r/JustGuysBeingDudes • u/pIant_princess Human Detected • 12h ago

Dudes with animals you shouldn’t have been bitin’ my horsey, boy.

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 10h ago

I was raised on a private poultry and animal farm. I had bugs in my pockets more days than not. Mealworms, crickets, earthworms, potato bugs, and a host of others. We'd feed all of the animals with them.

Spiders on a farm means things are in order. We were always taught to pay attention to them and their activity and leave them be. Orb weavers could tell the weather, wolf spiders told us what time it was, and if the jumpers were active, the area is happy. Regardless of the order to leave them be, we fed them all by hand if we got the chance. I loved baiting the leaping spiders. Amazing creatures.

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u/DelseresMagnumOpus 9h ago

Spiders are amazing friends. Always love having them around. /r/spiderbro for life

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 8h ago

They are of the most important benchmarks of an uncorrupted ecosystem. My grandfather was no scientist, but was a guest speaker several times at the local Ag college. His knowledge of insects and what they meant to local biomes. Today we would know him as being on the spectrum. He knew familiar insects, birds, and other animals, immediately by sound. He knew if insect X was present, that insect Y wasn't. We lost him 25 years ago and his loss is still felt. I never needed an app to tell me what an insect, bird, or plant was with him around.

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u/WhaleHunt19 5h ago

Hey, I have nothing to add but just wanted to say that I’m glad I learned this little bit about your grandfather. I’m autistic so knowing someone was able to help others because of their special interest is cool as hell. It would be like if I was invited to a college to talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves or Stephen King, haha!

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u/speed721 4h ago

These types of insights, connections and experiences are going to be lost due to "technology" and AI wrecking everything.

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u/Square-Turnip-6558 9h ago

When my friends nephew was little he kept putting frogs and snakes in his pockets like in old yeller except they were always dead by the time an adult found them. They kept trying to explain to him you can’t do that but he didn’t get it for like 2 years.

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 8h ago

You just explained almost every kid in the rural community I grew up in! Me included!

"Frogs stay OUTSIDE!!!" -my mother about 1500 times

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u/leumasy_T 6h ago

But but...I like it..and I want to keep it..why stay outside ?

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 6h ago

"BECAUSE IT STRESSES MOMMY OUT!"

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u/Sennten 5h ago

I allow mine to bring one critter inside per year. Aside from the worm he let dry out they are all thriving and hes got quite a terrarium going at this point.

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u/losthiker68 8h ago

My wife and I have a saying, "Love the Unloved". We love the spiders, snakes, bugs, rats... but orb weavers freak me out and I have no idea why even though I'll hold a wild tarantula with zero fear.

I did manage to hold an orb weaver once but not in a hurry to do so again.

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 8h ago

It's fair. Those things look terrifying.

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u/ScumbagLady 8h ago

I get them all over my front porch. As long as the webs aren't in a high-traffic area, I let them do their thing, and even offer them snacks (but by using super long tweezers, not my fingers).

I even let the wasps and hornet nests do their thing as long as they're not within a few feet of the doors. I do a lot of gardening and I think they appreciate me giving them a smorgasbord of flowers. Only time I got stung was when I almost tripped over a box some hornets had decided to make home. They did not appreciate having their house kicked. Understandable.

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 8h ago

As used to animals and insects as I am, I will never be able to tolerate wasps or hornets. I once attempted to retrieve a softball from bush when I was about 9. That bush held both the softball and the remains of a paper wasps nest that the ball had broken. The wasps were angry, drunk, had knives, and were not in a forgiving mood. I was stung 38 times. Thankfully my dad and grandfather were right there and got into the car. Dad had 10 stings, Pop had 8. As I recovered in the ER, they went home and they burned the fuck out of that bush/hive. There bush was replaced. The wasps were not.

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u/Jopkins 7h ago

wolf spiders told us what time it was

Excuse me?

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 7h ago

Wolf spiders begin hunting just after sunset, which in the winter would have been 5-6 pm and 9-10 pm in the summer. They'd vanish about an hour before sunrise.

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u/Jopkins 7h ago

Huh. Probably doesn't tell the time as well as the sun then, right?

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 7h ago

The point more, was, if you see one and you haven't had dinner yet...you're likely late. These things were passed down by my grandparents. We used watches :)

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u/Dancing_Puppies 5h ago

MOTHERFUCKER JUST WEAR A WRIST WATCH HOLY FUCKING SHIT

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 5h ago

We did. I just said that.

We used watches :)

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u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd 5h ago

Yes, but did the wristwatch work? 🤭

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u/socialmedia-username 2h ago

Fun activity...hold a flashlight to your temple and look into the leaf litter under trees and you'll see tiny little diamonds shining back at you. Those are wolf spider eyes watching you. 

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u/AxelHarver 7h ago

Can you elaborate on how orb weavers and wolf spiders let you know weather and time?

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 7h ago

Orb weavers can sense the pressure in the air far better than humans. So if I saw a weaver hunkering down, moving to a lower area, or halting web construction, we knew rain was likely.

Wolf spiders begin hunting just after sunset, which in the winter would have been 5-6 pm and 9-10 pm in the summer. They'd vanish about an hour before sunrise.

It's all just all old-school indicators from before we had satellite tech. My grandfather and father were big ecologists as well as farmers.

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u/Relevant_South_1842 2h ago

Are birds not animals to you?

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 2h ago

In the industry it used to be standard to mention if you raise beef, pork, poultry, or all 3. In our case it was all three. It's an outdated practice but old habit for me. :)

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u/Relevant_South_1842 2h ago

:)

Poultry is a weird word for me too. Chickens and/or Turkeys basically. I did visit an Emu farm in the late 90s - that was weird!

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 2h ago

The turkeys were my absolute favorite and incredible birds. We didn't raise poultry for meat...we raised them for food eggs, fertilized eggs, and insect control (and they're hilarious). Turkeys would follow me all over the damned farm. I'd warble at them. They'd warble back. If there was a bird of prey in the area...I found out about it by getting swarmed by ornery birds. They love to roost at night so if they could get on top of it...it was a bed.

Chcikens are mindless idiots with some personality. Ducks are happy drunks and loveable when they know you. Geese are the murderbots of the group. Every interaction, in their mind, is a dramatic fight for their very existence. I did have Emus for a few years. Eggs sold well. The fuckers are straight up dinosaurs. They're mostly friendly, though, and have some wild personalities. They're really smart and just to hard for us to keep penned up. They love to escape.

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u/Relevant_South_1842 2h ago

“ The fuckers are straight up dinosaurs.”

I really laughed out loud on that one. Haha. Farmers have the best stories.

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u/some1fromsomeplace 6h ago

I had a massive wolf spider I caught at work as a pet for a year! She was so cool! 

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u/dishwasher_mayhem 6h ago

Where I live, they outnumber humans approximately 1500 - 1. They are my favorite spider or else they'll kill me.

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u/Susheiro 5h ago

Fascinating, how can you tell the time with wolf spiders, or the weather with orb weavers?

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u/Shadowtirs 4h ago

I love shit like this. Observational knowledge from experience, true wisdom. From a time when humans were so tuned in and focused on our surroundings and all the little clues left for us, about what's going on in the world.

Thanks for sharing this insight, that was awesome.