Close call, building engines is dangerous
 

I was in the process of trying to bolt the air deflector onto the alternator, my hands were all contorted up in that tight spot when i felt something on my right hand. I jumped like a school girl when I saw a fairly large blackwidow crawling on my hand.
Yikes. it didn't bite yet but it had the chance. I'm one of them folks who don't care much for spiders, specially the ones with red on their bellies.
The spider crawled up into the alternator so I coldn't even finish the job.
That's when I discovered that black widows don't like brake cleaner. I sprayed her good and she climbed out long enough for me to give her a good squish!
Scared the you know what out of me. For the rest of the afternoon I looked the parts over real carefull before bolting them onto the engine.

Jeez i know the fealing back when i was a kid in CA. Im glad those dont like snow :D

Yuke!!! That gave me the creeps just reading it. Glad there's nothing like that around here. When I read the heading of the thread I was hoping you didn't drop something on yourself.

Several years ago we were with Julia JR at a SCCA driving school in Holtville and while taking a luch break heard a little noise by the cooler. When I looked it was a huge Tarantula just looking things over! After a couple of minutes it ambled back into the desert bushes and left us alone! Glad it did!

I just took a trip down to lufkin Tx. and was telling the Capt. that there were things down there that could kill you like brown recluses and snakes with and without rattles and stuff like that. And when I was preflighting the airplane, and had the engine covers and pitot tube covers in my hand and was handing them up to him I look down at my sleeve and half up crawling was (none other than) a brown recluse!! they aren't terribly common in those parts but thank god for a long sleeve shirt!!! I quickly flopped it onto the ground and stomped the **** out of it!!!

Brian

79 930

Be careful around spiders!
 

Man, that was close. I was bitten on the back by a Brown Recluse and had a really bad time of it. Small spiders are the most dangerous here in the US!

Spiders and me have a love-hate relationship. I don't kill them, as they have a tendency to eat all of those other annoying bugs that I really don't like. They do piss me off though when I walk into their web, or drop down right in front of me...

I capture them and toss them outside when I find them inside...

-Wayne

What's a brown recluse?
Here in the great state of NM, where we have a large assortment of wildlife, my mother found a "finger" sized scorpion walking across her room. Luckily it was a black one (non-piosonous so i hear) but had it been clear that would have freaked the **** out of me. Also when we first moved here, there was a dead silver looking rattle snake outside our apartment that was about 7 feet in length (roughly).

For a minute there I thought something bad was about to happen like you dropping a critical bolt somewhere!

I had a friend of mine bitten by a brown recluse, on the foot. He wound up losing 2 toes before all was said and done. I hate the little buggers. Haven't had a run in with a widow yet, knock on wood...

Naw, the final assembly went very smooth (knock on wood).
No highlights except a cut finger and a spider.

10 hours straight, I got the last 10 rockers installed and adjusted, sealed up the long block, installed exhaust, air shroud, fan, wiring, CIS. That was enough for now. My feet hurt.

I feel guilty because I was tired and just washed my hands and walked away and didn't clean up or put away tools. I problably won't be able to sleep and will be out in the garage cleaning up all my tools at midnight ;)

I think the bumper crop of crickets is feeding the widows this year. I can remember not seeing a black widow spider for 5 years at a time, but I've killed about 6 this year.

The brown recluse spider bite is many many times more dangerous than a black widow bite. Fortunately, I've never seen the recluse up close and personal.

That's really interesting. I do the same. It takes balls to tell these guys around here that you don't kill spiders. My wife hates it that I remove them instead.

Brown Recluse. That's one I'd kill. I've never seen one, but we do have them here in SoCal. They live in a lot of the US. They like hidden places like under the house.

If you get bitten by a Brown Recluse, the flesh around the bite dies. You may loose a limb if bitten there. On the body, well you can't amputate your body, so you could die. It's all in how fast and well you get treatment. If ever in doubt, go to the hospital or emergency clinic.

http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entom...s/brreclus.gif
I did a little reading and they live mostly in the southern and middle part of the country. The reaction to the bite is delayed and is not often fatal. But, it is a serious matter for some people. Others fair better. There is no anti venom.

Personally, I dont kill spiders or any bugs if at all possible. Like some have mentioned, I set them free outside. Its bad karma to kill anything, and in general just not a very nice thing to do.

I hear ya Sammy

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1098069618.jpg

Found this one whilst working on my A-arms last year...

Regular ole spiders that aren't dangerous to me or my little ones usually get ignored, even though they give me the willies when I walk into or reach into their webs.
Any critter that is in my house or garage that can harm me or my kids doesn't get as much leeway I'm afraid. Hope that doesn't make me a bad person ;)

Terry, I think you nailed it. I saw at least 4 crickets jumping across the garage floor today, I fiigured they were just trying to get away from the rain we had yesterday. (I ignored them, they don't bite). ;)

My old roomate I lived in Texas with got bit twice by the same brown recluse before she figured out that it was living in her closet. It left two holes in her leg about the size of a half dollar and about a 5/8 inch deep. Luckily, she was one of those people that don't respond badly to them.

Rattlesnakes at least rattle before they strike. I nearly stepped on a water mocassin once back in Texas. If it hadn't started tightening it's coil I would have stepped right on it. Yikes.!!!

Actually rattle snakes don't always rattle before they bite. I watch the various discovery type channels a lot. I don't too much mind snakes, usually they run away as you approach and are easier to see than spiders. If a widow had crawled onto my hand I'd have likely crapped my pants. I really hate spiders, but I try to usually just move bugs and things outside rather than kill them. That whole karma thing. Roaches I usually just kill, we have more than enough of them around already.

A few, maybe 20 years back a Formula V took turn 10 at Summit Point, WVa a little fast. He piled into the tires lining the right side of the track and into a large wasps nest. It took a while for the safety people to extract the guy. Many got stung.

You Ca guys should move east. It's too cold here for black widows, or at least I think it is, I have never seen one here.

I don't kill them either (wayne) but do move them. I was bitten twice as a kid--one was living in one of those window air conditioners I had in my room.
One bite took a long, long time to heal. A year later, when i went into the cold beach water, I noticed the fang marks still turned purple. And to this day, if I look closely, there are two tiny little scars from the bite.

I didn't get sick from it, but it was a nasty wound that pussed and oozed for days.