Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for November 22, 2013

One on the ceiling and one on the vacuum-head part.

That may take a few days.

Alex needs to have one of those terrariums… or just leave the bugs outside in the field.

Needed

Lucky they’re not Asian Lady Beetles – those little scum suckers get into every crack, crevice and lighting fixture.

a bit of screening over the top, with a rubber band.

Last week I had a bigger-than-6-inch bright green Anolus Carolineus on the back screened in porch (2nd story); it must have come in thru one of the drain holes. I had to get it off the porch & couldn’t let it come inside or my ferocious feline would “play” with it. I tried to trap it in a glass, but it was too big. I cornered it with the cat carrier’s open door. He jumped in because he had no place else to go. He sat on the floor of the cat carrier cage, breathing hard & turning brown, while I streaked thru the apartment & down the stairs to let him out (shake him out) onto the grass. When I was Alex’s age, I would have just picked him up without a fuss & let him bite me, no problem.

You have to watch that the sun doesn’t shine on a terrarium – at least, not in a warm place like Florida. I kept a sweet little snakelet in a jar outdoors temporarily to give it some outdoor air, the sun shone on it, and it perished. I picked up its stiff little body and showed it to my husband. “DO something!” I implored. It would eat little fish out of my hand. (Its sibling was psychotic, and when my husband held it, it would spin its head around like a propellor and bite my husband’s finger.) Our snake collecting days are over now; we think it’s more humane to let things run (or slither) free.

Reminds me of the tadpoles my sis and I collected. They did turn into frogs and jumped everywhere. We weren’t allowed to keep tadpoles in our bedroom anymore. lol

Holly let them go on purpose.

Good for you Val.

In a situation like this, the words “I think” make me nervous…. (shiver)

I missed the one on the ceiling (because I wasn’t looking).

I get all kind of things wander in through garage and once in a while fly right in the patio doors. I have escorted many wasps from kitchen windows, out the patio doors and have caught and released some of the cute little geckos that have also managed to get in. More objectionable things get squashed between papers (what else are those big cardstock political ads good for?)

Commenters need to be succinct if they really want their comments to be read. (If they’re just blowing off steam, they could do it elsewhere.) When it gets over, say , 100 words, I just keep on going.