Re: Re: I am traumatized!
 

oh.my.god.

When I was very little, we lived in Miami for a few years while my dad finished his degree. My mom was still so traumatized by the flying palmetto bugs that once he graduated, she swore she'd never again set foot in Florida.

I'd always assumed we had those creatures in our apartment because we were poor and lived in a nasty, dilapidated place. Regular people have those in their houses too? :eek:

A) I did NOT know that roaches can FLY!!! Now I have a whole new facet of phobia added to my life!!! *shudder*


B) I used those, and they are HORRIBLE!!!! In my case, I had just tiny little Beatrix Potter type mice who looked up at me with big, sad eyes. I couldn't find anything to pick it up with, so I ended up using silver pastry tongs to pick up the darn thing, put it in a bag and tried to suffocate it. (My fiance says he would have paid very real money to see me do this!) Anyhow, I had to get him to come over and drown the poor thing so he wouldn't suffer.

I hate those slam-bang traps, but they really are more humane. Especially the ones that you don't even have to see the little mousey body afterwards. blech.

This is how you should use a glue trap. When the mouse is stuck, you smash it with a something big and heavy like a telephone book. I know it is easier said than done, but that's what the instruction said.

I hope that you threw out the pastry tongs after you used them on a mouse. :eek:

This thread is grossing me out now.

I meant to add that I did indeed toss the pastry tongs afterwards, although it was heartbreaking to do to sterling. Do I have to tell you what I got for my birthday that year? Yep, a new set - of tongs, not mice!!!!

Oh, yes. You are not a real Floridian unless you've found a palmetto bug or lizard in your house. You will usually find them inside your home during the rainy season since they want to go someplace dry.
My roommate's dog LOVES lizards so whenever we find one we're like, "Buddy, look! A lizard!" Buddy goes running over to it, picks up in his mouth and shakes the thing until its dead. I do feel bad since lizards are harmless but they scare the crap out of me when I'm walking through the house and they dart out at me.

Last year when I was living in my apartment, there was a HUGE frog in my bedroom. I was sitting in my room when I heard a thud against my wall. I saw Mr. Froggy hopping around. I screamed and ran into my roommate's room. I made sure to stuff the bottom of the door with pillows so the frog couldn't get in there. I called my roommate (who was in class) and begged her to come home and dispose of the frog. Thankfully, my roommate is ok when it comes to frogs, lizards, and rodents. I'm not but I'm ok with the palmetto bugs. She grabbed some tupperware, scooped up the frog, and put him outside. We threw out the tupperware.

You guys have NO idea how much this thread made me laugh!!!

Ok, got a little story of my own.

So I hadn't been home in weeks, and I finally got home to see my boyfriend. We're downstairs in the basement, and we're starting to get a bit "frisky" if you know what I'm getting at. All of a sudden, I look up at the cieling and I see THIS!
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpa...eCentipede.jpg

It's an effing HOUSE CENTIPEDE!! My boyfriend freaked the hell out as well, grabbed one of my mom's workout tapes and tried to smash it on the cieling, but it fell and started to scamper away...and let me tell you, those suckers are FAST! But my boyfriend finally ended up getting it. eeeeeeeeeew.

We moved into our new house, and discovered there were some mice.

Daughter #1 insisted on HUMANE TRAPS. You know the kind the mouse crawls in and then the door closes and you can take it out and dump it.

Trap catches mousey...stupid Mr Sageofages wants to show it off to spawnlings "see look at the mouse that is alive!". Shows the trap to spawnlings tipping it around to see from all sides. Somehow mousey gets loose in the livingroom.

Daughters SCREAM...son shrieks. Sageofages is NOT happy. Mousey is scurrying around the livingroom floor from sofa to chair and back and forth. Daughters scream more and jump on furniture, standing there telling Mr. Sagesofages to protect them from 2 ounce killer mousey. Mr Sageofages is trying to figure out how to catch mousey. Son is hysterical and crying as he cowers standing on back of couch. Sageofages is even more UNHAPPY. Mousey has run a livingroom marathon at this point.

Mr. Sageofages gets the CATS. Daughters scream some more at the thought of cats eating mousey. Cats see mousey and the chase is on. (cue chase music and screeching tire and toenail sounds) Dog sees cats trying to corner mousey and want to get in the action. Son is sobbing "don't let Spike eat the mousey" Daughter #1 is crying "don't kill the mouse, it is just a baby" (who cares!)

Mousey has circled the room enough to make it transatlantic at this point. Takes refuge under the entertainment center. Cats assume the siege positions. Dog is barking at the floor.

Sageofages says "enough!!!" gets kill trap and yummy peanut butter, sends redeyed snotty nose spawnlings to their rooms.

Twenty minutes later, mousey is in heaven and calm returns.

oh good god.

That sucks for mice and rats then. They're just a bushy tail away. :( Keep trying little squeaker, you'll make it.

Oh the irony...
 

All of my research is dealing with mice... Let's just say, the PETA people would not like me... But, if they wanna FCUK with me, I am insured by Smith and Wesson... I digress...

So a few years ago, I lived in SoCal... My mom decided to have a birthday party for me but invited all her friends... My folks have a pool and it was around Labor Day weekend when she had my party... It was a nice warm evening and everyone was outside talking having a good time. Then out of the corner from the backside of the house ran this little gray furry thing that immediately jumped into my folks pool... It started swimming around and found a way to get on this crawl space between the spa and the regular pool. Me, I was going to grap it and "euthanize it by cervical dislocation"... But someone got the pool net and scooped it up. We had it hanging over the pool like as if what to do... All the afraid of bizarre animal folks were freaking out (like my mom and brother)--whereas all the health practioners were like, what's the best way to get rid of this varmit... I was down for the full euthanization--but others were like whatever... So the guy that had the net just threw it in someone elses backyard where there are dogs and cats...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last year, my husband the vet and I were visiting my folks (same house) and speaking to my visiting grandmother... Now, just to let you know, the PETA people DEFINITELY DO NOT LIKE my husband--'cuz he's dealing with the regulatory affairs for the humane care of ALL research related animals although is specialty is aquatic animals... So basically, when any animal gets sick in our facilities he's the person who has the say so to euthanize those animals--he makes the call... So here we are, having a discussion with my grandmother when some pigeon decided to fly into a window--thus committing suicide--and falls to the ground... Again, my mom freaks... My dad is clueless... My grandmother could care less... And my husband--well, he goes and wants to necropsy (like autopsy but on an animal--that's the official term) the dayum thing... He goes out, takes a pin, lifts of the wing, analyzes its injuries and makes the diagnosis... :rolleyes:... Then he wraps it up--in paper towels and puts it in a plastic bag, ties it off and throws it in the trash can...



So the official AALAAC accredited IACUC approved procedure to remove carcasses (dead mammals) is:

Put on rubber gloves

Remove carcass with paper towels and/or plastic bags

Put into another plastic bag, then into a paper bag if you have one

And set it outside by your trash and call animal control to come pick it up...

Why? Because animal control may be doing animal studies of "vectors" that go around into houses that may or may not be carrying diseases. And they may want to test for those items.

Catching the vectors alive is very difficult and should be done humanely since these kinds of things bite... Just let an exterminator or "qualified and approved" animal technician do that...

As far as removing the "vectors" not coming into the house... Well, traps work... Boric acid around your house works... The diazonine (sp.) will remove the insects--ants in particular... You have to keep your house sterilely clean--barely any nooks and crannies for animals to thrive there... And they are looking for food and water. The food they like is sugary, but they also like the starches... So keep most of your sugar items--like cereal in the refrigerator... Make sure stacks of newspapers are removed regularly. Keep other items encased in strong plastic containers. And keep water leaks to a minimum. If you have pets, minimize the amount of food area that they eat in. And pets usually do not eat in food if other animals eat there too... Those are the kinds of things if you want to minimize the number of nusiances...

I had no idea my story would span so many other interesting horror stories today! :)

I'm still a little timid about the bathroom... but I'm sure you can understand why!

I have never seen a bug so terrifying.

I will have nightmares about that horrible thing.:eek:

I grew up in Florida and I live in NYC now. NOTHING can make me become "ok" with fricking cockroaches/waterbugs/palmetto bugs.

I can handle everything else! Snakes, mice, rats, spiders--I'm okay with.