Aagh! The spiders! They're everywhere! I used to be afraid of spiders. I used to run away shrieking whenever I saw them. But now, I hate them. I loath them. They are evil. They deserve a nice, long suffering death. Well, now to explain. For some reason, our house has recently gotten infested with spiders, of all shapes and sizes. We have the big ones, we have the small ones, we have the creepy tiny brownish ones that look like dots from far away and always pull their legs in, underneath their bodies. Yes, I've seen them enough to describe them like that. They are everywhere. Just about an hour ago, my sister saw a movement on the carpet, and upon looking closer, it was a humongous brown spider. She started panicking, but do you know what I did? I didn't scream. I didn't squeal and pull my legs up onto the computer chair. I just went to get a little cup to trap it under, and keep it under there for weeks and weeks until it's suffocated, or starved, or whatever, and it's pathetic little body is all shriveled up. I feel like the spiders around our house have overfed and are going to grow as big as the ones in the movie Eight-legged Freaks and take over the world. Spiders no longer deserve a short, smushed-up death. They must pace around their little containers for days upon days until they have wasted away. I am not satisfied with seeing their bodies squished into nothingness on a tissue paper anymore. I must see their dead, shriveled up bodies. I must see their legs curled up beneath their bodies as they wash down the drain with the water I drowned them with. I think this whole thing is bad for my mental health.
There've been a lot around Baltimore, too. I think the damp summer produced a lot of spider food (insects.) We called the bug man with the chemical sprays and he did the basement and around the outside of the house. He said we had more spiders than he'd seen before (but he was kind of young so I'm guessing he still had a lot to see in this world.)
Another glass of what, Lynet? Move to Minnesota. The cold keeps the spiders from getting too big, or too numerous ...
Guess Yeah, but I bet you've got other things that get big and that will bite humans...things with fur and fangs .
Kitty cats? We don't get many wolves in the city, if that's what you're hinting at. Skunks, maybe ...
Sorry. When I think of cold states I think of bears and mountain lions. What I've got running through my back yard (besides spiders) are squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits galore, foxes, badgers (a strange waddling little creature) and deer. I've heard of raccoons in the city. I've smelled skunks on occasion when traveling back roads. No wolves around, I'm sure. Whew!
Actually there has never been any official cases of wolves hunting people. Just the other was around.
Indeed. And another cool fact, 75% of all snake attacks in America involve intoxicated people and in 90% of snake attacks the person invaded the snake's established space. There have been documented cases of feral dog attacks (several where they ganged up on and mauled children to death, and in one case a child's father was convicted of killing his daughter until a forensic specialist in bite wound concluded it was several different domestic dogs that killed her) but no documented instances of unprovoked wolf attack on a human. Only the strongest or hungriest animals have the chutzpah to take on a human. Bears are an example; a bear will gladly maul a human that is blocking the way to a food source, but bears do not eat humans (apparently we taste awful). Even sharks, Nature's raw glutons, will usually take no more than a bite or two from a human. Even the dreaded "feeding frenzy", an event that leaves hundreds of fish consumed, will leave a human merely maimed by a passing shark that momentarily mistakes it for cod. The truth is, the "killer carnivores" are largely a myth. We are in more danger from territorial herbivores than any predator. The hippo, cute as cartoons make them out to be, have the highest human kill count in Africa. Water buffalo and elephants follow close behind. In Amaerica you are more like to be gored by a rancher's prize bull or mauled by his pigs than bitten by any wolf he tells the DNR are killers. People have been run down by angry moose, killed in collisions with deer, and lethally bucked from horses many more times that from poisonous bites, ravenous appetites, or swiping claws. Now, in no way am I saying to go out and taunt your local carnivores, that would be silly. Remember, in most cases where there was a carnivore attack the victim invaded, cornered, or taunted the attacker. ...Maybe I watch the Discovery Channel way too much? (kidding, most of this I've gotten from various books, magazines, and safety guides, as well as the occasional Animal Planet show).
I live in the country and have a huge pasture and barn. There are acres of woods behind my house. I'm surprised I don't have a bug problem. Perhaps bats and birds take care of that for me. I do get little field mice occasionally. They are kind of cute so they don't scare me. We catch them and take them back outside. I found a huge snake hanging from the wrought iron on the storm door once. (It's times like that I'm glad I can delegate removal to the men! For some reason they seem to find these assignments interesting.) My mom gets huge ugly spiders that jump long distances in any direction. You can't even sneak around them. The longer you look at them, the bigger they seem to get! LOL! I usually throw a towel over them and run real fast. I'd simply have to move if I had those. When we lived in the mountains of Tennessee, we'd find black bear cubs wandering near major roads. We would put them in the back of the pickup and haul them to the game and wildlife place. I don't mind most little critters but opposums scratching on my door creeps me out. Their paws look like little human hands. They are creepy and ugly up close.
LMAO! Spiders and badgers and chipmunks---Oh My! Really though, I'm afraid of anything creepy and crawly. Snakes, spiders, scorpoins, worms.... you name it, I hate 'em. My only problem is for some reason I can never bring myself to kill the thing, I always walk away from them. And it's not because I don't want it dead, I just don't want to see it and clean it up! You are not alone in your dislike of spiders and other creepy crawley things!
I'm kind of a sissy when it comes to spiders or stinging-insects (bees, wasps, hornets).. If there are hornets buzzing around me I quite often scream and run away. Hehe. Spiders I'm not that bad with.. as they don't grow to be huge here in Canada. If I see them I'll kill them, but if they're in my room I'll tend to sleep on the couch for the night. My favorite way of killing them (spiders) is to drop a dictionary on them. That way whomever picks up the book next gets a nice surprise. Snakes however don't bother me. I actively go looking for them some days. As for the carnivores... over here my relatives and one parent have seen several wolves in the area. I don't find that scary at all, but the fact that there are now elk in the area, along with bear, and some "released-cougar" frightens me when I go for walks.
Minneapolis. I love Bemidji. So pretty. But I'm a city girl at heart. I totally agree about wolves. They're actually quite gentle, and I feel strongly that farmers who choose to live in their territory should just expect the occasional loss of a sheep. Fair is fair. If you don't want to live with certain kinds of wildlife, don't build your farm in their home, for crying out loud. Moving bear cubs sounds risky. I always stay well clear of the little fellas. Mama bears don't like humans touching their babies. Most bear encounters I've had have been while camping, though. We do get black bears in northern MN, as Rowanstaff can probably attest to, but like wolves they don't come anywhere near my home. We get raccoons, skunks, squirrels, "city" birds (once in a while we see an exotic one), and deer. Muskrats near the river (a few blocks from my house) and the occasional possum or rat. And lots of mice. We have a cute fat bunchy little guy living in our kitchen. My husband caught it trying to get a piece of spaghetti into its hole the wrong way. Kept running it into the wall. So funny he forgot to try to squish the little varmint. Oh, well.
I was repeating that rant to my cousin the other day, and she said, "When you become a serial killer, please avoid killing me!"
Luckily, in New Zealand we don't have many spiders and we only have 1 native poisonous spider. But what we have a lot of is COCROACHES!!! Ewwww.... *Shudder*
