A word of caution when working on our cars

[Iggypoppin']

Any of you been bitten? It's not pleasant. I stuffed my hand into the rear quarter cavity on our Mazda 323 skid car to do the fuel clamps up and got bitten twice. Straight to hospital, very painful and when I came back, I gassed the crap out of that whole car! 3 cans of mortein and a bug bomb in the shed. You learn your lesson guys, that's all I'll say!

[kinksta]

Yes I have been bitten by a red back and a white tail, red back wasn't as painful. But I still won't kill a spider, just remove them and put them somewhere else.

[Riksta]

I'm half tempted to lock the LTD in the shed, windows on it down, and set of a couple of them bug bomb things, at the front and rear of the car, just to really evacuate any squatting tenants, after reading some of the stories.

Even more so tempted to do it knowing that (hopefully) very soon I'll be doing work on it which will require me to be pulling bits apart - who knows what bugs (or rust) lies therein!

[RAREV8]

Got a garden full of snakes and spiders.....they don't worry me anywhere near as much as the dangerous inhabitants that lurk on Sydneys roads!

Still good advice re: redbacks- I've been bitten on the leg but suffered little more than swelling and local pain but it can be worse if you react badly. Much as I hate killing them, a bomb in the garage is better than constantly getting bitten yourself.

[data_mine]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

So did I ... until he crawled up my arm the other evening in the Territory while doing a ton on the M7 ... man was that interesting. Bugger was the size of my hand as well.

I had one 'attack' me on a trip to the tip years ago (I was driving a XF). couldn't see it, was crawling on my back/shoulder/neck. I brushed it off (thinking at the time it was some vegetation). Not til I got to the tip did I notices, a few legs left on my shirt. Never did find the spider, and never saw it again. figure it ended up in the tip.

[XR Martin]

Going to a hospital for a redback bite is why our emergency wards are so over burdened. Unless you are allergic to them (rare) all you do is put ice on the wound.

[fiery]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

Going to a hospital for a redback bite is why our emergency wards are so over burdened. Unless you are allergic to them (rare) all you do is put ice on the wound.

That would all depend on where the bite was. I was recently sitting in a hospital freaking the doctors out as they removed a redback that had bitten me several times in my ear... yes my flipping ear.
I was in severe pain and couldn't hear for a few days, the inside of my ear was really swollen, took almost a week for everything to settle.

Oh and the little creature must have decided he would take a free ride inside my ear whilst I was at work (went outside for a break and ended up with ear ache and feeling sick and wanting to be sick within half hour).

[mickyyyy]

Thanks for the heads up and not long ago i had a spider issue in my car and man i hate spiders

[OLDFORDNUT]

Originally Posted by fiery

That would all depend on where the bite was. I was recently sitting in a hospital freaking the doctors out as they removed a redback that had bitten me several times in my ear... yes my flipping ear.
I was in severe pain and couldn't hear for a few days, the inside of my ear was really swollen, took almost a week for everything to settle.

Oh and the little creature must have decided he would take a free ride inside my ear whilst I was at work (went outside for a break and ended up with ear ache and feeling sick and wanting to be sick within half hour).

NASTY
gee i wont sleep tonight after reading this post.
mate of mine used to work doing those trash pac garden bags in the steel frames you hire monthly and got rats jumping on him and 12 redback bites in two years, they love the underside of bags where it goes over frame,he says the last 4 or 5 bites just felt itchy for a few hours as he's built up an immunity to redbacks from so many bites

[Scott]

Originally Posted by kinksta

Yes I have been bitten by a red back and a white tail, red back wasn't as painful. But I still won't kill a spider, just remove them and put them somewhere else.

That's why ya keep getting bitten... drongo

Shovels for killing Spiders, 410's for Snakes. In my Utopia all the snakes and spiders died in a murder suicide.

[Iggypoppin']

I understand keeping spiders alive, they kill mozzies and other critters, but there are that many of them, I just squish them and keep working. I react badly to redback bites, I get pretty acute nausea, severe vomiting and dizzyness. Usually I need at least a GP. And afterwards a beer!

[kinksta]

Originally Posted by GTP006

That's why ya keep getting bitten... drongo

Shovels for killing Spiders, 410's for Snakes. In my Utopia all the snakes and spiders died in a murder suicide.

Sorry I should have gone into more detail. The white tail bite was when I was 10 whilst crawling under a bed hiding, and the redback was when I was 12 playing in the shed.

And I don't kill them because I love all animals great and small, especially predators. hehe

You need a shovel to kill a spider? hahahahahaaaa

[fmc351]

+1 for the bombs. Although foggers work better IMO. Before I start playing around on any older car I havent touched for a while, or unknown to me, I set off a fogger inside it. We get those monster bird spiders (whatever theyre called) along with the nastier 'littlins'.

Originally Posted by kinksta

Thank you for that, plenty of people think all spiders kill, so they all must die. Which is sad.

Oh no, they must die. Spider, big shoe, STAIN! I hate when my Mrs would make a noise, or lift her feet on the couch with that deer in the headlights look, I knew there was a large spider running over the floor. So I ask her to grab me a shoe, she is right next to the shoes rack ...and she gets my boys shoes, they were like size 3 or something. Id prefer my size 11 dear.


On a side, in Victoria I knew a lady when I was a kid (maybe 8), she was driving an old ?XY? wagon, she jumps hard on the skids screaming her head off (horror film screaming, with the hands flailing) in the middle of the road, then abandons her car, door open before its stopped, kids still in the car, shes freaking right out. She had just checked her speed, the speedo was full of one big hunstman. So much for a mothers instinct, a psycho could come through the door and she'd be at him with a toothpick, but a spider, youre on your own kids.

I had a similar experience some years later. Was driving a Laser hirecar, I parked at my folks next to a tree just before dark. An hour or two later we all hopped back in, drove off about 15 km away, when my Mrs opened the door, I looked across and a massive grey orb type spider was just above her head. Hey bub, look up.

Nup, I bloody hate spiders.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by fmc351

On a side, in Victoria I knew a lady...

Mate, it was you. You know it, we all know it - admit it.

[JC]

I think I have at least one hitchhiker from RG's place in the XR. I clear the webs, and they keep coming back!

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by GTP006

Mate, it was you. You know it, we all know it - admit it.

Im keepin shtum! (sp?)

[tankclare]

Im not worried about spiders when working on the cars. I was mowing up our block where the shed is amd had to move some stuff near the xr wagon. Found 2 baby brown snakes so caught them in a glass jar to scare the crap out of mum lol. Im not looking forward to finding mother snake. Couldn't find it anywhere.

[ltd]

For those of us going in to our garages over the next few months we need to be extra specially cautious of Funnel Web spiders. Last year I came across about 8 of them in a 2 month period, I'd move a box or something and find the little bastards.
After having the garage sprayed with arachnocide I didn't see any more. Funnel Webs are ground dwelling spiders that need to remain moist otherwise they die. The reason they come in to your garage is simple; they are there to escape the heat and light of the day; conditions where they would otherwise dry out. Further, they are transient little buggers looking for a mate which is why most often encountered in and around the home are males.

Not known to many people are that funnel webs are resistant to Fly Spray and insect bombs. In fact, fly spray is a sure fire way to make them aggressive. So how to kill them? Petrol or Diesel is a good way as they evaporate moisture, but petrol takes a little time for the spider to die where it is now ****ed off and looking at you. Well, as I found out last summer there is a better way. In every weekend mechanics toolkit is the answer; Electrical Contact Cleaner. It is reknowned as the worlds best moisture dispersant. If you've ever sprayed any of this stuff on your skin, you know how quickly it dries it off as well as how cold it is. Spray some of this on the funnelweb and it literally cannot and will not move. It basically evaporates their moisture so quickly that they pretty much freeze.

Before my garage was treated with arachnocide I killed probably about 6 of the little bastards. I'd move an empty carton and bang, there one was. Got to be really annoying. Luckily, after clearing up leaf litter with welding gauntlets on, the arachnocide completely stopped their ingress into my garage. Funnily enough, before getting my place sprayed I discovered these little buggers just love being inside the cutting area of your lawn mower, where residual moist grass is and they can make a little burrow and prey upon little insects happening by. Ingenious really.

Anyway, I can put up with a few spiders but funnelwebs and humans do not mix.
Points are these;
Always wear closed shoes (ie not thongs) in your garage,
Always bounce your lawn mower back and forward before you put your foot near it to start it,
Always have a plan for what to do when you encounter one of them in a closed space,
Always be vigilant and expect to find one when moving stuff,
Finally, if you've seen signs of them around alert those living with you of the dangers; especially children. If you do have children don't play about, get your home treated with arachnocide (it's about $90.00 a litre undiluted, but it works).

[duaned]

[duaned]

I was once bitten by a spider installing car audio into a mate's car. I don't know what type it was, but it left 2 nice little holes in my leg. It also had the un-desired effect of sending me to a hospital bed. I never did get to finishing off that install either....

[Streets]

Thanks for the nightmare fuel everyone.



PS: Always check your overhead sun visors before driving your car. Always.

[james22]

I've been bitten on the ear by a redback before... believe me not nice.. and i got to spend 2 days fading in and out of consciousness in intensive care.

[Ben73]

I was bitten by a phantom spider while half drunk.
I just lent my arm on a pole, a second later felt massive pain from my elbow went to look at it and hit it at the same time because I knew there was a spider on me, I must of hit the spider off into the distance because I spent the next ten minutes trying to find the spider so I could see what type it was.
Never found it, but I survived so that's good.

My drivers side wing mirror has spiderwebs on it all the time.
I spray the area, days later it's back again. They never give up!

[Streets]

Also on this subject, does anyone know of any odourless bug sprays that would be ideal for use in a car? I use Mortein around the house but it stinks like oranges, and I don't want my car smelling like that.

[kinksta]

ltd if I was you, having that many around, I would try get a venom/spider expert/extractor in to catch them to be taken away to be milked. Can only help the next person who needs anti-venom...

[GoldCoastGTP]

Here you go - they are every where and old story http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...19/2193694.htm

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Streets

Also on this subject, does anyone know of any odourless bug sprays that would be ideal for use in a car? I use Mortein around the house but it stinks like oranges, and I don't want my car smelling like that.

Use something with pyrethrum in it - it comes in either natural or synthetic forms. Natural is actually derived from the pyrethrum daisy while synthetic is engineered using it as a base but with the knockdown factor amped up a fair bit.

A good surface spray will do the trick and don't be fooled by all the crap marketing - powerball is a lottery not a fly spray and all these products that claim to 'leave you protected for up to 12 months' last maybe 4-6 weeks at most. If they were any good I would be out of a job.

If you're serious about getting rid of spiders and keeping them out, get your house sprayed by a professional pest manager. The stuff I use is excellent, VERY low toxicity and has a fantastic residual effect - I have houses on a regular rotation that I spray every 12 months and I can go back a year later and not find a single spider. Thats why people keep getting it done.

The company I work for is National (and no it's not Flick ) so if you want to look at getting your house done, shoot me a PM with your address (suburb is fine) and I'll see if I can find you someone in the area to come and help you out. Alternative BOSHOG is also a pestie so if you're in his area it is worth giving him a call.

Need any more advice just ask.

[DBourne]

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

I'm with ya on that one. I can spot them a mile away, and by then I'm usually another mile away

I'm with you

[Cav]

You haven't lived until you've bin stung by a scorpion, I'll tell you about it one day, but when it comes to spiders.... I'm a bloody hero......

http://bloggercav.blogspot.com/2010/...1-tomorra.html

[FTe342]

ltd - don't know what part of the world your in, buy I seriously doubt you have funnel webs on the underside of your mower. Thats just not funnel web behaviour. Yes they will get into a cool garage/house but its usually after a very wet period and they travel uphill trying to avoid the flooding.
Funnel webs will nest under long standing leaf matter or a rock/timber and build their nest horizontally against the underside of the object and line the top side of the tunnel with web. A funnel webs entrance is never exposed to the elements.

I have lots of experience with them having lived at Wyoming on the edge of a rainforest for 20 years (where the Reptile Park used to be before they moved it to Somersby). The late Eric Worrell didn't have it there for no reason - the area and the creek that flows thru the site is lousy with funnel webs. I have taken so many to the Reptile Park I can't remember but the response was always the same - that's a lovely female funnel web (or male as the case may be). Sometimes found nests of them while landscaping. I've not long sold the house and certainly won't miss the funnel webs. One of my former neighbours works at the Reptile Park and does the milking for the anti venom