Butter caught a snake!!!

[Pam]

I absolutely abhor spiders! Several years ago my son was bitten by one and he got welts all over his body and his eyes puffed closed. Sorry, but if I see one I can't kill it fast enough!

[Ben E Gas]

I have to admit. As much as I love animals and nature, as soon as the bugs cross the line and come into MY house, they're no longer of this Earth. I know Zezu feels the same.

[Logan]

Amen, Ben!!! Sorry if I offended any of you real animal lovers, but I could NEVER encourage a rat to relocate. Just glad Honey took care of them for me.

Last night, when Helen was getting into bed, I happened to find tick number three on me, this time on my back. She asked me why God made spiders, roaches and ticks??? This mom was at a loss for words. I just said, while you're asking, find out why he made fleas and rats too. I know there is a purpose for snakes (at least I've been told there is), but I'd prefer they serve their purpose somewhere else besides my house!!!

[Ben E Gas]

I'd have to say, if I had to pick an insect to be my favorite, it'd be the dragon fly. They love to eat my least liked insect, the mosquito. Roaches topped the list,(of least liked), 2 years ago when I lived in Boston. And when I was a kid, it was bees that I hated.

Yeah, I don't think I'd tolerate rats in my house either. Then again, with my friend here, I won't have to worry.

[Ben E Gas]

Also, on the least liked insect list:

It's a bug, that my friends and I dubbed, "The Follower Fly". He is always around when I'm camping or hiking. I think it is a type of horse fly. There are only a few ways to get away from it:

1.The easiest--get inside your tent and zip up for a few minutes.

2.Next best choice--a trick we found that works well-- Point your head towards your unexpected friend's midsection. You must be close to them, the follower will transfer over to them. This method is the funnest, especially if your friend has no idea what you're doing. As soon as the follower flies into their hair, they'll know. And at this point start running, pointing and yelling "haha haha, you have the follower."

3.run while waving hands at your head, sometimes this works.

4.kill it, a hard task unless you have a well aimed newspaper.

Has anyone had experiences with this follower fly?

[AdoreMyDogs]

I love all reptiles, including snakes! I think they are beautiful, and their markings are like a piece of art. I also love all frogs, toads, mice and I simply adore rats (although I have never seen a wild one, only captive pet rats)

In edition to my love of reptiles and rodents, I love spiders and beetles, praying mantis's, walking sticks, and most other bugs. The only bugs I despise are ticks and mosquetos...and the only true fear I have is of bees, wasps, and hornets! I am purely terrified of all kinds of bees and although I won't kill them out of fear that they won't die and come charging after me to sting away, I would want to kill them out of fear. There would be no human life if it were not for bees....they have a very important role in nature, but regardless I am terrified. I have been stung in the eye twice, once when I was about 4 years old and one when I was a junior in high school. I think being stung in the eye twice did a number on my psychie.

[Ben E Gas]

yeah, being stung in the eye will do it to ya. You're better off not killing bees anyway. The more you kill, the more they swarm around you. Atleast that's true with hornets anyway. They give off a chemical, I think that warns its friends. I used to sell hotdogs at a stand in Boston Common and bees always were around me. One time I got fed up and rolled up a newspaper. I must have killed about 10 or fifteen until I had to get away from the cart and wait until they calmed down. They just kept coming back stronger and stronger.

[4 feline house]

Yeah, Ben, I know what that's like - I used to work a lemonade stand at Six Flags. We made fresh squeezed lemonade with real sugar, and the honeybees always swarmed around the stand! They never did any harm, luckily, but it was still unnerving!

[Ben E Gas]

You know what they say about bees though. Where ever you see bees, you know it is a place that humans and animals can live also.

[Troy]

Ben, I know these damn follower flies that you're talking about. Being a Kiwi immigrant to Australia it took me some time to figure out why Aussie's supposedly where the cowboy hats with corks dangling off them - just to keep away the follower flies.

Speaking of winged-things I was in a northern town in Germany, Luebeck I think, and the place was swarming with wasps. Eveywhere you went were wasps, the locals were obviously used to it but it freaked me out a little. The wasps were not only ALL over the chairs and tables in a small cafe district by a lake but also inside the restaurant, inside the cake display cabinet...absolutely everywhere - I don't know if this is normal for the area but as I said, the locals seemed to take it all in their stride...

[AdoreMyDogs]

Troy...that experience would have terrified me beyond control! I am nervous and shivering now just reading about all the bee stories. Ick. Before I was married and I was living with my mom I remember the cats would occationally find a bee or wasp in the house and bat it around as if it were a harmless fly. None of them ever got stung that I am aware of. And I also remember a dog I had when I was young used to chomp at bees and wasps right out of the air, often catching them in his mouth. Ouch.

And Ben...there are flys here in Michigan called black flys (not sure what their official names are), and they have been known to drive humans to insanity with their persistant pestering. You could shampoo your hair in deet and they don't mind. They don't go away. They follow no matter how much you wave your arms, how fast you run, and even if you happen to jump into a lake...they will hover until your head pops out of the water and buzz a zillion mph. around your head, making sure they thouroughly get your ears, nose, and eyes thourough buzzing. When I go up north every summer with my mother (not my husbands cup of tea) we found a make-shift way to get those flies one by one. When one is doing it's thing (buzzing obnixiously and pointlessly around and around and around my head and close to my ears) I wait til the lil **** lands on the top of my head for a rest, give my mother a signal that there's perfect opportunity to kill the little **** then she slowly comes towards me and quickly wacks me on the top of my head where the lil **** was resting from the routine of needless pestering. It left a little fly body on my head and I wore it as a victory hat! "Any of you other stupid **** flies care to land on my head??? Be my guests" We killed maybe 40 or so between us that way. That was the only way we found that works to kill them as they are fast and seem to be smart enough to run when my hand rised for the kill.



[This message has been edited by AdoreMyDogs (edited May 01, 2001).]

[Dixie Belle]

Why cats don't try to fight coons, coons can hurt a dog, a big dog. Our dalmation and our st. bernard won't touch a coon for anything, never mind a cat tring to go after one. They aren't as crazy as a dog is.(Please excuse my southern slang) My cat has however caught possuims and armadillos, and held them until my dad got there to get them. And she has gotten rabbits too. And snakes, only she kills rattlers.

[4 feline house]

That's some cat you have there!

[alexnell]

Nell with cheshire smile
Displayed on the basement rug
A headless mousie