heard some wheel screeching coming from the s curve in the road by the garden. He looked over the hill and saw that a car had hit an opossum and it was still moving and trying to crawl out of the road dragging her back legs along. Since my Dad is a compassionate guy and hates to see any living creature suffer he sprinted down the hill, spade in hand to end what was clearly a no survival injury for the critter. Upon picking up the now dead opossum to give her a proper burial he discovered that she had a living baby in her pouch. The baby seemed uninjured so he brought him in the house and made him a comfortable place to stay to see if he would make it or not. He named him "Ain'tFerLong" because he told me he thought he was ain't fer long in this life without his momma. After consulting with one of his biologist friends we started feeding the baby watered down heavy cream from an eye dropper. I fell in love. I would take him out of his bed, feed him and then hit the couch half reclining and put him directly over my heart and cup my hand over him and he would wind his little tail around my pinky finger and fall asleep. He grew bigger and stronger and after a few weeks we started him on regular food, bits of table scraps supplemented by the "milk" he had been getting. He got big enough for us to decide to release him and so we did. He kept coming back to the house so my Dad ended up taking him out to the wildlife sanctuary in Woods Hole and re-releasing him there.

Just to warn you guys, I have tons of animal stories as a side effect of growing up with a man who's true heart's religion is a love and admiration for all things in nature. When my Dad brings home cool things he finds outside you can literally see him light up so much so that it's almost a spiritual transcendence.

Ahhh... remembering that more than made up for the moment of total aggravation I had today. I'll cover that in my blog.

[aliantha]

Great story, Jenn. We had opossums in the neighborhood where I grew up. They weren't half as annoying as the raccoons that kept outwitting my mother, no matter how she tied the lid on the garbage can.

So today was Magickmaker's move-out day. She'd been dithering over whether to ask me to take time off today to help. Finally, at about 2pm yesterday, she asks me if I could come home a little early today. Well, okay, so I put in for a 2-hour early departure (turns out it's classed as "unplanned" because I didn't let them know before 10am yesterday) and get home around 5pm. And Magickmaker is not here. So I call her. She and her new roommates are at IKEA, which is at least an hour away, down I-95, which is a zoo at the best of times -- and now it's rush hour. I loaded up my car with some of her stuff and waited...and waited.... They did not get back until 9:00pm. One of the women had never been to IKEA before, and she needed a bunch of stuff, and then it took forever to set up the home delivery for some of their purchases and.... Bottom line is that I should've just stayed at work this afternoon. And Magickmaker's furniture is still here. Granted, it's only two bookcases, a dresser and a chair, but still. Looks like it'll be Saturday before she can come and fetch it. Stay tuned....