Smorgasbord

[fiver]

MMMM skewered & grilled tarantula.

 

[Winelover]

Did someone mention snakes.....got 6 different venomous varieties. Copperhead being the most prevalent. Have yet to see one in the 5 years that I've been in Arkansas. Weed wacked a small timber rattler by accident.

Cindy took this picture of a huge Black Rat Snake. Probably the most common snake on my acreage.




Well fed, by the looks of him. Would go over six foot long.

 

[Brad]

Yeah, Dawn won't ever be moving to Arkansas
Now if the snakes and tarantulas meant no mice or other bugs it would be different but she won't tolerate underachievers.

 

[JWFilips]

Don't Like Snakes! Been known to Jump & Scream like a little girl!
Especially when a stick went up my pant leg!

 

[Winelover]

Looks like it's going to be a bad year for ticks, due to the relatively mild Winter. Removed the first of the season, off Cindy, last evening.

 

[300BLK]

I live in the suburbs but at the edge of town so I'm bordered on 3 sides by woods. In late 2012 I found a huge Fox den about 300 yds away from my house.
In the winter of 2013 started having problems with a big Mom fox....at first eating my out door kitties food then eating my out door kitties! Took her out one evening from my bathroom window in March of 2013 Guess her pups made it through the winter and started their fox duties patrolling at dusk. The second photo is a young adult taken in August 2013 at dusk at about 15 yards when he made a big circle around me in the yard. The third on was taken in September of 2013 ( his brother) who liked to run the perimeter of our property at dusk. The Big Dad comes around once or twice a year looking for his lady. Only hear him in the middle of the night or at day break every winter....now he is very cunning Only way I know he has been here is in the morning the out door kitties are all sitting in the trees!
Used My 22LR with CCi Velocitor ammo All dropped in their tracks
View attachment 2822

A red fox and 2 greys. Red fox only use dens when they have pups. Grey fox use dens, but can climb trees, so they are also known as the tree fox.

 

[300BLK]

I hate spiders and ticks. I'll generally stomp on spiders or chase them with the weed whacker if I'm out trimming. Snakes don't bother me, and its a good thing to have black snakes or hog nosed snakes around. They take care of rodents and keep the poisonous snakes at bay. I will shoot a rattler or copperhead if they are too close to the house.

Ian, if hawks make you nervous, then you would have crapped yourself when that eagle landed in the tree just outside my house. Oh, and the tarantulas, I would have a flame thrower for those SOBs.

 

[Brad]

Ticks generally don't bother me. My father is like a magnet to them. We have pulled over a dozen off him while I had none while in the same area. Must be something about his body chemistry.
I just avoid snakes. I leave them alone, they leave me alone.

And yes, next spring will be bad for bugs as warm and dry as it has been.

 

[Rick]

Ticks are no picnic but chiggers are far worse. They are far smaller and very difficult to see and cause an intense itch far beyond what their size would suggest.

 

[300BLK]

Ticks are no picnic but chiggers are far worse. They are far smaller and very difficult to see and cause an intense itch far beyond what their size would suggest.

Chiggers don't spread Lyme disease, and I am all too aware of chigger bites. Benedryl helps if only temporarily. There are some Essential oils that will counteract chigger bites. I spray my clothes with bug repellent before spending time with the weed whacker and high grass and weeds.

 

[Rick]

Best I've found for a chigger bite is to put Neosporin on the bite and cover with a band Aid so the Neosporin doesn't rub off. Helps the itch a bunch.

 

[S Mac]

Must be something yo the body chemistry thing, I can go with others in the woods, pastures and hardly ever attract ticks or chiggers and my companion be eat up. The same with poison ivy. I feel for those that do.

 

[300BLK]

Mosquitos LOVE me. Deet on my clothes will keep the chiggers at bay. Wool seems to attract ticks, but they're not nearly as apt to cling to cotton. Too,
I'm finding most ticks when I'm moving through pines while hunting.

 

[Ian]

Ian, if hawks make you nervous, then you would have crapped yourself when that eagle landed in the tree just outside my house. Oh, and the tarantulas, I would have a flame thrower for those SOBs.

Tarantula hawks. They're huge wasps that carry the most painful sting in the arthropod phylum. Put it this way, they can paralyze and fly off with a full-sized tarantula, where they stuff them in a hole and lay eggs on them. They troll the tarantula hides in the garden wall, flying back and forth really slow at about chest level, an sound like C-130 turboprops at a distance.

 

[freebullet]

New use for 45acp shotshells!

 

[JWFilips]

A red fox and 2 greys. Red fox only use dens when they have pups. Grey fox use dens, but can climb trees, so they are also known as the tree fox.

Thanks for the info. I thought they were all red fox ( Except younger) Good to know

 

[RBHarter]

We have red , grey , desert and kit foxes out here . I've never seen an actual red here . The greys are as big as reds while a desert looks like a 2/3 scale model . The kits seem to be like the low rider cousins about the same size as the desert fox with only half the legs .
The bushy tails that look like a Swifer set them apart from the coyotes that are half again bigger . They all tend to be the same colors here . The kits and desert are very social and probably could be wild to pet in a few weeks .

 

[smokeywolf]

Don't like bugs in general. The chigger thing is going to be a bit of an aggravation for me, but much more so for Mrs. smokeywolf and the younger of my two teen boys. They're flea magnets and will likely be chigger and tick magnets too.

Going to have keep Timber bathed, sprayed and flea collared.

 

[Rick]

Going to have keep Timber bathed, sprayed and flea collared.

Don't forget the heart worm meds.
,

 

[smokeywolf]

Thanks Rick, that's one I wouldn't want to overlook. That fuzzy goofy wol-amute is the center of this family.