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So, while I was cleaning out the shop last night, I noticed a few "pets" that I didn't know I had.

I thought it would be fun to see if any of you have any forced "pets" too.

Here's Boris the Spider

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Hey Rod, what critter wouldn't want to live in your shop? I know a Bear who'd love to be there too ya know!!

Yes, I have a very troublesome critter in my shop... His name is MURPHY!!!!

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[QUOTE=Alain Desforges] Yes, I have a very troublesome critter in my shop... His name is MURPHY!!!!

[/QUOTE]

So that's where he went after I booted him out of my shop this spring

And a pet finger too!
What's the finger's name?

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I had several of those pet spider things, but a bunch of them liked my shop vac so much they flew right into it.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I just have the usuall critters living in my shop like the ones shown above and a few wasps building their little mud homes around the out of the way places. I do have a cat (Sharky) that lives in my shop and the occasional racoon that decides to help Sharky with the food supply.

Last night I was just a couple hundred feet from my driveway coming around the last bend of a very bendy road when I saw 5 black & white tails all vertical and in a row crossing he road in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and stopped just a few feet from this little family of skunkers. I hope they're NOT thinking about moving into my shop.John How38904.6715856481

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

That's good Don.

Billy, The finger's name is..... Index. Better than middle isn't it.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

[QUOTE=John How] I slammed on the brakes and stopped just a few feet from this little family of skunkers. I hope they're thinking about moving into my shop.[/QUOTE]

INTO the shop John? I guess than you'd have to change your guitar name to How Stinky Guitars.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Woops, ad NOT

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Visits from critters I have had plenty of. My shop is a small single car attached garage with the only door being the main garage door. On warmer summer evenings I work in there with the door open and often have racoons that come by and sit just outside the door. Their visits are so frequent that I've come to ignore them. Well one night I see some motion out of the corner of my eye as I was mitering purfling and think ah its just my racoon buddies or the neighbours cats. When I stop and finally look towards the door low and behold -- mama skunk and her youngsters -- and they aren't moving.   I took one rocker step -- bounded over the skunks and hurtled a small 3 foot tree on step two and into the house.

I finally discovered what was attracting all the critters -- a half eaten granola bar that they could obviously smell.

Nice Anthony, nice.

I'm sure the general conversation for the skunks went something like this.

Baby 1- Hey, check out the big bright light overthere.
Baby 2- Ya, and I smell something good too.
Baby 3- Hey, isn't that one of those human types. I heard they are realy scared of us.
Baby 2- Well than lets go have some fun. (he he he)
Mama - All right kids, you've been good. Lets go scare the willies out of that one. The racoons say he's use to them....

And now we know the rest of the story.

They were probably there for a couple of minutes, just waiting for you to see them.

So... is the granola bar still there?

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

    Pole Cats!!! They have NO Fear! None! I came out of a friends place one night, and there he was, I almost stepped on him! He couldn't care less!

    Me, on the other hand, I GOT OUTTA THERE!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Haven't had any skunks living in the shop but I had a family of them under the front porch to the shop one summer - had to go anound to the back door for several months until the young ones were grown & they dispersed.

I've had familys of chipmunks living under the workbench & in a box of custom cases. They shredded the covering on all the cases before I discovered them!

Currently there are a couple of pack rats in there - besides me!

Does having a pair of Red Tail Hawks nesting in the top of a Pecan tree just out side the door, Chaparrals (Road runners) nesting in the Prickly-Pear out back and the occasional Scorpion and Rattlesnake passing through count

Michael, it sounds like you live dangerously!

[QUOTE=MichaelP] Does having a pair of Red Tail Hawks nesting in the top of a Pecan tree just out side the door, Chaparrals (Road runners) nesting in the Prickly-Pear out back and the occasional Scorpion and Rattlesnake passing through count [/QUOTE]

Sure does

I think the only guys that can top your guests are some of our Aussie members. Instead of rattlers and scorpions they have snakes called Death Adders

Yikes.... Michael, that sounds dangerous. That's Texas for ya though eh?

Anyone got any pictures of these critters?

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I found one of these critters in my shop last year:



The Sydney Funnel Web Spider, so deadly it can kill you just by looking at you <g>. Ok, maybe not quite that venomous, but you can die within 15 minutes of being bitten with fangs that are strong enough to punch through your thumb nail (though I personally don't believe they'd have the strength to do it). They like to climb into your shoes overnight which can make for a nasty surprise when you put your boots back on in the morning. We make it a habit to jump up and down on our gardening gloves before sticking our hands in there, and we don't leave our shoes outside overnight. They can also live in the bottom of a swimming pool for several hours, if not days. I've read that before antivenoms were introduced in the '70's, pretty much everyone who got bitten died, and nobody has died since. They are nasty little buggers, and the one I found in my shop frightened the excrement out of me.PaulB38906.3857523148

Paul isn't true it that 9 out of the 10 most venormous snakes in the world live in Australia? Which, together with the spiders, jelly fish, great whites etc make me wonder how any of you have survived this long! Now what are the names of those snakes? Oh yes Warne, Gillespie...........



Colin

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Yup, that's what I've heard. They've also just discovered a new species of box jellyfish that's about the size of your thumb, almost invisible in the water, that they suspect is responsible the deaths of people who'd been listed as having "heart attacks" in tropical waters while swimming.

At least we don't have bears here except in the zoo, man those things would freak me out. I'd never leave the house.

[QUOTE=PaulB] I found one of these critters in my shop last year:



The Sydney Funnel Web Spider, so deadly it can kill you just by looking at you <g>. Ok, maybe not quite that venomous, but you can die within 15 minutes of being bitten with fangs that are strong enough to punch through your thumb nail (though I personally don't believe they'd have the strength to do it). They like to climb into your shoes overnight which can make for a nasty surprise when you put your boots back on in the morning. We make it a habit to jump up and down on our gardening gloves before sticking our hands in there, and we don't leave our shoes outside overnight. They can also live in the bottom of a swimming pool for several hours, if not days. I've read that before antivenoms were introduced in the '70's, pretty much everyone who got bitten died, and nobody has died since. They are nasty little buggers, and the one I found in my shop frightened the excrement out of me.[/QUOTE]


That looks a lot like our black widow spider. How large is that spider, Paul?

Ron

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Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

PaulB, you folks have some serious bitten critters! Dead in 15 minutes, that is amazing a spider can have that kind of punch!

Mike
White Oak, Texas

In a full grown male it's abdomen is about as large as the end of your thumb. I think they'd have to bit into a vein to kill you in 15 minutes, but these times have been reported.

From what I understand venom usually works by either supressing respiration, or by messing with your blood. These things do both.

And your scared of bears. Bears you can at least hear coming through your cabin door at night. These little nasties you have are silent killers.

And it's only the Brown/Grizzly bears that you realy have to worry about. Not like they roam around the city mind you.

Heck, you ask Evan and I bet there are some very scarry critters in New York

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson