Spiders & Stink Bugs & Moths, oh my!

Trish915 · #1 2013-09-18, 11:33am

I really don't like spiders and bugs, especially stink bugs. My torch is set up in our garage, and now I find myself tolerating more creepy crawly things than I thought possible.

I'm winding on some glass… Oh my, there is a stinkbug crawling on my leg… But … Must… Finish… Wrapping… Don't swat at it with a hot mandrel…. What, is that a spider crawling towards my torch? And oh, the poor moths… I try to warn them to stay away. I think a few beads have had moth parts melt into them. And I've smelled that skunk smell a couple of evenings, but never saw one so far…

What's the craziest thing you've tolerated in the name of lamp working?

Sadie Mae · #2 2013-09-18, 11:43am

my husband.............

*Naos* · #3 2013-09-18, 11:56am

Sadie!

For me, when I first started torching, I was living at my mom's. There was a gang of Jumping Spiders on my work bench. There were also flies. It was like someone was cooking BBQ for the spiders because they knew when I was torching, they'd get cooked flies every once in a while. So I spent many a midnight with lots of eyes watching me.

Trish915 · #4 2013-09-18, 12:06pm

Sadie - LOL - my husband started me on this lampwork journey, so it's him who has to tolerate his 'garage' turning into 'MY studio' !

JUMPING spiders?! ewwwwww You could have called it Amber's Lampwork Buffet!

SuzyQ · #5 2013-09-18, 2:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sadie Mae

my husband.............

My studio is pretty bug free, but I do get the occasional moth. Ladybugs too. My major annoyance is my husband coming to chat. He usually scares the daylights out of me.

Mr.Smeeth · #6 2013-09-18, 4:00pm

I had a stray cat sneak through the door and scare the s#%t out of me. I burned a one inch lentil shaped hole in my arm.

Elizabeth Beads · #7 2013-09-18, 4:13pm

An opossum moved into my garage. We were in the house and heard noises in the garage, which was open. We found "evidence" of an opossum but not the actual animal, even though we searched, so we assumed it had left. The next day I made beads and that night, there was a crash in the garage, which this time was closed. More "evidence" right under my workbench.

I left the garage open about a foot that night and the opossum must have left, no more strange noises, no more evidence. Just weird to think I made beads all morning with the opossum holed up somewhere in the garage.

Dreamsincolor · #8 2013-09-20, 2:57pm

I remember when living in Hawaii having to sprinkle powdered Comet cleanser in the tracks of the sliding doors to keep the scorpions and centipedes out. Nothing deterred the lizards from crawling all over the screens hunting bugs so I didn't have too much trouble from moths, but I'd find the lizard eggs stashed in the tubes holding rods....

Andrea

Beatrix92 · #9 2013-09-20, 3:11pm

I have a studio out in an outbuilding on our very remote property. One night I was working and a brown recluse was heading for my foot. I stuck the bead I was making out towards the spider thinking to make it go away. I didn't realize how combustable they are! It caught fire immediately. I stomped it out and went back to work. About 5 minutes later I was adding detail to the bead and felt something on my neck. It seemed larger than a spider, so I gave it minute. I was a freaking tarantula!! I was screaming and jumping up and down for 5 minutes.
The other time I was working on the torch and the door to the studio opened. I figured it was the wind and got up to shut it and there was a 5 foot black snake hanging from the frame. I was totally trapped. I called my husband in the house to come and rescue me.
bea

Lyssa · #10 2013-09-20, 3:58pm

Aw crap, now I gotta go through all my glass and see if there are gecko eggs anywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreamsincolor

I remember when living in Hawaii having to sprinkle powdered Comet cleanser in the tracks of the sliding doors to keep the scorpions and centipedes out. Nothing deterred the lizards from crawling all over the screens hunting bugs so I didn't have too much trouble from moths, but I'd find the lizard eggs stashed in the tubes holding rods....

Andrea

Trish915 · #11 2013-09-20, 7:40pm

oh wow - tarantulas in Oklahoma?! i never would have guessed... ewwwwwwwwwww! Makes me think of the Brady Bunch in Hawaii. lol i will never complain about stink bugs again!!

KJohn · #12 2013-09-20, 11:37pm

I'd die if I saw a tarantula. Grossest thing here, are the huge roach things. You don't even want to know what they sound like if you try to step on one. You just sort of avoid it until it leaves. Yuck. We have scorpions, but here at least they are usually small and stay on the walls. Never seen a snake either. I would also die.

Early morning here brings ants. Lots of them. I see them coming, and I grab the can of Raid and circle around my feet. A few minutes later, I'll do the table legs. I eventually finish the bead and see them crawling over the hoses, one of which is looped over a nearby branch. Time to get the Raid again, get up and get serious. Underside of table, chair, hoses, etc. I usually quit about a half-hour later anyway as it just seems pointless. Nothing stops them, or the moths.

Sometimes our local wild chickens come to visit, and I try to stay quiet as they go along the side of the porch. They had little chickies this time, so cute.

But the best one was a little stray cat. It was wandering closer and closer for a while. My husband said he had startled it off the porch later when he went outside, it had a little place inside one of my empty bin racks that are on the ground under a table. I felt so bad, but it never came back to that. Too much traffic, I guess. It still visits.

dsglass · #13 2013-09-21, 2:54pm

Snakes? Scorpions? Tarantulas??

We get the occaisional small flying insect who gets past the window screens only to fly into the flame, and one of my studio mates once thought she saw a mouse, but nothing nearly that scary... Worst thing I have to deal with is a couple of studio mates with boundary issues who don't understand why I get annoyed when they move my things around and leave their trash all over my workspace.

PatsyEmporium · #14 2013-09-21, 3:04pm

I wear a welding apron (LOL) it hangs on the wall of the garage on a nail when not in use I'm not a spider fan I shake the heck out of the apron when I take it down to wear. Theres two big pockets on the front I have to stick my hands in to get my hair clips and Kevlar gloves (LOL) and this makes me terribly nervous (is there a spider in there?!) there was a spider in there one time luckily I saw its web first and upon further inspection saw the spider and squished him and dug him out with tongs. It was disturbing. I haven't had a spider crawl onto me while working but when it does happen and I know it will I will lose it I know it and what ever is in my hand will go flying I know it's going to be a disaster when it happens

missp_32 · #15 2013-09-23, 12:24pm

My husband scares the crap outta me regularly.

Other than that, I've had a mouse or two peering up at me as if to say "whatcha doin?"

bshelle · #16 2013-10-05, 5:43pm

I had a big, gigantic (exaggeration) spider on my oxy valve once.
(I have had to work on not screaming when I see a spider.)

I ended up shutting it all down for the day.

KJohn · #17 2013-10-05, 6:56pm

I cleaned and re-organized my little studio last night. I spray-killed a black widow who had taken up next to my back steps, and chased away a small scorpion with my trusty broom. Glad I was wearing shoes.

Sheila D. · #18 2013-10-05, 7:04pm

My studio is off the garage too so I get lots of spiders and creepy crawlies. The worst though was...I have a shield and the arm is about eye level. I was making an intricate bead so I had on my magnifiers and looked up to come face to face with a wasp sitting on the arm of my shield! Looking him right in the eye! I also had a flicker bird fly in one day...crapped all over!

Dreamsincolor · #19 2013-10-05, 7:39pm

What I want to know now is why I have to de-slug my studio every morning. The little slimers leave that shiny trail all over everything. We're talking indoor studio, but it is an OLD (1882) building and I guess there must be a bazillion hidden ways into the place. Lily (Beagle/Brittany Spaniel) gobbles them up and then promptly pukes them up and gives me this I DID IT FOR YOU MOMMY! expression....poor baby.

Andrea

AmorphousDesigns · #20 2013-10-05, 8:46pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJohn

Early morning here brings ants. Lots of them. I see them coming, and I grab the can of Raid and circle around my feet. A few minutes later, I'll do the table legs. I eventually finish the bead and see them crawling over the hoses, one of which is looped over a nearby branch. Time to get the Raid again, get up and get serious. Underside of table, chair, hoses, etc. I usually quit about a half-hour later anyway as it just seems pointless. Nothing stops them, or the moths.

helpful tip for the ants and not an issue for pets (won't eat the borax):

mixture of cornmeal and Borax, gets the ants within 24 hours (cornmeal messes up their digestive system, borax kills them when they clean it off their antennae).

I created a moat of this around the dog food bowl, works like a charm.

gubnavnania · #21 2013-10-06, 2:25am

Do you have something like this?
http://www.mortein.com.au/product_na...ind_insect.php

I turn it on on low/slow setting. No more spiders in the torching room now.

KJohn · #22 2013-10-06, 3:34am

Elizabeth, thanks for the tip! I have also considered diatomaceous earth as another organic solution.

FosterFire · #23 2013-10-07, 9:44am

I use the glue mouse traps for bugs. FYI: they work great for scorpions, too.

songe · #24 2013-10-07, 4:05pm

Spyders, snakes, scorpions, ants, tarantulas (OMG OMG OMG) ... well, I suddenly looooooooove the canadian winters.

Let it snow, let is snow, let is snow!

Lyne

LynieG · #25 2013-10-07, 7:41pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by songe

Spyders, snakes, scorpions, ants, tarantulas (OMG OMG OMG) ... well, I suddenly looooooooove the canadian winters.

Let it snow, let is snow, let is snow!

Lyne

^^^ this (insert MN)!!! (there was a reason I moved away from Ark! LOL)