Messin with spiders

[Valka D'Ur]

I suspect that if I had a pet rat it would not tear up the carpet every time it saw a closed door.

My current cats go after furniture and cardboard boxes. They leave the carpet alone.

As a cat lover who grew up with cats - yes. I think every house owned by cats (when you have cats, the humans are more like guests or tenants) has at least one piece of furniture given over to the claws.

Yep. My living room chair isn't pretty, but at least the landlord won't kick me out because the cats use it for a scratching post (yes, they have real scratching posts, but refuse to use them).

I mean toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in cat feces has been linked to a number of mental disorders, including schizophrenia, so it's not like cats come out totally clean in the whole "not contaminating your household" department. When you also consider that feral cats are a common vector for rabies, and that cats are the single most destructive species on the planet after humans, killing an estimated 1.4 BILLION birds annually, and being responsible for the extinctions of at least 33 bird/reptile/small mammals species (seriously people, don't let your ****ing cats outdoors), yeah I'll take a rat over that any day.

You know what? Birds have wings. They can fly out of a cat's reach. Birds also die from other causes, one of which happens to be buildings with glass windows. I see dead birds on the ground surrounding some of the buildings here all the time, because they have trouble telling the real sky from a reflection of the real sky. You can't blame that on cats.

As for the feces problem... as long as a person takes reasonable precautions, it's not that big a deal. I'd rather clean a dozen litter boxes than change one human diaper.

And my cats have had their rabies shots, thankyouverymuch. Some apartment buildings here in town require proof of vaccination for cats before allowing a cat owner to sign a lease.

I just wish the property managers would do something about those incredibly annoying pigeons that keep swooping around here. I'm tired of my balcony being used as a pigeon outhouse.

 

[Berzerker]

maybe the pigeons are marking your house because of the cats

 

[Valka D'Ur]

maybe the pigeons are marking your house because of the cats

There's a nest up on the roof, or possibly on one of the upper balconies. I'm hardly the only person in the building with cats.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Cats don't kill spiders?

They do and they love it.

The giant centipede?

No way. I can't live with that at all... Looks like Yog Sothoth's face

I also dislike grasshoppers, but they don't exist in the city anyway.

Why grasshoppers? Even the most hardened anti-bug people I know have no problem with grasshoppers.

 

[Bugfatty300]

I mean toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in cat feces has been linked to a number of mental disorders, including schizophrenia, so it's not like cats come out totally clean in the whole "not contaminating your household" department. When you also consider that feral cats are a common vector for rabies, and that cats are the single most destructive species on the planet after humans, killing an estimated 1.4 BILLION birds annually, and being responsible for the extinctions of at least 33 bird/reptile/small mammals species (seriously people, don't let your ****ing cats outdoors), yeah I'll take a rat over that any day.

It's unfortunate but we need cats to keep reminding the dinosaurs that we're still in charge.

A little toxoplasma just takes the edge off and helps us sleep better at night.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Cats don't kill spiders?

They could, but my cats preferred common beetles. And then there was the time when my Gussy was a kitten (he died back in 2007), and decided to test his Mad Hunting Skillz on a bee... and got stung. That was a worrisome time, since his paw was badly swollen.

After that he switched to other prey. I heard him one night, swatting something around the kitchen, and thought, "Oh, damn, we've got mice again"/"Oh, good, Gussy will take care of it". So I went to observe how good a mouser he was, and discovered that he'd caught and killed his prey and was madly batting it around. Judging from the way things were in disarray, it had been a tough battle... but Gussy finally subdued that french fry.

I also dislike grasshoppers, but they don't exist in the city anyway.

They don't serve chocolate-covered grasshoppers in Greece?

Honestly, I find the thought of eating them disgusting. But if you have a healthy enough ecosystem in a field setting (as we had at the junior high school I attended), you can have grasshoppers.

 

[Commodore]

Spiders are awesome! Spiders reduce the number of other bugs in your indoor space. Of course their presence also means that you have enough bugs in your indoor space to sustain spiders, but strictly speaking they're better than not having them.

Yep, that's why I don't mind them too much. They keep away much more disgusting bugs that I would rather not have. Apparently house centipedes can have the same effect as spiders, so I don't really mind them either (unless they sneak up on me in the bathroom, then they have to die).

 

[Akka]

The giant centipede?

No way. I can't live with that at all... Looks like Yog Sothoth's face

Yug, that's just stuff of nightmare.

BTW, I really wonder why I have such a strong reaction to spiders and centipedes. It's not just the legs, as I don't mind ants at all (even masses of ants) and they have quite a few too. Is it the form of the legs ? The way they move ?
They just creep me out. Insanely.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yug, that's just stuff of nightmare.

BTW, I really wonder why I have such a strong reaction to spiders and centipedes. It's not just the legs, as I don't mind ants at all (even masses of ants) and they have quite a few too. Is it the form of the legs ? The way they move ?
They just creep me out. Insanely.

The way big spiders' legs move IS really creepy. I would guess that ant legs move the same way, but they are too small to see. That segmented up and over arching motion...ick.

 

[Akka]

*shivers*

Now I've a moving picture of ugly spider's legs moving everywhere...
I think I need to start a game and genocide virtual spiders to feel better...
(and now I think about true arachnophobes who can't even look at spiders in-games)

 

[CavLancer]

Yug, that's just stuff of nightmare.

BTW, I really wonder why I have such a strong reaction to spiders and centipedes. It's not just the legs, as I don't mind ants at all (even masses of ants) and they have quite a few too. Is it the form of the legs ? The way they move ?
They just creep me out. Insanely.

They go pretty high. Weather balloons have brought them back from the edge of space, floating on webs. Its possible they came from space in the first place. Would explain why they are so alien, because they are alien, and repulsive to many.

 

[Commodore]

The giant centipede?

No way. I can't live with that at all... Looks like Yog Sothoth's face

They're not so bad. The first few times you see them, they'll freak you out (especially since they can move pretty fast), but once you get used to them they lose a lot of their scare factor.

 

[Kyriakos]

The way big spiders' legs move IS really creepy. I would guess that ant legs move the same way, but they are too small to see. That segmented up and over arching motion...ick.

Ants move with three legs in the same phase (two edge legs of one side and the middle leg of the other side). It is actually quite cool

 

[CavLancer]

I'm glad they don't really have colors like that, its mesmerizing.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

You know what? Birds have wings. They can fly out of a cat's reach. Birds also die from other causes, one of which happens to be buildings with glass windows. I see dead birds on the ground surrounding some of the buildings here all the time, because they have trouble telling the real sky from a reflection of the real sky. You can't blame that on cats.

I mean, just saying that "other things kill birds as well!" Is not really a counter argument. It remains a fact that cats, especially ones living in rural areas, absolutely kill biodiversity. They are one of the more significant driving forces for biodiversity seeing a recession with every year. I say that even though my family has had outdoor cats ever since I was alive. When I finally build a house I'll try my best to contain my cats within the garden. It is the least one can do. I could not go without cats though, I already picked the names

 

[Akka]

Ants move with three legs in the same phase (two edge legs of one side and the middle leg of the other side). It is actually quite cool

And I don't find this creepy at all, rather funny/hypnotizing.
Spiders/centipedes really must have something specific that burned into the collective psyche.

 

[Lohrenswald]

The way big spiders' legs move IS really creepy.

How?

I reckon it'd be creepy if they moved any other way

 

[Timsup2nothin]

That simulation is showing the synchronization pattern, which is cool, but not the articulation of the individual legs in motion. That's what creeps me out with a spider. The way the leg lifts and then bunches as it swings forward and then extends just strikes me wrong. I know that it is completely right...for a spider...but it still bugs me (pun intended).

In northern California where I went to college there are these bugs that are built just like ants only they are about three inches long. Their legs move the same way. They creeped me out too.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I mean, just saying that "other things kill birds as well!" Is not really a counter argument. It remains a fact that cats, especially ones living in rural areas, absolutely kill biodiversity. They are one of the more significant driving forces for biodiversity seeing a recession with every year. I say that even though my family has had outdoor cats ever since I was alive. When I finally build a house I'll try my best to contain my cats within the garden. It is the least one can do. I could not go without cats though, I already picked the names

Of course it's a counter argument. Yes, some cats kill birds. No, all cats do not kill birds. Of all the cats I've had over the last almost-40 years (it'll be 40 years next October), only TWO of them ever killed birds. The biodiversity of our back yard was just fine, thank you.

Now that I'm in an apartment, I don't allow my cats outside, even on the balcony. The neighbor's cat would hang out on my balcony, though, and hop up on the railing and watch the birds. It scared me to see her perched there, leaning over, because if she ever fell, I don't think she would have survived (it's a myth that cats always land on their feet and walk away from a fall).

 

[sophie]

Your myopic anecdote doesn't in any way change the fact that cats kill 1.4-4 BILLION BIRDS EVERY GODDAMN YEAR. And that in particular in continents like North America, they do so because they are an invasive species and as such native species (birds, rodents, and small reptiles) are not at all equipped to deal with them. They are responsible for extinguishing dozens of species of birds. Maybe your cat didn't kill birds. It probably did, but let's pretend it didn't for a second. That doesn't change the reality that cats are horribly destructive to the environment. Nor does it change the fact that if you let your cats outdoors, you are a horrible, selfish, irresponsible person.