Creepy Crawlies

nogganoodle · Post by **nogganoodle** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:22 am

what can be expected in the world of crawly things out on the playa. Being british i'm not not used to big scary things and i've got a huge fear of spiders. Will I be living in constant fear of the face huggers?! :?

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:25 am

Only buggy I saw out there was the very rare small beetle. No flys, spiders, or face huggers.

nogganoodle · Post by **nogganoodle** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:26 am

sweet as a nut. I'm a bit of a pussy!

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:01 am

In 4 years of going I've seen spiders out there. Of course they were made out of rubber and/or cloth and a little bit oversized. Seriously I share your fear of spiders and have never had a problem on the playa. No spiders, mosquitoes, nada.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:25 am

There IS an indigenous beast called a solifuge...haven't seen one, myself. This year, be on the lookout for one BIG mantis.

Post by **Eric** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:52 pm

robotland wrote:There IS an indigenous beast called a solifuge...haven't seen one, myself.

Oh, that's just cruel to someone who doesn't like spiders. I like most spiders (yeah, really), but these guys are just too ugly for even me, with their weird oversize head/mandible combination. *bleh*

(useless arachnid trivia: did you know the legs of arachnids all grow on the head segment?)

Oh, I've never seen any bugs of any sort out there. Pests, yes, but they can usually be ignored.

nogganoodle · Post by **nogganoodle** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:37 pm

Bloody hell thats one ugly lookin mofo!

Silver 2 · Post by **Silver 2** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:07 pm

In '02 on teardown Monday a small bug landed on my arm, people came from some distance away to look at my bug. In '04 waaayy out near the trash fence I saw a praying mantis. That's it.

A friend of mine has pictures from about '98 when they found a praying mantis in their camp. They wanted to keep it as a pet but there was nothing to catch to feed it. They took it to the edge of the playa and tossed it toward the sage.

You should have no worries about crawly things.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:00 pm

The alkaline desert is very harsh. There are somethings that hatch in the winter when there is water and yes, the mantises do happen and there's supposed to be something that digs in deep, but do a search on bird and you'll see there's not much life on that scale either.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:43 pm

Will I be living in constant fear of the face huggers?! :?

No. You won't see a single living thing that isn't human. Seriously.

Regionals, however, are a different story. Ouch.

Post by **AntiM** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:25 am

Last year we had a bee and a wasp and a fly, all on different days. Weird.

phil · Post by **phil** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:01 am

No. You won't see a single living thing that isn't human. Seriously.

And you think we will see living things that are human???
:->

PlayaPetal · Post by **PlayaPetal** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:18 am

Unless I had stow-aways in my tent - there are some very small spiders...but they are more afraid of you!

nogganoodle · Post by **nogganoodle** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:21 am

I don't mind them small it's when they get big and hairy that I get scared!

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:31 pm

04' I found a Prying Mantas and in 05' I saw three little Fitchs flying from camp to camp looking for bits to eat.
When I pointed out the Fitchs to a long time burner, he said that was the first time he had ever seen a bird at Burningman.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:37 pm

phil wrote:
No. You won't see a single living thing that isn't human. Seriously.
And you think we will see living things that are human???
:->

Depends on where you camp. :D

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:56 pm

One of our neighbors last year pulled up in an old rv that was infested with wasps. They spent an afternoon "battling" them with various sprays and bludgeoning instruments. Eventually they all flew away and found out about radical self reliance I guess.
We also had a moth(s) attacking some of our blinky things and black-lite head gear one night.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:10 pm

EvilDustBooger wrote:One of our neighbors last year pulled up in an old rv that was infested with wasps. They spent an afternoon "battling" them with various sprays and bludgeoning instruments. Eventually they all flew away and found out about radical self reliance I guess.

That last line especially makes me smile. I can't stand wasps. And sprays work but I prefer flamethrowers in certain circumstances. And yes I am absolutely dead serious about that, the crispier the better.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:13 pm

Okay, okay, we all know that I have no call to make fun of spelling errors and typoes.

but is a prying mantis the P.I. of the insect world?

WE now return to your regular scheduled thread.

regionalchaos · Post by **regionalchaos** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:34 pm

I've seen two birds and one dog in the last two years. Those are the only non-human life forms I've seen on the playa.

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:20 pm

Kinetic IV wrote: I can't stand wasps.

It`s a blood feud as far as I`m concerned.
What sealed it for me was that last burning sting right in the
middle of my back by one of those nasty dark red bastards.
My weapon of choice: A good squirt bottle filled with real soapy water...
...simple, safe, and works amazingly well.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:31 pm

As a child I almost died when I reached inside a panel to unlock a metal gate where they built a nest. I got stung so badly I couldn't see, I couldn't walk...my family didn't know if I was going to make it. Ever since then I take a very aggressive approach to dealing with wasps...in essence I was practicing "Leave no Trace" before I had really heard of the concept. I prefer wide flame fronts...so anything flying in the general vicinity doesn't stand a chance of escaping the nest.

phil · Post by **phil** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:55 pm

On wasps and bees.

I used to work at a plant that made railroad cross ties, bridge and pier timbers, and the like. Basically we started with dry wood and pressure cooked it in creosote. So I'm working in a many-acres site with stacks of cross ties and bigger telephone poles and such. Acres of stacks of wood.

Naturally, waps and bees build nests in the stacks. The treatment of choice was gasoline. Get a tin can, fill it half full of gasoline, and throw the gas on the nest. The results are stunning: absolute, immediate death. It doesn't seem to matter how little gasoline hits any particulary wasp, it drops dead on the spot.

The gas evaporates quickly, and on we go with our work.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:42 am

theCryptofishist wrote:Okay, okay, we all know that I have no call to make fun of spelling errors and typoes.

but is a prying mantis the P.I. of the insect world?

.

No....You're thinking of "Mite Hammer".

K-IV- I had the same childhood experience, but with a bumblebee. Stung right on the neck, which got bigger'n my head. Had to do the lotsa shots routine, and spend the rest of my childhood with mom chasing me with an epi-pen. And I LIKE bugs! Most of 'em, anyway. I'll never intentionally kill a spider or bee, but wasps are TOAST (must try the gas thing...) as are (*shudder*) earwigs.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:13 am

Things got buggy when the Burn took place on the edge of the playa in what? 98?

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:01 pm

The definition of the term "fly time" is how long it takes for the flies in Gerlach to smell BRC and immigrate.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:24 pm

A small swarm of gnats bothered my camp for a short while one evening in 04. That's all I have on the subject.

Davoid · Post by **Davoid** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:13 pm

I had at least three flies in my tent over the course of the week. They were undoubtedly imported with us, which made me feel a little like Pig Pen. No, wait- that was the cloud of dust always bopping along behind me.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:33 pm

EvilDustBooger wrote:One of our neighbors last year pulled up in an old rv that was infested with wasps. They spent an afternoon "battling" them with various sprays and bludgeoning instruments. Eventually they all flew away and found out about radical self reliance I guess.
We also had a moth(s) attacking some of our blinky things and black-lite head gear one night.

Glad you posted this because it reminded me of something to look out for if you rent a vehicle, especially an RV: ants. The first RV they wanted to rent to us was teeming with ants. Thank god one of my campmates noticed it.

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:24 am

We had underground hornets in the garden one year under the rail ties. Bastards. Wasps in the facia, wasps in the rain gutters, wasps in the porch overhang. Carpenter ants in the camper we donated away (cheaper than exterminating in the house). Bumblebees sleeping under the leaves of the raspberry canes; I picked one, they have red butts.

Fucking insects.

Creepy Crawlies

Creepy Crawlies

Bug!