Brown Recluse in Barn

[YellowHammer]

Oh, that would really get me going, first thing in the morning, getting pooped on.
Any idea what they are?  What kind of ceiling is it?

[YellowHammer]

Well, after the bug guy came, I guess he really PO'd the spiders after he sprayed because I walked into my hunting room in the house this morning, flicked on the lights, and Harry was watching me.

I was not happy and he did not survive the friendly Yellowhammer style "Hello there..."

And so another call back to the bug company with another picture of a brown recluse and they are sending out "a new, new guy."

Meanwhile, I ordered 30 packs of 3 spider glue traps, so 90 traps in all.  Plus the Demon showed up.  

It was all fun and games until they start staring me down in my own house...They don't realize I was only on Yellowhammer Level 6, now I'm on a solid level 8.5.  

[doc henderson]

I assume that is on a scale of 100.

[YellowHammer]

No, 1 to10, but logarithmic. 

[doc henderson]

To quote one of the kids book author in Elf!  "it's expediential"

When we have a drama king or queen, and they rate their pain a 20/10, and state "I have a high pain tolerance".  We do the math and tell them that is a 2.

[aigheadish]

I think they are Sparrows. The bird problem is my fault due to the construction of the doors. They are 2 sets of bi-folds that need some space to open properly but I need to climb up on a ladder, in a now precarious spot, to get a good look at how I can permanently seal up the area through which they get in. I'm sure I could temporarily do something, but I don't want to get up on that ladder a bunch of times. The ceiling is just insulated framing right now, so it's a great spot for them to live, I can't blame them, but it's still maddening. I have some of that bubble insulation vapor barrier junk I can cover the insulation with but there are a lot of interruptions and cuts I'll need to make around the roof trusses, and I imagine the birds will find their way into that as well. I'm not a huge fan of working in the ceiling above the shop but I'm totally unwilling to put a false ceiling in there and close up the high peak. I may be able to run another 2x4 in front of the door track to cover more of that open space. I need to get up there and add some flashing above the doors anyway. Seems like the weather is not agreeable for that kind of work.



You can see how the roof is, kind of, in this picture, but imagine insulation in there.

[teakwood]

I assume that is on a scale of 100.

no, but he is on like the Richter scale for earthquakes, every 0.1 doubles the force 

[YellowHammer]

That looks like a NICE building and very sealed up, and the doors look good.  Do the doors stay open at night?  Many birds do their thing at night, especially the little sapsucker woodpecker looking birds, but lots of bird poop is also from birds trapped overnight that flew in during the previous day in our buildings and can't or won't get out when we close the doors.

One thing I have seemed to see is that if a nest is allowed to produce, the offspring will have a greater chance of returning the next season and the nesting issue will be multiplied, like a homing pigeon effect.  I don't if it's real or just my perception, but it sure seems that way.

I would not put any insulation up until the bird issue is solved, they love that stuff and the blackbirds especially will actually nest directly in it.  Having an open and sterile environment so you can see what's going on is best.       

[YellowHammer]

Yes, "earthquake" is a good description, because I spend more time in my hunting room than pretty much anywhere else in the winter, it's also where my hunting clothes are, and where I do much of my "gunsmithing," if you can call it that, and is recently where I have been building up my 22.  It's pretty clean and clutter free.

I did hit a 9 out of 10 a few years ago when my solar kiln became infested with mice and spiders.  I even made a video on it, but here a picture of me destroying it and attempting to "gently" fit it into my burn pit.  No more spiders in the solar kiln, problem solved with a match.   

[barbender]

YH, are you familiar with a "sterilization cycle"?😁

[YellowHammer]

Yes, I tried, I tried and I tried.  I could never get it hot enough, long enough, to kill the 4 and 8 legged critters.

So I switched from the Va Tech Solar Kiln Sterilization cycle to the BP Sterilization Cycle.   

[Andries]

So, a wild guess here, that's Browning Pump cycle. . . .
. 
oh, just a second. . . . 
Got, Burn Pile cycle.
Yeah, that's the one.

[YellowHammer]

Good guess but... 
 
The Yellowhammer BP Sterilization Cycle involves about 3.8 liters (Canadian) of British Petroleum diesel fuel and exceeds the minimum FDA required 133F temperature by a substantial margin. 

Plus, it's fun.

[barbender]

😂😂😂

[aigheadish]

Thanks! The doors do not stay open at night, ever, though there is a gap between the track and the header and that's where the birds are coming in. I didn't think about it being "home" for new baby birds, I don't like the sound of that, but the problem will be solved, one way or the other, as soon as I can get out there for a day or two. 

[Peter Drouin]

So did the NEW--NEW guy work out?

[YellowHammer]

The New - New guy was the equivalent of the Spider Terminator.  The first thing I asked when he got out of the truck was if he was any good and he looked at me and said "Yes I am, I hear you have a spider problem, and I HATE spiders."  Correct answer!  Turns out he was a carpenter many years ago, and got bit by a brown recluse, and before long it turned until a huge oozing ulcerated crater on his shin, and the Dr. basically told him he was lucky it didn't get to the bone, as he was digging out the dead meat.  So after that, he decided to become a bug guy, and says he lives to kill spiders.

We walked around, the house was pretty good, he sprayed it but said it looked pretty bug free, but when we went to the barn, things changed and he found a brown recluse pretty quick while he was spraying, and he said something like "OK, I get it" and he went back to the truck and literally brought out the big gun, the "Bug Bazooka."

It's essentially a large plastic container filled with bug powder, fitted to a large hand piston pump, like an old school tire pump.  He put on his serious bug suit and mask, went up into the second story, and started pumping and the powdered insecticide came out like a stream from a flamethrower.  He held it like Rambo held the M60, and pumped the piston, and large amounts or powder sprays out the other end.  I retreated down the steps out of the fog, but it was pretty epic, and certainly the overkill I wanted.   

I took a picture of the bug bazooka, so I could buy one.  He certainly "talked the talk and walked the walk" so now we will see how it goes.
   

[Old Greenhorn]

" he lives to kill spiders"

Sounds like the English translation of a Native American name but I don't know how to say that in Choctaw. Sorry, I am probably influenced by the book I am engrossed in now. 
 But it sounds like you got the right guy!

[WV Sawmiller]

   I wonder if one of them Bug-o-salt, or what ever they are called, would work for spiders?

[aigheadish]

When we moved into our house now I hired some movers to move the really big heavy stuff. So, here they come, 3 beefy kinda white trash tough guys full of tattoos and foul mouths. They moved things like champs, cabinets full of tools, moved no big deal, couches and/or beds down some complex stairways, they did great. Then we moved to the garage and I've never seen anyone more scared of spiders, all 3 of them, "eek'd"! it up and scrambled as they saw any hint of spider. Made me laugh. We don't have much for dangerous spiders around here. 

[doc henderson]

Don't get Robert started on a bug-o-salt gun with a night vision scope.   

[GRANITEstateMP]

YellowHamner,

Is there a waiting period on a "bug bazooka" like when you buy certain guns? Or is it something you can walk right outta the store with

[YellowHammer]

I think the waiting period is only if it has a silencer on it.  

I had one of the Bug O Salt guns, I used to carve notches into the plastic stock whenever I killed something.  

[WV Sawmiller]

  All the westerns I read say "Only a tinhorn carves notches in his gun"

[YellowHammer]

I'm not qualified enough to be a "tin horn," at best I'm a "plastic horn.  My gun is made of plastic, is bright orange, shoots table salt and I got it for free.  And I carve notches in it to the never-ending embarrassment of my grown up kids!   


I do watch reruns of the "Rifleman" does that help my reputation at all?