Hi Everyone,

My husband, son and I came home today and when we stepped out of the car, the first thing we saw was the biggest WOLF spider in the history of mankind in our garage. I could identify it and knew it wasnt poisonous so I had my hubby chase it out of the garage.

While inside, my husband was looking at the garbage can which is in the garage and saw a black spider with several egg sacs. IT looked to be at the end of its life cycle, but it was still quite alive. He brought it outside and it was rolled over as he put it in the dirt along with the 1/2 inch egg sacs.

He came in and mentioned that he found a black spider with red markings on its belly. I totally freaked and asked him to see it. IT was most definitely a black widow spider and her egg sacs. There were 4 of them and I really freaked out. Apparently the red ants who are quite ferocious here in TX decided to start eating the black widow and they were crawling all over the egg sacs as well. It was totally nasty. I took a quick look on the internet and it said to step on the sacs because bug spray wont do anything and there is a chance that the ants would not be able to penetrate the sacs, so that was the only way to ensure that they were truly dead.

I have been living here in TX for 8 years and have never seen a black widow although I know they exist here. There is a less than 5% chance of death if bitten, but it sounded really really bad if you were bit because within 1-3 hours its worse than the pain of an apendicitis and you hallucinate, have the sweats, fever etc... Now I am totally freaked out. I feel like moving.

Babs in TX

334/180 ish

We think my husband might have been bit by one of them bad boys, something got him on the head while we were at the street dance in town. He had 3 huge bites on the top of his head and just had terrible pain and his neck swelled up. It was like he had a golf ball growing out of his neck. After about 2 weeks and things getting from bad to worse I finally talked him into going to the ER. That is when the doc thought it may have been that (brown recluse spider) but since we had no dead spider body, it was just an educated guess. Apparently they bite then move then bite again and then move again.... These bites were very infected and it traveled down his neck. It was pretty scary stuff. It took a really long time for them bites to heal up, matter of fact he had literally holes where the bites were and they oozed for a very long time. Pretty gross stuff but let me tell you, we are really careful when walking under trees by a river anymore, and that was the LAST year we went to the street dance.

An aerosol bomb in the attic might also be appropriate before doing any work.

Hi Everyone,

My husband, son and I came home today and when we stepped out of the car, the first thing we saw was the biggest WOLF spider in the history of mankind in our garage.

Hehehe, my husband calls all larger than normal spiders "Wolf Spiders". His greatest fear are the what 8 legged freaks. He has the biggest case of aracnaphobia you'll ever know. LOL, he uses spatulas to kill em, not even his own foot. He's that fearful of them. It's so cute.

Oh and BTW, I woke up the other day, stood up from my bed and went to fluff my blanket's, low and behold there was a freshly squished huge wolf spider in under where my butt was. I must have killed it while I slept but it was definately looking to cop a feel or a bite..

My sister-in-law woke up a few years ago to a really tender, red area on her thigh and come to find out, 2 days later, she had been stung by a scorpion. She fluffed her blankets and saw it, dead.

shake your blankets before you sleep. Especially here in Florida.

I killed this scorpion last week, running down my hallway next to my kid's bathroom..

I thought I posted this this morning but I guess it got lost.

I found a BW spider on my patio last night but it ran in a hidey hole before I could kill it.

This morning I smashed it with a fly swatter. Then I went around the house to check on another web I had spotted.

My DOG ate the dead BW spider carcass. So I had to call the EMERGENCY ANIMAL HOSPITAL to see if I needed to take him in or if he was going to keel over from ingesting BW poison.

Fortunately stomach acid neutralizes the poison.

The moral of this story is the next time you see a BW spider throw up on the stupid thing.:cool:

M

Oh my, I have a terrible spider story from when I visited florida that has to do with camping under orange and grapefruit trees..... moral of this story is.... Dont do it! Its bad!! And what is up with that scorpion in the hallway???? Arnt those poisinous? Can you spray for those? I guess living up north has its perks.... bug bomb once every couple of years and no more spiders here for a good long time.

We get them every week, we are constantly calling the bug people to come spray our house. We have no idea how they get in. They crawl on our walls, in our halls, in our bathrooms. I found a Water moccoson in my master bath ..well my little girl did. She went to go to use the toilet, had her pants around her ankles before she hit the toilet and saw a baby snake next to the toilet. I have no idea where they are coming from but I assure you that my back screen door is forever closed now. I think maybe they were coming in through some sort of crevice.

It's time for us to move. Arkansas it is.

I have the creeps...I'm afraid to go to sleep, afraid to use the potty, and of course cleaning is out of the question. You know I've never seen a spider in a salon maybe I should go get a pedicure...

I grew up in Texas until I was 16, then I moved to Florida and lived there until I was 23. I have only been bit by a spider once. It bit my boob. I had a 2nd nipple growing off the side of my boob and when I went to the doctor he had to stick a needle in it, and drain all the fluid out. Sounds painful but the area was actually quiet numb. I still have some "extra" skin that sort of died on that patch of my boob....apparently it was posinous, but I never saw the spider that bit me. And I have never seen any kind big spider or scorpian in either Texas of Florida. Only those tiny black spiders u can squish with ur thumb. The worst I ever delt with was palmetta bugs or the little lizards in Florida but that was outside in the yard, I never had a problem with those things inside the house~.

In Portugal we had a lizard run into our house...some of u might remember that thread...as an update its been 2 months and we never saw it again after it ran under the bathroom sink. Have no idea if it got out, if one of the cats ate it, or if it just died there......

That's good Kat. The thing with my home is I live on the back of a 200+ acre forest conservation and no one can build a house behind me, it's all forest. I see everything from armadillos to wild boar and on occaision, black bears. It's pretty country here..

I caught a grasshopper a few days ago for the kids. It was on my back porch relaxing. Kids were scared of it, but I just picked it up, brought it to my office and measured that sucker. It's length was 6.25 inches. I had hoped it wasn't poisionous b/c there are soo many insects evolving. We get crazy things here, no doubt.

But imagine a 6 inch sub from subway and a grasshopper longer than that. Damn, should have snapped a shot.

But imagine a 6 inch sub from subway and a grasshopper longer than that. Damn, should have snapped a shot.

Grasshoppers make beter eating than subs. More protien.

6 taco shells

1 cup grasshoppers (legs and wings removed)

2 cups Water

1 onion, peeled, chopped

salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

lettuce, chopped

additional onion, chopped

tomato, chopped

Bring grasshoppers, water, salt, pepper, 1 chopped onion, and bay leaf to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain off liquid. Add garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauces and simmer about 10 minutes. Partially fill taco shells with some of the grasshopper filling. Top with lettuce, onion, cheese, and tomato.

3/4 cup margarine or butter

3 cups sugar

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate bits

17 ounces marshmallow creme

1 cup dry-roasted insects*

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine margarine, sugar, and evaporated milk in a heavy 2 1/2-quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for five minutes over medium heat. Remove pan from heat source and add chocolate pieces. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add marshmallow creme, dry-roasted insects, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into a buttered nine by twelve-inch pan. Let stand at room temperature until firm enough to cut into squares.

*Dry roasted insects: Place insects on a cookie sheet and bake in a 200-degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until crispy. Suggestions for edible insects which would add "crunch" to this recipe would be ants, crickets, or grasshoppers.

So, although nobody likes spiders and snakes, most of the time they're more afraid of you than you are of them. If you swat, sweep or otherwise physically remove them or yourself, they won't hurt you.

On the other hand, pesticides are very closely related to deadly nerve gas, and they work by damaging the nervous system of the bugs. What do you suppose it does to your nervous system? Especially cumulatively over a long period of time?

There's no free lunch -- either you live with critters or you live with the unknown but significant effects of pesticides. Personally, the idea of spraying nerve gas in my bedroom or my child's bedroom gives me the chills.

Remember, there are a whole lot of conditions that simply did not exist prior to the industrial revolution -- like Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, to say nothing of new conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I think later on, after we know more about these conditions, we'll likely learn that there's an environmental component to these and other diseases. The most common cause of mental retardation is "unknown prenatal influence" -- do you suppose the environment might be involved here?

I'm far from a nut on this issue, but I'm far more afraid of what we don't know than I am of a few bugs.

ok. I'm officially creeped out! I have a friend who lives near you Babs, and she has all manner of creepy critters. I've lived in Arizona and Florida and now Texas. I don't have nearly as many biters and jumpers here. I am way more scared of a Brown Recluse than a BW. When you have a new house it takes time to get out all the bugs. LOL Hang in there!

TOM (Tired Old Man): You are one inventive dude. Isn't that just like a LB person to think of a way to make something edible out of almost any old thing. You are very entertaining. I'll keep an eye (or 2) out for your posts from now on! :heh:

Grasshoppers make beter eating than subs. More protien.

6 taco shells

1 cup grasshoppers (legs and wings removed)

2 cups Water

1 onion, peeled, chopped

salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

lettuce, chopped

additional onion, chopped

tomato, chopped

Bring grasshoppers, water, salt, pepper, 1 chopped onion, and bay leaf to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain off liquid. Add garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauces and simmer about 10 minutes. Partially fill taco shells with some of the grasshopper filling. Top with lettuce, onion, cheese, and tomato.

3/4 cup margarine or butter

3 cups sugar

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate bits

17 ounces marshmallow creme

1 cup dry-roasted insects*

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine margarine, sugar, and evaporated milk in a heavy 2 1/2-quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for five minutes over medium heat. Remove pan from heat source and add chocolate pieces. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add marshmallow creme, dry-roasted insects, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into a buttered nine by twelve-inch pan. Let stand at room temperature until firm enough to cut into squares.

*Dry roasted insects: Place insects on a cookie sheet and bake in a 200-degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until crispy. Suggestions for edible insects which would add "crunch" to this recipe would be ants, crickets, or grasshoppers.

Nothing from the "insect" species will ever enter my mouth unless it's from me biking or riding. :speechles