BajaNomad

Summer nocturnal visitors

oladulce - 8-29-2011 at 07:19 AM

Last night:

"Never heard the cat make that noise before. What's he looking at?"

"Ah, you know. Moths and stuff"





[Edited on 9-3-2011 by oladulce]

fandango - 8-29-2011 at 07:39 AM

F U N N Y ! ! !

willyAirstream - 8-29-2011 at 08:27 AM

I had to scroll down to see the spider, then burst out laughing, Terrific pic!!

Russ - 8-29-2011 at 09:05 AM

bug wants an apple.
Too funny:biggrin:

CP - 8-29-2011 at 11:28 AM

Beautiful tarantula!
But that cat makes me nervous....;D

oladulce - 8-29-2011 at 01:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CP
Beautiful tarantula!
But that cat makes me nervous....;D


:lol:

Lito was making a very strange noise, then we realized he was almost nose to nose with the tarantula with only the screen between them.

But it was a different sound than the love song he reserves just for you CP.

ecomujeres - 8-29-2011 at 05:18 PM

Great photo!

One time in Mulege in July, my cat and I were relaxing under the AC, he in a dead sleep. Suddenly, he jerked awake and went into the next room, where he did a "pointer" kind of thing, standing stock still and fixated on a spot on the wall under the table. He made a kind of mewing/chirping sound that he reserved for prey. I said, WTF? and looked under the table, only to find a huge tarantula on the wall.

Now, how the heck did he know it was there from his perch on the bed in the other room, with the AC running, and while asleep? I love cats!

oladulce - 8-30-2011 at 07:50 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecomujeres
Great photo!

One time in Mulege in July, my cat and I were relaxing under the AC, he in a dead sleep. Suddenly, he jerked awake and went into the next room, where he did a "pointer" kind of thing, standing stock still and fixated on a spot on the wall under the table. He made a kind of mewing/chirping sound that he reserved for prey. I said, WTF? and looked under the table, only to find a huge tarantula on the wall.

Now, how the heck did he know it was there from his perch on the bed in the other room, with the AC running, and while asleep? I love cats!


IN the house Eco? yikes.

Imagine yourself in the middle of the night: "Gato, you're too restless tonight. Settle down or get off the bed. Gato...?" You turn on the light and Kitty is across the room, his fur standing up like a porcupine.

Tarantulas are very cool but I'd feel better if they wore a cow bell. I could do without the surprise encounters while gardening or walking around on summer nights.

Pacifico - 8-30-2011 at 08:05 AM

They do get inside on occasion.....
This one I found in my room in Baja - luckily before bedtime!

BajaBlanca - 8-30-2011 at 02:02 PM

great photo and they are so BIG.

14th Annual Tarantula Awareness Festival

Mulegena - 8-30-2011 at 02:54 PM

Saturday, October 29, 2011
Coarsegold, California in the foothills of Yosemite

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coarsegold-Tarantula-Festival/...

Can you dig it?

tiotomasbcs - 8-30-2011 at 05:27 PM

I wonder what the Tarantula was thinking? Dinner?? We used to catch them up in the hills of Santa Barbara and bring them home. They stayed in the China Cabinet until... Darkness, Darkness. Tio

ecomujeres - 8-31-2011 at 04:22 PM

Hola, Ola,

...yep, in the house. I usually left the door ajar in the other room during the day and early evening for the cat to get in and out.

Here's another Baja tarantula story, with the culprit perhaps Smudge the cat and his "pets/toys".

We used to live at the beach and during the day, would leave the back of the pickup/camper shell and the connecting window open so that Smudge (same cat from my previous story) would have an escape/hiding place if any of the beach dogs were crazy enough to try to take him on (we called him our "attack cat" when it came to dogs!).

Anyway, one day in late October or November, we headed into Mulege to a friend's house to visit. We did errands in town then hung out for a few hours with our friend. My partner returned to the car and came back shortly, beckoning me to follow. She pointed to the passenger seat, where a large tartantula was resting!

That was a truly WTF moment, as we could not for the life of us figure out how it got into the truck! No overhanging trees or shrubs to speak of anywhere at either end. And this was a high, 3/4 ton truck, so not likely that it climbed up INTO the cabin.

So, this is where Smudge may have come in to the picture. He was quite the hunter, and loved to catch lizards and mice and bring home these "pets" (usually to the shower stall) to play with. He may have decided to take the spider into the truck to play with and it got loose and he lost interest. It could have been in there for days. We will never know, as he wasn't admitting any culpability at the time and is now no longer with us, RIP.