Deflecting Giant Indian Spiders

Nick, ants don't like cinnamon or chili. So instead of killing them you can prepare them for a stir-fry and watch them leave. Yes it is a bit messy. As for the mosquitoes, keep adopting geckos and don't kill the spiders! I used to hate spiders but now I leave them in peace to snack on mozzies.

<cross-posted to haiku thread>

Damn, I never thought about spiders this much before! And I walk around in the dark, barefoot.

I've seen tiny tiny ones here that jump, but the hops are commensurate with size, so I don't mind. Once they get big enough that the legs start to look like they can coordinate too well and maybe they can tie knots, or unlock the door, or make crank calls from my cellphone, or, or, well, that's when I get creeped out.

I recently read somewhere, but can't find the source, that more people are killed by champagne corks than by venomous spiders. Does that help?

Arach nada.....

Excuse the typo....overly influenced by Ed the prof...

The domestic spiders in Cornwall are a lot bigger than those in London. I always thought that was because of the temperature, so expected huge ones in Southern India.

Seems all my theories were wrong, at least here in the city; all get are tiny little things. I like the ones that run and jump!

Kabaary: what is that, some kind of Gaelic dialect of Bengali?

Arachnida - a large class of arthropods including spiders and ticks and scorpions and daddy longlegs; have four pairs of walking legs and no wings

Nada - nothing

Arach nada - A spider is nothing.....(poetic license applied).

Oddly enough, it's the other way round with me. Huge spiders aren't at all scary and I've held a tarantula, no problem.
They are cute and furry, I mentally file them under "mice with too many legs".

It's the "bath spiders" like the one that the good Captain posted that freak me out. While I'm happy to play with a tarantula, there is no way in a million years that I could pick one of those up.

Yes, it does. I feel terrifically brave all of a sudden.

*raises champagne glass*

Cheers folks!

OMG - Can't believe I spaced out on this. Here's a photo of my wife Kyra (which in Hindi means "bug) with a tarantula she became acquainted with last year at a butterfly sanctuary in Costa Rica. This furry little guy is a midget compared to the ones in Kainchi.

Keshava, great photo! So awsome and yet so horrific at the same time. I think my palms are getting sweaty and I may have to go wash my hands any moment now .

Nick, turmeric is another spice that is great for getting rid of ants without killing them, especially since I know you don't like chili pepper. Theyyamdancer, never knew about cinnamon. I'll have to try that some time. However, I love cinnamon much more then turmeric so probably won't be as willing to part with it. Cinnamon is sacred, it's almost as great as the coco bean .

Ants here disregard all those spices and stuff they are supposed to hate. The least poisonous (to humans), but effect, solution I've found so far is Orange Guard, the active ingredients of which come from --- well, it's obvious!

It smells good (to us; the cats hate it) and does the job, but it is expensive

The cloves in a bag on the computer did the trick for me re ants though, Nick!
Keshava - great pic and grrreat spider!
Theyyam - you sound like me - in my house I have many spiders and geckos (chipkali they call them here). Seems to help as well as the screens plus, dare I say it, the mozzie machines around the place at night.

Though I was being grave about the spiders, but this picture of Kyra with the spider sent shivers down my spine too!! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Oh, boy... I'm so seriously phobic of spiders I can't even squash them- we have Brown Recluse spiders here, and they will give you a horrendouse, ulcerating, skin-graft-needing wound- and are only @ the size of a thumbtack head.... I lose it if i even see a spider- and if one was in my hotel room- it's going or I'm going!!! Please tell me the nicer hotels won't have giant spiders in them- I think I'll PROBABLY have to sleep at some point in my 2 week visit!!

I'm the same I'm afraid. I squashed a Tree Huntsman here the other day. Like the normal huntsman spider. but juicier and more plump. Also twice the size.
About the body size of a mouse, and lime green.
I'm getting itchy just thinking about it. http://www.indiamike.com/india/attac...1&d=1234486565
see, creepy huh?.

Haven't seen any spiders in hotels - but about 4 years ago I was in a Five-Star hotel in S. India and as my wife and I were stepping up to pay our bill at the reception desk, I noticed she had a scorpion crawling along her shoulder. Luckily we were able to get it off before it could do any harm.