What gives you the willies?

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FredC
Posts: 1991
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Location: Dewees Texas

What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

Maybe scorpions give you the willies? They seem to fall into these fluorescent fixtures and cannot climb out. Kind of a good thing. About a year ago we killed a bunch at the fire station and one of the guys said that his wife was stung by a scorpion that fell out of a fixture. Another fireman asked if that was the most excitement he had had in bed in a while. After thinking about it for a while he said, "Yeah it was". These fixtures are good, they can drop in but cannot climb out. Just took a quick glance around and I could not find one of these with less than 2 and another with four.

My personal score card with scorpions is probably thousands of dead ones to 2 scorpion stings. The stings of these local scorpions are very painful. The pain is instant and then in about 30 minutes later your lips get numb. Other varieties in other places can kill a person.

So, what gives you the willies.
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butlersrangers
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Location: Below the Bridge, Michigan

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by butlersrangers »

Scorpions look like bad news!

I had an elderly friend who was a WW-2 Vet. He went through basic training somewhere in the Southwest.

When camping and hunting with him, I noticed he never got out of the habit of turning his boots 'upside-down' and banging them together a few times.
That was a very good practice in the Southwest!

I have to admit, I picked up the practice from him.
I have never had anything creepy fall out of my boots or shoes, but it would only take one saved bite or sting to justify the extra effort!

pickax
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by pickax »

Had a scorpion in the mailbox get me in Fla. years ago. Instant pain and swelling, but not deadly.
careful Fred, multiple stings can 'sensitize' you into a full blown anaphylactic reaction.
I would say snakes give me serious willies though. Nothing like hunting the cypress heads and have an aggressive water moccasin approach!

FredC
Posts: 1991
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Location: Dewees Texas

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

Good point Br. I have gotten lax wit shoes and boots at the house. I did shake out a pair of NOS boots that had been sitting in the fire truck for 5 or 6 years the other day before putting them on. The call was in a muddy field with hay bales struck by lightning on fire. Decided to put those rubber boots on and shook and banged them thoroughly.

Pickax, those to stings were pretty close time wise a few years ago. Makes you more careful about reaching into bags of cattle cubes. I understand that water moccasin thing. I related my dad's experience recently, he learned they were very aggressive and would actually chase you. Good thing we do not see many around here.

reiver
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Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:56 am

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by reiver »

See them all the time in AZ...actually the little clear ones sting is worse than the larger dark ones.

The only thing that makes me nervous are the Mohave Green rattlers...they have both neurotoxic and hemotoxic venom... they make me nervy
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psteinmayer
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by psteinmayer »

I always check my shoes whenever I'm NOT at home (fairly certain my house is scorpion and snake free, LOL). I've encountered black widows and brown recluses when I lived in the south... and scorpions when I lived in southern California. I'll never forget taking my kids to a park at a friends neighborhood that bordered a desert-like area out in El Cajon... and discovering that scorpions were commonly found in the sand in that park (I can still smell the burning rubber from my tires as I got the H**L out of there!)

Fortunately, Michigan is a fairly safe state... with the exception being the rare widow or recluse (which are not normally native to Michigan) or the very rare encounter with a Massasauga Rattlesnake. The REAL danger here is Yellow Jackets or worse - Bald Faced Hornets (which are really just the much more mean and volatile cousins to yellow jackets). Hornets and Wasps are my real kryptonite!!!

FredC
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Location: Dewees Texas

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

Reiver and PSteinmayer, you all have both mentioned varieties I have never heard of before. One time a friend invited us over to show the rattle snakes in her husband's collection. She showed us about 25 different varieties that her husband collected. Most I had never heard of before. Her job was to raise the mice for the snakes to eat. Our local variety is the western diamond back, I think. Medium size ones coil up and get defensive, which makes them vulnerable. Larger ones seem to skedadle and so far, I have been unable to even get off a shot even if I am carrying.

My rattlesnake score is close to 100 and rattlesnakes zero. I have killed more with sticks, shovels, and pocket knives than with the pistols and rat shot. The method will never use again is an '06. Downward angle causes so much of the noise to come I was deaf for hours.

Evidently our yellow jacket is different than most others. They can be aggressive sometimes, but usually not that bad. Our red wasp is definitely worse. I had an employee get tangled up with Africanized bees while weed eating. I saved the security camera footage of them chasing him. It was not pretty. They chased him around the building and were still hitting him by the front door. They did not hit me even though I was standing next to him. I put on a bee suit from the fire department and spayed the nest with cattle fly spray. The weed eater was still running where he dropped it with bees still attacking it.

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butlersrangers
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by butlersrangers »

Mosquitoes! (West Nile virus, Equine encephalitis, Canine Heart Worm, Yellow Fever, Malaria, etc.)

Ticks! (Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted-Fever, various infections and neurological problems).

FredC
Posts: 1991
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Location: Dewees Texas

Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by FredC »

Odd that such little pests can kill you or make your life so miserable that some wish they were dead. Kinda makes you want to stay indoors. Mosquitoes have become fierce here since it started raining again. National weather service changed our drought status from exceptional to just extreme. We still have water standing in the fields several days after the last rain.
I heard a pig squeal the other day, but I am not going out there at night for a while.

reiver
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Re: What gives you the willies?

Post by reiver »

What also gives me the willies is folks that kill every snake they see....this is a Gopher snake that's 'protection' is mimicking in looks and action a rattler. If threatened, they will coil and 'act' as if they will strike but are harmless...some will even shake a bush with their tail to mimic a 'rattle'.

The eat rats/gophers/ground squirrels etc.... and if you pick one up they are good with it...I put them out by my barn and invite them to stay. The slim head and no rattles on a mature adult are what one looks for. This guy is cooling off by my front door.
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