Hahaha, love those little jumping guys.

 

Paul, are most of your videos from around the Missoula area?

 

daddy long legs are not spiders
stories I have heard about daddy long legs being very poisonous are myth
I know brown recluse do not like the dry CO climate, but there are other spiders whose bite will cause putrification of the flesh. Your climate is not so dry.

I agree that spiders play an important role, especially outside of the house. Black widows are an icon of death, but they are not really as dangerous as people think. They prefer privacy. I still would not allow one in the house.

Just something to think about. I recall a professor who was a world expert on spiders. He said the aggressive house spider is being watched because there are some indications it may be developing into a social insect. Just image a queen spider, squadrons of food foraging killer spiders, and guard spiders == worse than arachnaphobia. Colin Wilson wrote a science fiction trilogy about the planet being taken over by spiders.

Spiders are an ant's worst enemy (besides other ants).

Gary

 

little jumpers in most of my windows..

 

We had an infestation of brown recluse spiders at one time. We would spat and set off bombs. All to no avail. Someone told me spraying actually made then worse as it is hard to kill one with spray and you give then a buffet of dead insects to feed on. Ended up using packing tape on all base boards leaving most of the sticky part of the tape exposed. You would not believe how many we caught and have not seen many since.

 

Paul, are most of your videos from around the Missoula area?

I would guess that about 1/4 are from the missoula area. I travel and visit a lot of farms. Most of the farms I visit don't make it into my videos.

 

daddy long legs are not spiders

gobug, I've been reading your stuff here for many years. And while there are many things that I do differently than you, you always have new info. This one was new to me, so I looked it up!

Shore nuff! Wikipedia says there are some spiders called daddy longlegs that are actual spiders, but the one I'm thinking about is apparently "an arachnid, but not a spider."

Although I know that I had one "daddy longlegs" that would catch ants and wad them up in silk. So there were these little silk pellets. That one must have been a true spider.

 

I like spiders but don't care for living with wolf spiders which is what we have. They bite, and they hurt. So they get put outside.

The kids and I watched a spider trap a hornet in its web the other day, it was fascinating!

 

I'm afraid of being jumped ON by jumping spiders - I avoid them like the plague!

 

I'm afraid of being jumped ON by jumping spiders - I avoid them like the plague!

That happened to me once. A spider slid from the ceiling onto me. That was the beginning of the "all spiders must die" campaign. Which led to lots of bugs in the house (spider food) which led to the brown recluse bite.

 

Paul, you always do an excellent job on your videos. When you say you travel to a lot of farms, is it for some OTHER purpose, or is it specifically to film, interview someone?

Or is this a hobby that you do while you are out and about doing whatever makes your living?

Just asking for curiosity sake. If you don't feel like answering, no problem, I know it's easy to become open for a lot of criticism sometimes...

 

I get invited to a lot of farms and gardens .... I think they want me to video something cool. I like to think it's because they like me and wanna visit.

Most of the farms I visit have a lot of stuff that I've seen a thousand times before. Once in a while I get invited to a place where they have done stuff that I advocate and so there's a lot to video. The earth berm pig shelter was one. Hugelkultur is another. Paddock shift chickens. Rocket mass heaters. Polyculture. Tiny homes or community living. Etc.

Sometimes I give presentations in an area. Sometimes I drive a long way because I know that they have something that is really important. Recently I drove a full day to get footage of a livestock guardian dog breed that is one third the size of a great pyr and tends to eat more rodents than a great pyr (I would think that would be of HUGE value to HT folks). Unfortunately, I lost all of that footage (gonna hafta go back).

Does this answer your question?

 

What breed of dog was that Paul?

 

What breed of dog was that Paul?

Northwest farm terrier.

 

I get invited to a lot of farms and gardens .... I think they want me to video something cool. I like to think it's because they like me and wanna visit.

Most of the farms I visit have a lot of stuff that I've seen a thousand times before. Once in a while I get invited to a place where they have done stuff that I advocate and so there's a lot to video. The earth berm pig shelter was one. Hugelkultur is another. Paddock shift chickens. Rocket mass heaters. Polyculture. Tiny homes or community living. Etc.

Sometimes I give presentations in an area. Sometimes I drive a long way because I know that they have something that is really important. Recently I drove a full day to get footage of a livestock guardian dog breed that is one third the size of a great pyr and tends to eat more rodents than a great pyr (I would think that would be of HUGE value to HT folks). Unfortunately, I lost all of that footage (gonna hafta go back).

Does this answer your question?

For the most part. Thanks.

 

The only good spider is a dead spider in my opinion. I HATE them. My worst nightmare. My method of killing spiders is using a vacuum with a long tube and sucking it up and then sucking up clean cat litter and pelting the little b*****d to death.

 

We have a LOT of Bold Jumping Spiders around our house. I think they are cute, and don't bother us. In fact, we have one up on our vaulted ceiling right now, just hanging out. A couple days ago, one was just hanging in front of our screen door, and nice enough to pose for me while I played paparazzi. lol

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/ShyGecko/ab37bf2f.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/ShyGecko/b6eed816.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/ShyGecko/923bbde2.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/ShyGecko/228c8e1d.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/ShyGecko/941a13ed.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/ShyGecko/52e7121e.jpg

My son found a black widow on the back fence and killed it. Since it was far from our house, I wish he had left it alone. My husband will kill any spider that he finds inside the house. I will usually leave them alone unless they are gigantic. The first house we lived in together, we had giant wolf spiders, about 4" across including legs. We had one walk across the back of our sofa one night. I about had a heart attack. I don't like those spiders. HAHA

 

daddy long legs are not spiders
stories I have heard about daddy long legs being very poisonous are myth
I know brown recluse do not like the dry CO climate, but there are other spiders whose bite will cause putrification of the flesh. Your climate is not so dry.

I agree that spiders play an important role, especially outside of the house. Black widows are an icon of death, but they are not really as dangerous as people think. They prefer privacy. I still would not allow one in the house.

Just something to think about. I recall a professor who was a world expert on spiders. He said the aggressive house spider is being watched because there are some indications it may be developing into a social insect. Just image a queen spider, squadrons of food foraging killer spiders, and guard spiders == worse than arachnaphobia. Colin Wilson wrote a science fiction trilogy about the planet being taken over by spiders.

Spiders are an ant's worst enemy (besides other ants).

Gary

i heard once that the daddy long legs (what we commonly know as daddy long legs) actually have one of the most potent venoms on the planet, but they lack a good delivery system. it is impossible for them to inflict a poisonous bite on us.

 

i heard once that the daddy long legs (what we commonly know as daddy long legs) actually have one of the most potent venoms on the planet, but they lack a good delivery system. it is impossible for them to inflict a poisonous bite on us.

This is an urban myth.

 

We have Black Widows, Tarantulas, Brown Recluse, Wolf and Jumping spiders along with a huge and colorful garden spider around our place and for the most part they dont bother anything and we appreciate their catching flying insects. I used to be scared witless by spiders but I started studying them and now they dont bother me near as much. We control the Brown Recluse by going into the basement about once every few months and vacuuming away all webs and spiders we see (we dont store much in the basement so its easy to see them) which seems to have helped a lot. We aso have the wolf and jumping spiders all over in the greenhouse and the Mrs hates them but they are actually pretty cool.

But the absolute scariest looking but interesting spiders we have are the Missouri Tarantula and the common garden spider. We leave both of them alone no matter where they decide to take up residence and I find I actually enjoy watching them like I enjoy any other wild life. If you havent seen a Missouri Tarantula they are very large and hairy but also very shy and the Garden spiders we have are about the size of a $.50 piece and have yellow stripes. Both are scary looking but are extremely interesting to observe because they are big enough that even myopic old guys like me can see them well.

I also enjoy most of your videos Paul, have you ever seen "Farm Show" magazine? It has a lot of great ideas that people have come up with along the lines of what you are describing and some of the things you have shared with us have also been in Farm Show.

 

I like spiders but don't care for living with wolf spiders which is what we have. They bite, and they hurt. So they get put outside.

!

AND HUGE. Around here it isn't unusual for a wolf spider to hit 5 inches from head to tail. Too big to squish, really. When you KNOW they are looking at you, you have a problem.

 

I like spiders but don't care for living with wolf spiders which is what we have. They bite, and they hurt. So they get put outside.

The kids and I watched a spider trap a hornet in its web the other day, it was fascinating!

Rose, wolf spiders must be destroyed! Those big, furry monsters... <shudder>

When you release them into the wild, you just allow them to go off and breed, making MORE wolf spiders. Don't you realize that you're creating the spider version of a zombie apocalypse? Oh, sure, you're nice to them today, but don't think that you'll be spared because you let them off once.

<shaking head>

 

Had a brown reclues bite some time ago. Woke up, looking in the bathroom mirrow and had a purple stain about 3" in diameter next to right eye. Called Dr. office. They said until I can be worked in to buy and take, and I am not 100% sure, Denadril. Fortunately it faded out in about ten days. However, I have heard of bites which leaves permanent damage.

 

Paul, that was hilarious! My dh and I were laughing loud enough to draw the attention of the kids. BAM! CHOMP!

 

I also enjoy most of your videos Paul, have you ever seen "Farm Show" magazine? It has a lot of great ideas that people have come up with along the lines of what you are describing and some of the things you have shared with us have also been in Farm Show.

I've been a subscriber for many years!