This is a stink bug

[Thumbpicker]

You're in FL aren't you?

If so, don't forget the fire ants.


In S.A. where I grew up we had a few types that'd go at you and even chase, such as the Rinkhals:

Rinkhals - Wikipedia

Oh shit well I'm getting rinkhals everywhere these days - especially on my forehead. Might be time for botox ;-)

 

[Monkey Man]

Oh shit well I'm getting rinkhals everywhere these days - especially on my forehead. Might be time for botox ;-)

... or maybe you just need an insect that used to work for a bond-villain organisation?

You know, like and ex-Spector ant.

close; fire ants too, but they don't bother you unless you step on their nest and wait for them; I just bait ants and the colonies die off.

Thanks bro'; I've been wondering for years what happens if you're, say, just lying in the sun minding your own business and they're around. Just in case I ever move to FL is all.

We've had an infiltration of fire ants in Queensland for some years now, starting in Brisbane or thereabouts IIRC. Thumbpicker should know the score there.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

My pet black rat snake. He's about 6'-7' and around 20 years old. His eyes are blue in this pic because he was close to shedding.

 

[84superchamp]

I had a pet Burmese python when I was a teen; started out around 3' long, eating mice; a few years later it was 8' long eating rabbits chickens and small pigs. I donated it to a zoo not long after, it was probably closer to 9' by then, probably around 50 pounds

In my late 20s, a bandmate of mine had a female retic python that was around 16' long, it took three of us to get it out of its pen to feed it.

One thing is when you're feeding them they can sense body heat and movement, and will strike at anything warm that moves once they sense prey. My python bit me several times during feedings; their teeth are curved back, so when they bite both jaws hook into you, and you have to grab the snake's head by the back of the jaws, and unhook one side then the other, while the snake is coiling around you. What's worse is any weight hanging on with the head. Wasn't bad when it was 3-4', but after 6'+...

You have to handle them frequently; they don't know you, but they get used to being handled and tolerate it. If you miss a few days, it's like starting over, and they'll attack you even when you're not feeding them until they get used to being handled again.

My friend's 16' retic weighed about 150 pounds, he was not handling that snake frequently, and feeding time was crazy; the head was nearly a foot long, and half as wide. We'd all go in to open the pen. He'd go in and trap it's head with a pole, then literally sit on the snake's head/neck holding the head down, then we'd go in to lift part of it out of its pen then he'd trap the head with the pole again while we backed away....it would eat a few chickens, small sheep or goats, medium sized pigs. We let go of the meal and he let go of the head, shut the door and watched through a window. Then we had to get it back in the pen after it ate.

Good times. Never again tho'

Dayum! If the meal is goats or pigs, that's like having a full-grown lion for a pet. But I knew a guy who had one.

 

[rsm]

Dayum! If the meal is goats or pigs, that's like having a full-grown lion for a pet. But I knew a guy who had one.

Thinking back, it was pretty crazy; how fast the snake grew. I also had to apply for a permit to own one, down at the city police station.

That retic was something else though; once they get that big not much you can do with them....it really changed my mind about having large snakes as pets, and why Florida is having so many issues with these large snakes...people just letting them go isn't smart, if I didn't find a zoo willing to take mine, IDK what I would have done...they can live up to 30 years!

Any snake that grows larger than 10' and 100 pounds isn't a pet for long. IMO.

 

[rsm]

... or maybe you just need an insect that used to work for a bond-villain organisation?

You know, like and ex-Spector ant.


Thanks bro'; I've been wondering for years what happens if you're, say, just lying in the sun minding your own business and they're around. Just in case I ever move to FL is all.

We've had an infiltration of fire ants in Queensland for some years now, starting in Brisbane or thereabouts IIRC. Thumbpicker should know the score there.

I haven't had major issues with fire ants.

I mentioned the mosquitos, which can get bad here with all the marshes and water.

The worst I have to deal with is termites (a real nightmare), I've had several companies out to the house and they can't find them, but they're here. I have two options, 1) wait until visible signs of damage appear; 2) tenting the house and fumigating, which is a pain in the ass to prepare for, especially with all my gear.

 

[84superchamp]

My pet black rat snake. He's about 6'-7' and around 20 years old. His eyes are blue in this pic because he was close to shedding.

View attachment 420808

This brought back another childhood memory as Blacksnakes were everywhere in the Cumberland mtns, and harmless of course. Our family dog was a proficient snake dog; if he found one, he killed it...a good thing considering all the copperheads and water moccasins. One day on a school outing, he was there as he followed our walk to school & back and came upon a large blacksnake and was on it. He killed them by grabbing it in his jaws and snapping it back & forth...this Blacksnake almost out-weighed the dog and he could barely perform his maneuver but killed the snake as all the classmates cheered...they didn't know it was harmless.

 

[84superchamp]

Still alive. And looks like IT'S growing.

 

[Thumbpicker]

The worst I have to deal with is termites (a real nightmare), I've had several companies out to the house and they can't find them, but they're here. I have two options, 1) wait until visible signs of damage appear; 2) tenting the house and fumigating, which is a pain in the ass to prepare for, especially with all my gear.

Can't you drill the ground at various spaces and inject poison. Years ago it used to be arsenic - they probably use something else now. They need a water source as well but they generally aren't self sustaining. They have to be coming from outside the house. Also you should be able to point a thermal camera/sensor around the house to find them,

 

[rsm]

Can't you drill the ground at various spaces and inject poison. Years ago it used to be arsenic - they probably use something else now. They need a water source as well but they generally aren't self sustaining. They have to be coming from outside the house. Also you should be able to point a thermal camera/sensor around the house to find them,

I have the bait traps outside, but they're somewhere in the house and/or under it. Every spring I get the swarmers for a few weeks.

My house is raised on concrete / steel pylons because I'm in a hurricane/flood zone. We think they are coming up inside one or more of these pylons so no visible mud tubes (even fumigating the house won't get the subterranean nest).

I tried the thermal camera and didn't find anything, I plan to try it again now that the weather is cooling....they may be behind the refrigerator, stove, washing machine, etc. where I didn't scan... and I'll also check where the pylons connect to the house more closely.

 

[Robostyle]

Can you use double sided tape on the pylons to try and isolate the problem?

 

[Monkey Man]

Also you should be able to point a thermal camera/sensor around the house to find them...

Interesting fact:
Thermal sensing won't work for insects 'cause they're cold-blooded.

However in the case of termites, the digestion of wood creates heat.

 

[84superchamp]

6 days later with no oxygen and it's finally dying. Still moving its legs but just barely. I flipped it onto its back and it can't right itself. Almost indestructible.

 

[Monkey Man]

I said a week didn't I?

 

[Stripped Rights]

6 days later with no oxygen and it's finally dying. Still moving its legs but just barely. I flipped it onto its back and it can't right itself. Almost indestructible.

Stop torturing the fucking thing already and release it or put it out of it's misery wtf man

 

[Monkey Man]

Agreed; it's done its time man.

 

[Thumbpicker]

He spent to much time watching Harry Potter and the Cruciatus Curse.

Next he'll be saying Avada Cadavre....

 

[84superchamp]

Stop torturing the fucking thing already and release it or put it out of it's misery wtf man

It's a bug. WTF? Any sympathy for wasps? How about termites? Mosquitoes?

BTW small hole in the top and a bit of isopropyl ended its worthless life.

 

[Robostyle]

It's a bug. WTF? Any sympathy for wasps? How about termites? Mosquitoes?

BTW small hole in the top and a bit of isopropyl ended its worthless life.

It gave its body for science

 

[Monkey Man]

What'd the bug do to "deserve" that bro'?

It was alive. It had a life. Put yourself in its shoes.