Going to have to be extremely careful with Demps - found out he's a good hunter...

First topic message reminder :

A spider hunter.

A big, fat-bodied spider was crawling around our living room yesterday, while mum and I were having our Movie Night. The first time it crawled past, Demps shot up and frowned at it, watching it go.

The second time, he dashed behind the armchair and dove underneath the computer desk (a space only half his size) after it, so he had to be pulled back out. The spider scuttled away.

Third time, he shot up again and mum stopped him before he could pounce. I caught it in a glass and took it outside, so that Demps didn't crunch the abdomen and leak its nasty spidey juices all over the carpet.

Lorraine wrote: I'd much rather have spiders than flies!

Ditto. Here in summer, the flies....  

Don't blame you there, Tracy. Some of your spideys are dangerous!

Eleanor wrote:I'd understand if he'd squished it in an area where spiders are dangerous, but in the UK?

Yes some are venomous,  some are just plain ugly & annoying! Most die instantly if they come into my house. I don't care to wait & see how their attitude is. Nor take the time to listen to their family history! My conversation with them is.... ohhh, where did you come from? SWAT! Conversation concluded!  

Do you not have ANY venomous spiders there? Not even one? 

Eleanor wrote:Great - this is my chance to creep people out!

If you stamp on a spider outside, and it happens to be a female with her eggs, the eggs could get stuck to your shoe. You then walk them into your house. Later that day/week, thousands of tiny spiders will be running around your house!         

Just because it can happen, as a ex jeweler, we used to keep Redbacks, funnel webs,  stone fish, red bellies, tiger snakes, stone fish, butterfly cod, etc.... all venomous as security. We would put valuable gems into their cages/tanks to stop thieves.  We also rented them out to other dealers for their display cases or shop window displays to stop theives from stealing. (I wouldn't put my hand in a case with a funnel web! Those ladies stand their ground & fight!)   I've done their hair a few times when I lived in Sydney.

(Ok, translation....a few good sprays of hairspray makes them freeze solid when it sets on their hairy legs. Then... lights out before it bites.)

One morning we came in to find a redbacks bubs had hatched & escaped through the flywire as the newbies are so tiny you wouldnt see them usless you knew they were with mum, then gone. They were all over the place! Hundreds of the little suckers.   we were shut down for 3 days as we had to removed all the animals, (a cocky & galah included) to fumigate the building so it was safe for everyone.

Wow! I didn't know they're used for security! That's amazing!

Must have been a pain to fumigate.

Pretty much all of our spiders are venomous, but they usually aren't dangerous due to certain factors - the venom isn't potent enough to cause serious harm, their fangs aren't large enough to pierce the skin, they're too small, they'd sooner run away than bite, they don't inject much venom when they do bite, etc..

We be lucky.

Oh yes, it's not a common thing but Nick (the guy that i worked for & owned the business) saw an opportunity.  & he was right. They are better than a security guard! & I am not joking!
We bomded the joint & I got a holiday. Yeah!

I was just reading up. Yours are venomous but not poisonous.

No, our spiders can bite (and hurt!) but they won't kill you unless you are as scared of them as I am!

It's a good idea having the critters to guard your jewels (so long as the customers can bear looking for their next bit of bling amongst the creepy-crawlies), but it would never be allowed in the UK because (and you couldn't make this up) they might hurt the thief.

Well, I definitely wouldn't try to steal from a shop guarded by Australian spideys!   

Technically, no spider (as far as I'm aware!) is poisonous, as this relates to toxins being delivered through things like the skin, whereas venom is delivered through injection! Our little spiders are just not very potent - bless 'em! I found that out from a lecturer, repeatedly, as I kept referring to one of the snakes as 'poisonous'. In the end, I used to do it just to annoy him.

Lynda, I think you're right, sadly. People can get prosecuted if a burglar breaks into your house and cuts his hand some broken glass! I still don't understand how that's allowed.

Yep, " 'elf 'n' safetay " I'm afraid.

I can remember a time when it was quite common for people who didn't want their back yards entered to set broken pieces of glass all along the tops of their walls, or a string of razor wire, and they have had to remove them. And recently, as we know, our dogs are not allowed to bite any felon entering our property.

Health and Safety has done a lot of good in preventing avoidable accidents, but has become paranoid over some things.

Speaking of which (and back to spiders) I'd like to check something out with Tracy (and I'm afraid this is one of my sagas):-

My company had an engineer who married an Australian and went to work there. He was called upon to service or repair a packaging machine in a factory, and it involved getting onto one of those trolleys and sliding underneath the machine, flat on the back belly up. Once under the machine he looked up and saw "hundreds of redbacks" on the underneath of the machine and promptly back-pedalled out, whilst the Aussies around him sniggered knowingly.

Is this likely, or was he spinning a yarn?

We are a little like the US. "Be aware!  You have been warned. Guns/dogs on the property". If you have signs up.... the intruder HAS been put on notice.

Edited: they have guns, we have puppies.

LyndaW wrote:

Speaking of which (and back to spiders) I'd like to check something out with Tracy (and I'm afraid this is one of my sagas):-

My company had an engineer who married an Australian and went to work there.  He was called upon to service or repair a packaging machine in a factory, and it involved getting onto one of those trolleys and sliding underneath the machine, flat on the back belly up.  Once under the machine he looked up and saw "hundreds of redbacks" on the underneath of the machine and promptly back-pedalled out, whilst the Aussies around him sniggered knowingly.  

Is this likely, or was he spinning a yarn?

Ohhhhhh, that could be very true! But an aussie wouldn't send a bloke into that. That is not a joke! That is life threatening! I would hazard to guess if thats true the guys didnt know they were there.

It actually goes against us if we put 'dangerous dog' signs up

Lynda, we are pranksters, but not with our spiders nor snakes.
If they knew they were there he would have been told. That is not a joke here. But they would laugh if he was confronted with them.

Eleanor wrote:It actually goes against us if we put 'dangerous dog' signs up

It goes against us if we haven't got them. The public must be warned not to cross the boundary. The front door is the only safe/legal point of access here.

Bring us some Australian manners then, because if we had those sorts of spiders in the UK, our lovely natives would delight in using them to prank people. Well, it's mixed really. You get some good people and some bad. The bad just get paid more notice.

Over here, signs are something you need to be careful with. If a dog attacks somebody on its property and you had a sign up, warning or implying that the dog could do harm, it could be used against you. They'd say that you were aware of your dog's 'aggression' and were using it as a weapon.

Cultural differences, eh?

Our blokes are buggers, they will prank with anything at hand but,  redbacks? NO!
A bit like you, some may find it funny but we don't joke about with them. If there was more than 1 it's just not funny.

Here,  we put up "beware of dog" signs so... jump my fence? You were warned! Enter at your own risk if you don't use the the front door.

That's probably something that would make me consider moving there! Never going to happen though.

Over here, you get some really nasty types. It'll be a prank for them, but they don't care who gets hurt. Vandalism, arson, assault, robbery - you name it. During the London riots, the majority was done by yobs who just wanted to hurt people, damage property and loot. Hardly any of them even knew why the riots started in the first place.

Thank God they're still a minority, even though it seems like you can't turn the street corner without running into them!

We have fun signs, like: 'I can make it from here to the gate in 3 seconds - can you?'

And the one adapted to Bull Terriers. 'Not only can I make it to the gate in 3 seconds; I can also clear it. '

I'm glad to hear that at least it wasn't a knowing prank, and maybe the story was embroidered more than a little! What really shocked me was that any spiders at all could be in the factory, bearing in mind that these machines package at least toiletries/cosmetics, but more often pharmaceuticals or foodstuffs.

Mind you, I could tell a story about foodstuff factory I visited here in the UK that would make you blink, but as it doesn't involve spiders, I won't !   

Go for it! I'm sure we could link it to spiders, somehow!

Certain sure? You know what my stories are like ....

OK then, you've been warned!

I won't name the manufacturer, but they were a big one and amongst other things they produced coleslaw. We won a contract to replace their three antiquated machines with three super new ones - basically they put the coleslaw into pots and lidded them.

I was there with my project management hat on (actually, no literal hat at all - in pharmaceutical factories you have to dress in white overalls, wear plastic bags on your feet and cover your hair with a hair-net thing. None of that malarkey here).

We went through the very damp and dark factory to the end of the lines where the doomed machines were. One had broken down, and the factory hands were scooping coleslaw out of a huge open vat with the tubs, wiping them "clean" and slapping the lids on. One of the girls doing this had the biggest ripest ready-to-burst boil on her nose that has ever been my misfortune to see.

And here's the funny thing - I developed a craving for coleslaw and would eat pots of it whilst working on this project!

Told you there were no spiders in this story - thankfully.

Your stories are great!

I think I remember you mentioning this before! I'm glad I don't eat coleslaw!

Oh dear, am I repeating myself?   Senility strikes again.

Coleslaw is yummy and I still eat it safe in the knowledge that it is being packed by my lovely clean zit-free machines!

LyndaW wrote:I'm glad to hear that at least it wasn't a knowing prank, and maybe the story was embroidered more than a little!  What really shocked me was that any spiders at all could be in the factory, bearing in mind that these machines package at least toiletries/cosmetics, but more often pharmaceuticals or foodstuffs.

Mind you, I could tell a story about foodstuff factory I visited here in the UK that would make you blink, but as it doesn't involve spiders, I won't !   

My OH is a special class fitter & turner. I asked him... "would anyone do that as a joke?" He said, "maybe if it was 1 or 2 if the bloke was new to the country. Scare the @#$* out of him for a laugh but 100? No! That would be a pr1cks act!"

Some of the stories con tells,    (he is a contractor, he moves from rigs to food industries, Pharmaceuticals to flooring & all in between. If a machine breaks down....they ring him.)
Needless to say, I produce my own eggs & vegies.
Most people are oblivious to what goes on on a production line.

Out of sight out of mind. Ignorance is bliss.