Big Game Hunter

Subject: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:09 am

I just had to remove a big black tarantula from our entryway that has been annoying my wife, Jackie, when she waters her flower pots in the morning. I washed him away with the hose twice but he came back both times, so this morning I captured him in a plastic cup and released him across the street. I'll see if he still has homing instinct. If he comes back I'll have to relocate him farther or else do him in.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:41 am

Jim,
you have more guts than me when it comes to creepy-crawly things. I wouldn't be looking for a new home for a tarantula but sending it to it's happy hunting grounds. Have you considered that you were the hunted? Twisted Evil

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:47 am

Tarantulas are a bit eerie, but they are big and slow enough to capture without resorting to a boot heel. If faced with my gloved hand they will stand and spar with me. I have cupped them with both hands (leather gloves) and carried them to distant desert spots. Their lairs are interesting too, and easy to spot. It's a desert thing.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:33 pm

Dear Jim,
I had to smile about the gloved hand. It is surprising how a gloved hand can embolden a person when it comes to insects. A child I know is freightened of large grasshoppers of the Lubber persuasion. But, put some leather gloves on him and he can pick one up!

Here in Florida we have some very large and interesting spiders, too. I have watched Banana Spiders from my window in the kitchen construct magnificent webs of golden threads.

I included a poem about them in Wooffer.

BANANA SPIDER REPUBLIC

Matilda spun her golden orb underneath the trees.
She hooked it to some Spanish moss and down to some leaves
And up to the branches as neat as you please.
She was upside down in the middle
Before the crickets lay down their fiddle.

Gertrude moved in next door and Agnes down the way.
They were ready for breakfast before the break of day.
If something would come along they could only hope and pray.
The big, golden orbs were shining in the dew,
Ready and waiting for anything that flew.

Flies and gnats and mosquitoes were everyday fare,
And a big juicy moth was a little bit rare.
They would grab it up and spin it up with great care
And hang it up high and dry, close to their lair.
No one would steal it ‘cause nobody dared.

But the best treat of all that made them feel so macha
Was a lively and brown humongous cucaracha.
Pass the salsa!!!! Por Favora!!!

.....................

If anyone would like to see the spider this poem is about go to this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephila

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:07 pm

Betty, I've handled unstressed tarantulas barehanded, even let them crawl up my arm, but these are ones that are housed in terrariums, accustomed to being handled, and fed on schedule. But when the creatures are antagonistic, as in being captured in the wild, the gloves are as much for their protection as much as for mine. I don't want to react to a bite and possibly squash them, and they can bite!

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:11 pm

Just glad I don't live across the street from you, Jim. Did the neighbor respond by presenting you with a black widow?
Big Game Hunter 798629

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:33 pm

No Dick. There is no neighbor across the street, just a decorative open space, not even a walking path or a bench. But now it does have an additional critter joining the lizards and ground squirrels.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:56 pm

I love this smiley. He looks ready to rock.

Subject: Re: Big Game Hunter Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:25 pm

My parents were funny. Mom wouldnot tolerate mice anywhere near her. She was the epitome of the damsel jumping onto a chair or table, as if it would attack her. My dad, on the other hand, was frightened of spiders. Mom would have to come to his rescue.

I don't mind spiders as long as I know they are there. Walking into a web unexpectedly will have me brushing the cobwebs, real and imagined, from my person the rest of the day!

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