SPIDERS!!!

[lonelymom]

He will push me under a Bus ------ laugh THAT off !

Don't say that, Neill! You'll make me sad

(I seem to have got away with my confession of mass baby spider murder- phew! )

[Jo]

To bring the thread half way back on topic, our poor Spyder (alpaca) was euthanased this afternoon. He was attacked by a dog that my daughter was looking after for an ex-friend last Thursday. We thought that he was going to pull through, but he took a turn for the worse overnight and deteriorated rapidly through the day. RIP Big Fella.

Oh, poor Spyder - so sorry to hear that Caroline. I'm surprised a dog would take on an alpaca. We saw one in Salisbury at new year, in with a field of sheep; apparently foxes steer clear of them so it gives the sheep protection.

[mvgrogan]

Oh, poor Spyder - so sorry to hear that Caroline. I'm surprised a dog would take on an alpaca. We saw one in Salisbury at new year, in with a field of sheep; apparently foxes steer clear of them so it gives the sheep protection.

in the same vein (?sp) my uncle used to keep a ferret to keep the foxes away from the chickens!

[J.R.]

They ARE used to keep wolves away from sheep.

Apparently, wolves hate 'em.

[englishangel]

Where is this John? Another fascinating pub quiz titbit.

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

I believe FROGS are still permissable, on this Topic ?

Lonelymom will be horrified to learn, that I have a Fish Tank in my front Porch, in which I am growing Tadpoles into Frogs.
There are little platforms of wood, for them to climb, since I never know when the Babies have developed enough legs to become "Tailed Frogs".
These all started as Frogspawn in my Pond ---- but removing them to a Tank gives them a 1000% better chance of survival, since my bigger fish like Tadpoles for Lunch !.
Some individuals refuse the convenient platforms and climb the glass walls --- this makes them far mor difficult to catch with a net, but all are released into suitable parts of the Gardens, where they then have to avoid being eaten by Blackbirds -and my local Grass Snake,( whom I suspect of having had a few small fish- )------- Oh its a hard life ! but about 30 have been released so far.

[J.R.]

Where is this John? Another fascinating pub quiz titbit.

I'm sure I watched a documentry on television recently about one of the South American countries where alpaca's are kept with sheep/goats.

Although very affectionate towards humans, apparently they can deliver one hell of a kick which the wolves know all about and tend to stay well clear.

There again, I might be wrong ! It has been known.

[mvgrogan]

...and they spit - with great accuracy!

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Where is this John? Another fascinating pub quiz titbit.

I'm sure I watched a documentry on television recently about one of the South American countries where alpaca's are kept with sheep/goats.

I don't know whether they do this in South America, but it is done (not sure how effectively) in Australia.

Although very affectionate towards humans,

Hmmmm, well, yes, they are, but in their own very unique way Our boys weren't handled as crias (babies), so although they come when called and eat from our hands, they don't like to be cuddled, and particularly don't like having their necks touched.
Winston is a member of the fashion police: always checks out what we or visitors are wearing, and usually gives a very disparaging look before walking off.


apparently they can deliver one hell of a kick which the wolves know all about and tend to stay well clear.

There again, I might be wrong ! It has been known.

Will answer Maria's post here too. Yes, they do spit, and it stinks - semi-digested cud - but you get warning that it is about to happen as they rescue enough from the depths of their digestive tract to make the spit worthwhile. Ours have never spat at us, but one of the horses has copped a few, and they did spit at each other on the rare occasions when they fought. We bought them as geldings, and it wasn't until I had agreed the sale that I noticed that they still had their dangly bits. 'Oi' I called 'they're not geldings', and then fell for the story that alpacas don't have their boy bits removed, but are still known as geldings if they aren't considered to be worth breeding from. Later found out this was a total fabrication, which was a shame, as I thought that the people we bought them from seemed like such nice, honest people
Their fights always reminded me of the scene in Bridget Jones' Diary where Colin Firth and Hugh Grant get into a bit of a girly tiff.

Oh, and if you stick out your hand for an introductory sniff they sort of halfheartedly sneeze on you, which causes some people to leap back yelling 'OMG, he spat at me'. Trust me, if you'd ever smelt an alpaca spit, you'd know the difference.

[Fjgrogan]

So we have progressed from Spiders, to Frogs, and now Alpacas, whatever next ...... the woolly mammoth, perhaps? I have to declare that Men have just become officially redundant in my life, because I have just taken delivery of my Betta Bug Katcha, now I just need a spider to test it on - there is never one around when you need one! (Men or spiders!)

[sejintenej]

So we have progressed from Spiders, to Frogs, and now Alpacas, whatever next ...... the woolly mammoth, perhaps? I have to declare that Men have just become officially redundant in my life, because I have just taken delivery of my Betta Bug Katcha, now I just need a spider to test it on - there is never one around when you need one! (Men or spiders!)

There are plenty of spiders here - and even a man (even if redundant ) The question is whether your Betta Bug Katcha is big enough to catch a man bug.
We have a nice little tennis racket here - any fly which gets hit is immediately electrified into break dancing prior to going to that big flea ridden corpse in the sky.

[Fjgrogan]

You miss the point - I don't really want to massacre the spiders - I would just like to remove them painlessly from my territory and release them back into their own, especially when the bit they are invading is my bedroom ceiling in the early hours of the morning.

[lonelymom]

OMG! How many times has that happened to me? I wake up, all fuzzy-brained for a couple of seconds, only to be wide awake and panicking within seconds as I catch sight of a spider on the ceiling right above my head! And we just look at each other for a few minutes, both of us too scared to move, until in the end I count to three, jump up and run out of the room! So will you be sleeping with your Betta Bug Katcha under your pillow?

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Two Things ------ One -- I am changing my name to Betta Bug Catcha ----Think of the pillows , to which I may be invited ---
Two ---Once upon a time -- in the Sudan -- I owned a Camel, called Jezebel, who used to spit when first we got acquainted,
After a few weeks she got the message that this was not a good thing to do at Neill ---- and afterwards , we got on splendidly.
She could walk all day, on mountain paths that were much too narrow for a Horse and she was far more secure in her footing, Camels have soft spreading feet, and if there was a tense moment -- I just let the rein (Only one!) go loose --- Jezebel was quite capable of dealing with the situation without help !
A camel proceeds --- like a Giraffe -- moving both legs, on each side, at once -- so the feet land in front of each other.

Camels (Of which, God left the design to a Committee !) are much maligned beasts, but are perfectly suited to their natural environment (As all Animals) I am here to tell you that they are a dam' sight more useful in the Nubian Desert than a Horse, or for that matter a Lorry !

Spiders --- Alpacas-- Camels -- where next ?

[Fjgrogan]

So that is why certain comments were made about camels when we were learning to march during my brief spell in the WRNR - as if I hadn't already done enough marching at CH! On my Part iB course (new entry training) we spent an enormous amount of time on the parade ground, and we were apparently the only squad who all failed the final squad drill test and had to retake it - because various members of the squad insisted on marching with the arm and leg on the same side moving in sync instead of alternately. Actually I didn't do that, but I did find that one arm tended to move in a circle, instead of fore and aft. Co-ordination has never been my strong point!