ThomasPowers Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 As I have mentioned many times; I tend to not have open water in my smithy. Probably a hold over from my early Bladesmithing focus. We find the occasional scorpion and large centipede in the house and sometimes even beat the cats to the "crunchy cat toys". The centipedes become pate as my wife has a phobia about them. The scorpions get translocated to the arroyo. I know my shop does have black widows in it---their webs have a distinctive sound when you break the strands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Crunchy cat toys are marketable, an empty water bottle in an old sock makes our happy. Until Ronnie kills it that is. Centipede pate isn't inspiring mentionable snappy slogans or jingles for the voices. Remembering the sound of walking into a black widow's web is exciting them but not with marketing ideas. I like scorpions too, I've never had to terminate one, dumped a lot out of my boots camping though. Discovered moth balls keeps them away, though I still made sure nothing had crawled in for a nap. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Remember the Far Side cartoon captioned: "To his horror, Irving suddenly realized he had failed to check his own boots before putting them on just minutes ago." ? I check my leather gloves if I didn't store them in a sealed container. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QbBlacksmith Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 I wouldn’t drink from mine it doesn’t even look like water anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 It's funny, I rarely wore gloves in my desert rat phase. I don't keep water in the shop either though I pack a couple gallon milk jugs out to keep reins and such cool enough to hold or others from overheating. I DO like having some clean water close to cool burns though I don't give myself serious burns so much anymore. <Furiously knocking on my head> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I check my gloves, welding helmet and pretty much every drawer or parts bin, tool boxes ect… I don’t have any problems with scorpions, I do have a problems with black widows occasionally in the shop but the mud daubers usually take care of them, my main problem is brown recluse spiders, they get into everything! I’ve been bit three times in the past and it’s not an enjoyable experience. One of the bites got so bad I had to go to the hospital Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I wish I had stayed in Nebraska. Here they have more yellow jackets than possible (and probably worse flying killer insects, if thats possible), venemous snakes, brown recluse and heavens only knows what other kinds of spiders, lizards, fire ants.... I saw a beetle yesterday the size of a half dollar, with pincers to match. And that's if you don't get t-boned on the way home from work! But the people are nice here... bad drivers but nice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 We got the brown recluse here also. Fortunately never been bit. They like to hang out in dresser drawers. Generally though i leave spiders alone. Had this big gigantic black one that lived behind the kitchen sink that would come out and watch when some was doing dishes. The only insects i absolutely can not stand are roaches, earwigs, and ticks. We got a few timber rattlers here but you are more likely to run into some sort of moccasin or copperhead. The only critter to back me out of the barn was a skunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 4 minutes ago, BillyBones said: We got the brown recluse here also. Not up in my part of Ohio, thank goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Seems to be a good year for ticks. One maybe two a week so far. Best way I found to be sure they do not return is to stick them to a piece of tape, fold it over, and stick the tape to itself, sealing the tick inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Have you ever tried to get the skunk smell off a dog? I walked around a corner once and happened to trap a skunk. They hiss, have mean looking teeth and can be quite intimidating without the spray. Nice tick advice Glenn. They also go well down the toilet, if handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I like tossing them into a lit forge. Of course ticks are not insects, they are Arthropods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I have NEVER seen a tick crawl out of a piece of folded over tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Which now makes me wonder about flushing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinDoc Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I am not all that far from you Billy over here in Marysville and I don't think I have ever come across a brown recluse, granted I probably couldn't identify one anyways. We get more Wolf spiders in the house than anything. Kids are afraid of them, but as long as they aren't somewhere bad, I tend to leave em alone. They take care of the other little nasties in the house. Snake wise, worst I have come across is a tiny little garden snake. Only thing I really have to keep an eye out for is Hornets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 We are on the northern border of their habitat area. They do not get very big, about the size of a dime. Little brown kind of translucent guys with fiddle shaped markings. We have funnel web spiders coming out our ears here. They also have a fiddle shape on their backs which means that is not a way to identify a brown recluse on its own. Seems a lot of hornets, yellow jackets and carpenter bees this year. Thomas, did you mean Arachnid? Insects and Arachnids are both Arthropods. But of course Arachnids are not Insects. I am not saying you are wrong just wondering if you meant Arachnid. I should have just said bugs...now my head hurts from trying to remember high school science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 if find a tick on me in the house I normally just flush them, if I’m in the shop I use a benzomatic to fry em, and if I’m just outside somewere I just grind em up between two rocks. But the Brown recluse ALL get fried with the benzomatic, I don’t take my chances with them anymore after being bit. I’ve still got a gnarly scar from that ordeal and that’s been 15 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Griffin Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Here in lower Alabama we're blessed with all of the above. Only a few scorpions but they're here. Now throw in the red wasp and guinea wasp and you'll start looking under and behind everything you touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinDoc Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I am extremely weary of Hornets and Hornet-like insects such as wasps. I had a very nasty experience with happening too close to a hive of hornets as a young teenager. Was stung enough that I was taken to the hospital to be safe. Believe I was stung 13 some times. Mostly in my arm where they got into my sleeve. That was not a pleasant experience. Forget scorpions. Nope, nope, NOPE. Don't need to deal with spider-wasp nightmares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Yes I meant arachnids; thanks for catching that. I've just been reading a BBC article about a major find of fossilized echinoderms, (Jurassic), with their 5-fold radial symmetry and it threw my brain off. (Glad that the 12' long Silurian Eurypterids are not lurking at the beach anymore!) Now can we genetically modify Komodo Dragons with Gila Monsters to get a large venomous lizard? Bwahahahahah! (Must be time for my meds!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinDoc Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Thomas, that sounds like another cheesy sci-fi movie in the making! Genetically enhanced Komodo Dragon VS Giant Octopus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Perhaps: "Genetically enhanced Komodo DragonNado VS Giant OctopusNado!" (The find reported by the BBC has a lot of beautifully preserved crinoids, the tops as well as the stem "buttons". I remember collecting the crinoid rounds that have a 5 pointed star opening through the middle of them. The tops were rare finds in my experience.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I do fossil mosaics in tile as a side hobby, but never looked at crinoids. Very interesting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I was just talking to Thomas earlier this week about a bluff near by me that’s made up entirely of crinoid fossils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 A link to the BBC article please, Thomas? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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