Nature

[Fiona1986]

I must be pure evil then as I will kill spiders, moths and wasps without compunction. Unfortunately I broke a plastic dustpan the other night, dispatching an enormous monster of a spider (by British standards!) which had the audacity to be hiding against the skirting board outside the bathroom. If they invade my house then they will get squashed. I couldn't bear to put my hands near enough to a spider to coax it into a glass or cup.

[IceMaiden]

We get quite lethargic wasps in sometimes and I can usually manage to catch them in a glass if they're a bit sleepy, but if there's an angry fully awake one I just open the window wide, go out of the room, shut the door and don't go back in for a few hours until its gone out!

I'm scared of wasps, I cannot stay still around them no matter how much someone tells me to. My method for getting rid of any that fly in is to stand right near the door, wait until the wasp is by the window, throw a cushion at it in hope it'll get spooked and fly back out, then shut the door quick incase it hasn't and gets angry! Rinse and repeat until it finally goes .

[Julie2owlsdene]

I put spiders outside by using a glass. Just pop it over the spider, and slip a piece of paper beneath the glass of pop the spider outside. As for wasps, I use a towel to put them out. Just grab them with the towel, and throw them outside and they fly off, same as flies, if I'm not quick enough, Rosie eats them!

[Rob Houghton]

Our cat is a real fly and spider eater. I'd never known a cat do this before - none of our other cats ever did, but our latest cat eats flies, spiders, moths - basically anything small enough that moves!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've seen neighbours' cats trying (but failing) to pounce on butterflies.

[Carlotta King]

Mine eats flies and spiders too, but only the smaller spiders, if we get one of those huge black monsters he won't go near them, and I dont blame him!!

He jumps up in the air and claps his paws together to catch moths and flies, and he also likes catching silverfish as they scoot across the floor.

He doesn't like centipedes though, I seem to have had a few in the bathroom recently but he avoids them, he must know they're a bit aggressive!

[Rob Houghton]

yes - our cat avoids centipedes too - maybe they taste nasty! When mine was a kitten, she tried to eat a bee or a wasp - and she spat it out in a hurry and didn't eat much for the rest of the day - I presume she got stung - but at least it taught her a lesson!

[Carlotta King]

Yeah my cat got stung by a bee in his mouth too, but it made him really poorly, a kind of anaphylactic shock, he had a poorly tummy everywhere and then collapsed, I didn't know at the time that he'd eaten a bee so I was beside myself because I had no idea what was wrong with him, I thought he was dying, got him to the vet immediately and she found the sting in his tongue! And then when we got home i found the dead bee on the floor!
It took my cat a few days to recover, he was very lethargic and poorly.

I'm glad your cat didn't have that, I guess some cats are more sensitive to stings than others, like people.

So now when we get a bee or wasp in the house I keep him well away from them!

[Rob Houghton]

My cat steers clear of bees and wasps now! I did think about a bad reaction, and we were watching for one - but apart from being a bit grumpy and not eating, she soon recovered.

Our other cat once had heatstroke - had obviously been asleep in the sun - and came stumbling into the garden, collapsing on the grass, which was very scary. We felt her fur and she was very hot, so we guessed it could be the sun. I looked it up on line and they suggested a wet tea towel or towel draped over the cat. We did this and within five minutes she had recovered - something worth knowing!

[Carlotta King]

Aww poor thing!
That's the trouble when they lie outside, and you can't always stop them because they're off out somewhere! And they don't know that they're getting sunstroke or that they shouldn't be lying in the sun!

I have to put suncream on George's ears because they're white but he doesn't like it very much!

[Moonraker]

We had a rat once which used to run around our garden. We eventually found in our compost bin - as a skeleton! We also had a wasps' nest in our loft, and the Council took that away. Bees needn't be poisoned/killed - a call to a local bee society will sort out the problem. Someone will come and collect the swarm and re-house them for you. They should never be killed as they are endangered and totally necessary in the 'nature chain'.

It seems odd to me that a charming thread devoted to nature should become so quickly dominated by poisoning and other means of killing!

[Julie2owlsdene]

Dogs can get heat stroke too, you shouldn't walk them for too long in the real mid day heat. It annoys me immensely when I hear of dogs being left in the car in hot weather. I just don't understand that mentality at all. Even for a few minutes the car windows have to be fully opened to allow a breeze right through, and yet you see one window open just a couple of inches and the owner thinks its okay. They should try sitting in a car themselves for a few moments with the window open a couple of inches, and then see how quickly the heat can occur it's unbearable.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree about dogs in cars - irresponsible owners.

Also agree about never killing bees, and I was a little shocked to hear about someone killing them - forgot who it was - and please, don't take offence! I just presumed no one would consider killing bees! In fact I saw one on the path in the garden, obviously exhausted (apparently bees never land on paths unless they are exhausted) and I fed it with a spoon of honey, which it ate hungrily, then flew off.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Good for you, Rob. One should never kill a bee, as they only sting when threatened, and then die themselves. I heard there numbers are dwindling and are in danger, so should be preserved to keep the world going round.

[Carlotta King]

I've read in several papers lately that if someone sees a dog in a hot car they are legally allowed to break the windows and the police won't arrest them or anything.
One article said it's even better if you can get the local temperature on your phone and get a photo of it as proof.
I think the wording was that as long as the police can see that you were acting in the interests of the animal, rather than just vandalism, then they will back you up.
So if anyone sees a dog suffering, its OK to smash the glass!

I love bees, they're amazing creatures. I've never been stung by one, and I've had dealings with a lot of them.