The Ant Whisperer (Page 2 of 3)

lol

And here I was thinking that I'm the only one who does things like this. Except I don't limit myself to ants. (who love pizza and will NEVER say "no" to it!) I give harmless web spiders free reign in my apartment, who are in turn pop-controlled by my cat who is the ultimate food scavenger...

I make deals with my insects too and it works. The trick is to understand that they're here to do a job too, and you can't blame them for wanting to do it. You just have to give them an alternative, and they will usually take it. Mosquitoes can be total bastards though. If they start to bother you, don't try to reason with them, just direct your spiders to look out for them, and they'll take care of the rest.

And yes, my cat can and does read my mind... whenever it suits him....

I catch take a photo and let it go
Else dangerous very aggressive spider like the  Brazilian Wandering Spider
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/s … under.html
we give then to the university, here a photo
http://www.dhost.info/pictus/image/aranha7.jpg

Symbolic omens, I believe in that too, the big white eagle
on our garage was something...
I do not know the meaning but it was… heheeheh

Here is full of owls, I love than!
They keep the mouse population low.
Do not say owl, moloch stuff… ehehheeh

Lyra, about the fly that bit me: after reading your East Coast/West Coast rundown
in the Reading People section just now, I realized it was because he was an East
Coast Fly. Fer shur!

I was having a problem with the grey squirrels chewing up my deck and eating all bird seed.  I was always complaining about them, they were driving me nuts. A friend of mine gave me a candlestick holder that was in the shape of a squirrel. So my daughter and I lit a candle to the squirrel god and asked that they stay off my deck and I will provide them a bird feeder elsewhere. Guess what? No more squirrels!! My backyard is a certified backyard wildlife habital with the Nat'l Wildlife Fed. so killing anything is a nono. I have lots of talks with the wasps, they tend to be the most stubborn. The Japenese beetles ignore me every year, even when they see me putting there buddies in a bucket of soapy water, maybe I need to learn how to say *go away* in Japanese? My neighbors all think Im the crazy woman that talks to bugs and animals. But it all comes down to mutual respect. My favorite line is from a Star Trek movie...*my compassion for something isnt based on its intelligence*... people dont realize how smart the animal world is...I like animals more than I like most people!

Lyra, he must have had the most obnoxious brand of the Boston accent. "Wicked
Bad."

Visavis, I like bees and wasps okay, too. Wasps in particular build amazing structures. And this, despite the fact that I was stung by one as a kid. But a couple of summers going back a few seasons, I lived very high on a third floor, and a wasp would soar in, circle the room, and then go outside again. It would do this
continuously, scouting. I believe it may have tried to start a nest in the top of the blinds, but I'd close the window on her(I think it was a her) and gave her the message not to continue. She did continue to visit me, circle the room in curiousity, fly right by my head, and leave. Then I'd say goodnight to my wasp friend and shut the window. This would go on all summer.

Those giant Japanese wasps, however, seem terrifying!

Believe it or not, the Japanese Hornets although they are large, and come out at night, and can pack a might wallup when they sting, are the least aggressive. I sat and watched one come to my mulch pile and try and carry these huge pieces of mulch and barely able to fly to build a nest with. It worked all day.

There was an interesting movie I watched in the 90's called "Micro cosmos," about the world of backyard insects.  It was really neat to watch.   They got inside an ant's nest and filmed all the ants doing their thing up close.  It's like you're really there inside the nest.  Amazing!   The cutest thing I saw, and it's going to sound goofy I'm sure, was the little dung beetle.  Treehugger's hornet story reminded me of this.  This little dung beetle was working so hard to roll this little ball of poo.  Push push push, push push push!    Then the little ball got impaled on a twig.  The beetle's legs were pushing with all his might, to no avail.

But here's the kicker....

That beetle was smart!  He stopped what he was doing, went around to the back of the ball, investigated and analyzed what was causing the block.  Then he proceeded the push the poo ball in the other direction, back off the stick.  !   Then went around to the front and continued on his way!   It was just too cute, I couldn't believe it.  I don't know if this video is available now on DVD, but it's a good view.  Who knew bugs could be so cute!  Especially little poo bugs!