Whoa!!!

[Alfadog]

Now you know where they got their name from

[kmack]

I don't worry too much about spiders, but wasps are another story....

When I first got my '71, it had been sitting in some guys backyard for at least 5 yrs. Now for those that don't know, here in Texas, wasps will build a nest anywhere that has protection from the rain and hasn't moved in a few days.

Well, I'm laying underneath my car pulling the rear bumper off using a wrench and a hammer (to bang on the wrench) one day behind a friends barn. My goal was getting the gas tank out. After about half an hour banging on the rear bumper, it finally comes off. Now for the tank.

So I'm under the car, gas tank laying on my chest. As soon as I lower the passenger side just enough to clear the lower body section, I notice 2 wasps nest about 4" in diameter! Each one had 8 angry looking wasps just sitting there staring at me!

Now I'm prone to freeze in fear at the mere sight of a wasp buzzing around my head. This was absolulye terrifying. It took me over five minutes to slowly slide my way out from under the car.

To this day, I will always shine a flash light up under fenders, and under any car that has been sitting for awhile before my body goes underneath it. I still get chills recounting that story...

[hmsports]

I was fixing my Son's swingset the other day and some yellow jackets had built a nest inside one of the legs. Well, my banging things around ticked them off and just like in a cartoon, I watched as this bee came flying out and head right for me. Before I could react, BANG, it got me right between the eyes.

My Dad had an interesting bee story. He was a surveyor and one day while working in the woods in upstate NY, he tripped over a heavy vine that was hanging from a tree. Well, the vine was the anchor point for a very large paper nest -- about 18" across. My father froze and within seconds had the whole nest of bees (1000s) crawling all over him. After about an hour they calmed down and went back to fix the nest. He slowly got up and walked away with only about three stings.

[EScanlon]

Rick;

Maybe only 3 stings, but I'll bet he ruined a pair of undershorts!

[smg1404]

Only good spider...... dead spider!

[kmack]

I also have a demented friend that likes to collect wasps nest. He used the biggest one to scare the crap out of me one day. We found the biggest one one day at work up on the side of the building. It measured 10" across the longest part! After we killed the 20 or so wasps on it, he spent the about 15 minutes picking all the dead wasps off the ground.

Then he took it home and glued them all back on the nest. He kept it on top of his tool box at work and loved to put it behind corners and such. I always hated when he did that...

[zachb55]

HAHAHA, oh man, maybe a spider talk section would do wonders for this website huh??? well im guessing my little pets havent mated yet, cause the poor male is still alive, i feel sorry for the little bastard, cause soon enough he will be eatin, i just sit and ponder how they got there, and where they came from, and how the male is still alive... Well my Biology teacher, and fellow students, are in for a thrill tomorrow. I dont know why they could still be scared of it, i mean the female (i call her blacky) is only like 2 inches wide and behind i got millimeter of plastic all the way around... I just thought i would let you guys know of my suprise, my grandmother was bitten by one once, her arm got all bruised up and all of her joints ached for days... ill be carefull not to let that little bugger bit me, and if she does, atleast my arm will look really cool and everyone will think im really brave and stuff, haha. Later everybody...

-Zach

[LEE240ZPERTH]

Just so a couple of west austalian spiders don't feel left out, we have one called a white tip, you don't feel the bite but if you are unlucky enough to suffer a reaction you end up with a large festering boils that refuse to heal. You just have to hope you dont have one in your pants when you get up in the morning!

We also have a relatively unknown beast called a mouse spider (which looks nothing like a mouse) and is almost identical to a funnel web, came accross one the other day for the first time ever(at Mindarie marina for you Perth guys who may wish to avoid the area)

Prior to purchasing my latest 240 it had sat in a shed for three years, no live redbacks but a whole load of empty egg cases!!

Personally I love snakes and spiders and kept them for years when I was in the UK, and I look relatively normal:D

[halz]

Lee240zperth, I've just sent you a personal email...

[Datzun76]

I guess I am one of the few that likes spiders. My own web design company uses a spider for a logo.:classic:

It's fascinating to me that these little spiders can build such intricate and complex webs.

Snakes I can do without. Plenty of Rattlers down here and would not want to run into one of them. As for the bees or yellowjackets I have been stung so many times I lost count. Stung on my lower lip once looked like Mick jagger. My mother was stung inside her ear once and I would guess that has to be one of the worst places to get stung.

Also stung by the same bee twice. Stung my chest and I hit my chest instinctivly and the other half of the stinger went into the palm of my hand talk about bad luck.

[dohc]

Going back to the mention of Redbacks earlier I keep running into them around my back yard. Not the small ones, but these things have nice long legs that make them look that bit scarier

Oh, and just to add to the previous comment on Redbacks (our states Cricket teams name too) they are actually very poisonous. Not sure if they make Australia's top 20 most poisonous, but there only disadvantage is their fangs. Almost none existant, so the chances of them piercing human skin is very minimal. Better keep them out of any open wounds then :sick:

All in all don't mind spiders and snakes. Got a mate who is scared of moths though.:classic:

Cheers,

R

[Fun_in_my_z]

Im alergic to wasps and bees. Scared stiff of spiders . But dont mind snakes to much.

Dad had just bought this 72 chevy truck.(he drives today)

To me it always smelled musty in that truck. We had to put a new gas tank in it.(that year the tank was behind the seat). We pulled the seat and low and behold their was a 5 ft. copperhead snake skin underneath:tapemouth

The copperhead is Arkansas second most poisonous snake.

When i was down visiting my gf she cought a brown recluse in a jar under the couch:tapemouth . Oh did i mention i hate spiders?