And this cute, fuzzy, tarantula, that was resting outside the guest house where Ann and I are staying.
For the past couple of days we’ve been having some good family fun at Ann’s uncles place. They have about 10 acres of flat desert that’s relatively uninteresting during the day, unless you have an ATV to explore the area, but at night comes alive with all types of creatures. Never a dull moment here!
It’s not a jeep, but Ann and I had fun racing around in this thing.
Ann driving her aunt. I think my wife is ready for some jeep racing. She was driving that ATV fast!
Ann’s cousin Shelby found two things near the border of the property yesterday. A basketball and, of all things, a jeep grille, leftover from some mysterious plastic jeep. I can’t imagine why, but they thought I should have the grille. I guess it’s going up on my office wall somewhere.
Here are a few of the creatures we found at night:
Scorpion
Praying Mantis
Black Widow spider
Walking Stick
Not huge, but big enough to fascinate us for quite a while.
OK, that’s enough to make me not want to go where ever you are! I was mowing a field here at home not long ago and the grass was about up to my shoulders, never saw so many praying mantis’ is my life. I’ll bet 100 of them flew up and out of the way of the tractor.
I remember a trip to Oklahoma and we were trying to find a house which meant going through many small back roads. On one corner, the biggest tarantula I’ve seen walked to the center and was in a way challenging me. I actually sat there for a minute like what do I do. Once I got over that I continued on. Not much of a spider guy 😉
Tarantulas are pretty tame. You can put your hand down in front of them when they are walking and they will continue to walk onto your hand. Thats how we got them out of the road, house, etc. You can do the same to a black widow as well but no real need. There is not one redeeming thing about them and they need to be exterminated so they dont spread. Nice grill Dave. Just right for your front door.
It was great fun to see what came out at night. Ann says it is the Tarantula’s mating season, so they are a little more active right now. You just learn to walk around here with a flashlight at night. Look up for bats and look down for critters.
The tarantula won’t hurt you, nor will the Praying Mantis, but the Black Widow and the scorpion w will do some serious damage with their bite and/or sting. If you have a black light you can find the lighter colored scorpions in the dark as they glow. Praying Mantis’ are harmless unless you happen to be a male and after having sex with the female, she will then kill and eat the male. So much for a night of fun! No committment issues with female Praying Mantis’!
Is that Jeep grille off a Barbie Jeep??
Colin … I’m not sure what it is off of, but it’s about that size.It appears to snap on and snap off.
Those western scorpions are bad actors; the banded yellow ones can kill you. Black widows aren’t too dangerous unless you mash one inside a shoe or glove, which is how most people get bitten. The mantis and the t’rant’la are good guys – I don’t think you can have too many of either.