Posted by shar on October 27, 2000, at 12:44:50
In reply to Re: Ted » laural, posted by Ted on October 27, 2000, at 11:17:31
I spent a lot of time in West Texas -- you know where the Rattlesnake Roundup is held every year? We would have to watch for scorpions, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes. Few rattlesnakes were found in houses, but often in garages. This was base housing (Air Force) and we all got snake lessons.
Any new house I move into (in Texas) always has scorpions in it, and the last one I moved out of had centipedes (desert style, dayglo orange with stingers, about 4-6 inches long). Finally, after trying many methods that had no impact) I learned to kill them with two empty coffee cans. One can (with open side down) for the front and one on the back to cut them in two. They were tough.
Whenever I saw the dog and/or cat staring at the wall, it was usually a centipede.
Somehow I didn't get phobic about it, but I was already an adult, and certainly did not have to go hunting for them!!!
Geez--no wonder we're so messed up!
Shar
> Laural,
>
> > black widows are deadly,
>
> Hence my job to eradicate them.
>
> > and easy to bump into with just a flashlight.
>
> They only come out at night. We once had one that lived under my mother's china hutch in the kitchen. Every morning there would be a big web under the chair next to it. It took me 2 weeks to kill it. Bug sprays don't work. Outside the house, I would kill up to 30 a night three times a week. They were everywhere -- in the tubes of lawn chairs, under rocks & boards, behind flower pots, in bags of charcoal, *inside* charcoal grills, etc. Anyplace that gave them a dark hiding place during the day.
>
> > our house was infested with brown recluses.
>
> Ick. We had those too, but they were uncommon. My brother got bit by one once -- lucky he got prompt treatment. A telephone worker in my home town got bit by one hiding in an outdoor wiring cabinet and ended up losing his forearm because he was too macho to get treatment.
>
> >putting on shoes still unsettles me
>
> I was told a story about a scorpion in a hiking boot once.... Well you get the idea. Eeeuuwww!
>
> Ted
poster:shar
thread:1623
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001011/msgs/1693.html