The Night Mail

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I think they come out and patrol the house after I go to sleep. The overnight spider webs are quite prolific. And I think there may be some non web spinning spiders too.

There was a huge one in the glass recycling crate last week. It wasn’t worth putting the crate out for a few jars and a bottle so big spider could remain resident.  I don’t mind spiders at all.

So would you be happy to have Bears two hundred? Asking for a friend.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

So would you be happy to have Bears two hundred? Asking for a friend.

 

I have visions of PBs 200 spiders desperately trying to seek political asylum from an aracnocidal maniac....

 

[monkeysarefun]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Absolutely fascinating and an experience that has encouraged me to continue to treat spiders with respect.

 

 

 

Sydneysiders are encouraged to capture unharmed any  deadly Funnel web spiders that we come across  and drop them off at the nearest Funnel Web Drop Off location, which are scattered around the Sydney and coastal suburbs.  Its so they can be milked -  to create antivenom, not to put into coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 24 by monkeysarefun

[Craigw]

Back in the 1990s, we lived in Buxton (NSW - Australia) which was at the time far more rural than it is now. My wife was gardening and turned over a rock to be confronted by a massive centipede. That made her jump but the huge spider that jumped out and grabbed the hapless centipede was even worse. I was tasked that weekend with finding said spider. It did not take long for me to realise that this part of our yard was a Funnel Web hotel. I found the spider easily and also put it into a large jar. This was a massive funnel web - the jar it was in was about 4" across and it easily covered that. It was also not please at being in a jar and stayed constantly reared up with drops of venom on it fangs. A friend of ours had contacts and had the spider shipped to the reptile park at Gosford (see the video) and they called me to confirm it was a Funnel Web and that it was the biggest they had seen in many years. I asked did they want more. Of course, was the answer and the next weekend I managed to dig out over 40 of them which a rather shocked courier collected. If you are in a Funnel web area you have to keep a look out as the males will roam and they love dark spots like shoes. Even though they are not a spider to mess with, I detested killing them and always moved any I found into the bush that was located not far from us.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Craigw said:

Back in the 1990s, we lived in Buxton (NSW - Australia) which was at the time far more rural than it is now. My wife was gardening and turned over a rock to be confronted by a massive centipede. That made her jump but the huge spider that jumped out and grabbed the hapless centipede was even worse. I was tasked that weekend with finding said spider. It did not take long for me to realise that this part of our yard was a Funnel Web hotel. I found the spider easily and also put it into a large jar. This was a massive funnel web - the jar it was in was about 4" across and it easily covered that. It was also not please at being in a jar and stayed constantly reared up with drops of venom on it fangs. A friend of ours had contacts and had the spider shipped to the reptile park at Gosford (see the video) and they called me to confirm it was a Funnel Web and that it was the biggest they had seen in many years. I asked did they want more. Of course, was the answer and the next weekend I managed to dig out over 40 of them which a rather shocked courier collected. If you are in a Funnel web area you have to keep a look out as the males will roam and they love dark spots like shoes. Even though they are not a spider to mess with, I detested killing them and always moved any I found into the bush that was located not far from us.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

 

 I once collected a   ute load of bushrock from Yanderra that a bloke was giving away and I came upon the exact same issue when I dug each rock out of the overgrown garden beds that they were edging. All up there were probably 2 dozen Funnelwebs .

 

I let the bloke know he  now had a mob of homeless funnel webs looking for new accommodation. 

Edited August 24 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Craigw said:

they called me to confirm it was a Funnel Web and that it was the biggest they had seen in many years.

 

 

This one - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as he was named, held the title there a couple of years ago but I think Hercules which was donated in January this  year currently has the record.

 

Edited August 24 by monkeysarefun

[rockershovel]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Sydneysiders are encouraged to capture unharmed any  deadly Funnel web spiders that we come across  and drop them off at the nearest Funnel Web Drop Off location, which are scattered around the Sydney and coastal suburbs.  Its so they can be milked -  to create antivenom, not to put into coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See? Spiders all the way down....

[polybear]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Sydneysiders are encouraged to capture unharmed any  deadly Funnel web spiders that we come across  and drop them off at the nearest Funnel Web Drop Off location, which are scattered around the Sydney and coastal suburbs.  Its so they can be milked -  to create antivenom, not to put into coffee.

 

 

Bear scrolls quickly (f.quickly, in fact....) past this post....😱

 

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

This one - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as he was named, held the title there a couple of years ago but I think Hercules which was donated in January this  year currently has the record.

 

 

Note to @Andy Y:

 

I reckon it's about time that Chimpy @monkeysarefun went on moderated status.......

[iL Dottore]

8 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

I have visions of PBs 200 spiders desperately trying to seek political asylum from an aracnocidal maniac....

 

It’s even worse than you can imagine. Apparently The Great Beary Leader (First Bear amongst Bears) aka Kim Jong Bear, has mobile killing squads of PB clones that hunt down and exterminate (ahem, sorry) terminally relocate any spiders they come across.

 

The latest info to be smuggled out of Bear Towers is that the PB Clones have been conducting intensive “training exercises” right up at the border with Next Door Neighbour. Which doesn’t bode well.

Let’s hope for the sake of the NDNs (and for all of us, really), that the rumours that Kim Jong Bear has acquired tactical nuclear anti-arachnid weapons are just that - rumours.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear scrolls quickly (f.quickly, in fact....) past this post....😱

 

 

Note to @Andy Y:

 

I reckon it's about time that Chimpy @monkeysarefun went on moderated status.......

Tut, tut!

You have to do better, Bear.

Don’t forget, as the Zen Masters would say “to defeat the spider, you must first become the spider”

[Winslow Boy]

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Sydneysiders are encouraged to capture unharmed any  deadly Funnel web spiders that we come across  and drop them off at the nearest Funnel Web Drop Off location, which are scattered around the Sydney and coastal suburbs.  Its so they can be milked -  to create antivenom, not to put into coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something tells me that PB won't be commuting all that way to drop his spiders off.

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

This one - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as he was named, held the title there a couple of years ago but I think Hercules which was donated in January this  year currently has the record.

 

 

I must say that I'm not anti-spider, but that IS an unpleasant looking beast!  Definitely an incentive not to travel to the antipodes...

 

I wonder what effect one of those electronic insect-killing bats* would have on it? 🤔

 

* That reminds me, I need a new one for the garage.

 

And according to amazon.com

Quote

You don't have to swat at them, just lay the zapper on top of the crawling bugs. The current kills them on contact. There is no mess of spider guts to clean up, you just have to pick up the spider and toss in trash.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 24 by Hroth

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Tut, tut!

You have to do better, Bear.

Don’t forget, as the Zen Masters would say “to defeat the spider, you must first become the spider”

I can't read quotes like this since watching Mystery Men...

[jjb1970]

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Sydneysiders are encouraged to capture unharmed any  deadly Funnel web spiders that we come across  and drop them off at the nearest Funnel Web Drop Off location, which are scattered around the Sydney and coastal suburbs.  Its so they can be milked -  to create antivenom, not to put into coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I myself prefer the more traditional approach of chasing them with a rolled up newspaper whilst screaming obscenities. 

[jjb1970]

Grey a dreary day her, still warm and humid but very overcast and miserable. Mrs JJB went out to lunch in a fancy downtown hotel with some lady friends so me and the kids went for to a pizza place.

 

They have tarantula spiders here, small tarantulas but still huge and hairy things as spiders go. Some of the bugs are best avoided, though the most dangerous are probably mosquitoes  as although malaria isn't a thing here dengue very much is. And dengue fever is no fun.

[Winslow Boy]

5 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I myself prefer the more traditional approach of chasing them with a rolled up newspaper whilst screaming obscenities. 

That's a slippery slope. Before you know it you'll be whacking them with your flip flops, then it's a short skip to a four be two and next the blow torch. You've been warned.

[Oldddudders]

5 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

That's a slippery slope. Before you know it you'll be whacking them with your flip flops, then it's a short skip to a four be two and next the blow torch. You've been warned.

Sounds pretty normal to me!

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Something tells me that PB won't be commuting all that way to drop his spiders off.

 

I very much suspect that the condition they'd be in when they received them might just make them "unsuitable" anyway.

 

29 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Grey a dreary day her, still warm and humid but very overcast and miserable. Mrs JJB went out to lunch in a fancy downtown hotel with some lady friends so me and the kids went for to a pizza place.

 

Let's see now.....fancy downtown hotel, or pizza place?

Decisions, decisions........

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Tut, tut!

You have to do better, Bear.

Don’t forget, as the Zen Masters would say “to defeat the spider, you must first become the spider”

I thought the quote from the Zen Masters  was 'nuke it from low orbit!'

 

Back in 1977 I got stung by a Scorpion.  It was clinging to the underside of a rock I picked up.

 

Initially I thought I'd been stabbed by a large thorn from a bush, but Scorpio was soon seen and summarily despatched.

 

It was not a good experience, and I ended up in hospital for the best part of 48 hours.

 

Looking back on it, the change in colour of my arm was very interesting, as  it appeared to be growing white blotches as the venom made its way through the body.

 

It took a couple of years for the white marks around the injection point to fade away.

 

Funnily enough a local Cypriot lady went in with a Scorpion sting a few days before I did and had very few symptoms, whereas mine was a severe reaction.

 

Insects are not my strong point, but I wonder if the lady had what was in effect, a 'dry sting', whilst mine was a full blown stab and injection?

 

Some venomous reptiles are capable of a 'dry bite', where no venom is injected.  Allegedly it is a scare tactic, as they won't waste their venom, which is a precious commodity, if they are unable to eat what they've envenomated.

 

However, I certainly would not want to get bitten on the off chance that the bit would not be envenomating. 

Edited August 24 by Happy Hippo

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I myself prefer the more traditional approach of chasing them with a rolled up newspaper whilst screaming obscenities. 

UnAustralian.

[Compound2632]

7 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Insects are not my strong point, but I wonder if the lady had what was in effect, a 'dry sting', whilst mine was a full blown stab and injection?

 

Or is it natural selection at work among the local population, leading to greater natural resistance to the venom?

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I myself prefer the more traditional approach of chasing them with a rolled up newspaper whilst screaming obscenities. 

 

Just now, monkeysarefun said:

UnAustralian.

 

I'm struggling to see what part of that is unAustralian?

[Happy Hippo]

Just now, Compound2632 said:

 

 

I'm struggling to see what part of that is unAustralian?

Using a newspaper for something other than wiping your behind?

[monkeysarefun]

27 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

 

I'm struggling to see what part of that is unAustralian?

 

It makes you look like a bit of a girl.

 

 

Actually, it makes you look much worse!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 24 by monkeysarefun