View Full Version : Creepy Crawlies



Moonsouth
03-07-2010, 02:48 PM
All of my geocache finds are in Maine, however I am going to the Florida Keys this coming 18th, and would like to do some caching while I am down there. There have been some cache hides in Maine, that had I not been in Maine, I would not have stuck my hand into that hole to find the cache. I used to live down in FL for half of every year and I can remember coming across MANY scorpions and sorts of snakes and other various biters and stingers. Do the cache hides tend to be different down there? Or must you be the overzealous cacher and take the chance? Just wondering about out of state caches where the creepy crawlies reside.

Haffy
03-07-2010, 03:13 PM
For me since moving down south I haven't really encountered anything out of the ordinary but now tend to use a pokey stick to poke any hole 1st before sticking my hand in there....lol. I have encountered a couple of snakes but only one poisonous one ,a small copperhead and saw him before getting too close. I just used my stick to move him to one side before grabbing for the cache. Just use your common sense and you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck with you caching trip to Florida.

Hiram357
03-07-2010, 04:43 PM
For me since moving down south I haven't really encountered anything out of the ordinary but now tend to use a pokey stick to poke any hole 1st before sticking my hand in there....lol. I have encountered a couple of snakes but only one poisonous one ,a small copperhead and saw him before getting too close. I just used my stick to move him to one side before grabbing for the cache. Just use your common sense and you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck with you caching trip to Florida.

My rule of thumb is, "if it kills ya, you probably shouldn't have done it..." :D:D:D

Ekidokai
03-07-2010, 05:37 PM
Fire usually drives all critters away. It also helps with the cache hide. Follow the burning plastic or hot metal smell.

CARoperPhotography
03-07-2010, 06:54 PM
I thought that you INVESTIGATED arsons, Ekidokai? Not set fires! I guess that my I should fireproof all my hides from now on with you running around wild! ;-)

Hiram357
03-07-2010, 06:59 PM
I thought that you INVESTIGATED arsons, Ekidokai? Not set fires! I guess that my I should fireproof all my hides from now on with you running around wild! ;-)

I don't think you can prevent that... like my mom says, she tried as hard as she could to "childproof" the house when I was little, but I still managed to find my way in.... :rolleyes::D

Ekidokai
03-07-2010, 10:07 PM
No, not me, I'm just saying.

Waterski
03-07-2010, 11:06 PM
Moonsouth, We just did more caching in Florida, and it does not appear to me that the caching is any different, but the poisonous snake signs on the trails ( and gator signs)we went on, certainly made me decide to not to poke around as much, and made me decide to turn back on some bushwacking adventures actually. Good luck to you. Walk softley and carry and big stick, and you will probably find them all. :-)

JustPJ66
03-08-2010, 12:01 PM
I have to laugh at the mere thought of caching around things that bite and are deadly....I make the hubby search in holes and rotten logs here in maine because I dont want spiders on me....nevermind they are not deadly! Cashing in florida? maybe but only guard rail caches maybe LOL

I am a big chicken and I admit it!!!

Ekidokai
03-08-2010, 12:07 PM
Big spiders in Guard rails down there.

JustPJ66
03-08-2010, 12:09 PM
big spiders in guard rails down there.


oh thanks!!

Moonsouth
03-08-2010, 12:27 PM
Ill just wear a pair of thick leather gloves I think...and use a stick...

4ccnhikers
03-09-2010, 01:52 AM
When I was researching our trip to California in December one of the caches had a link to information about mountain Lions. :eek:Yikes! It was a very informative piece about how to tell if the animals are stalking you:(, and what to do. RUN wasn't one of the choices! ;) We ended up not going to that preserve, but it made us pretty cautious in the places we did go! Another concern there is black widow spiders, but they're not as active in the cooler winter weather, fortunately:). The creepiest cache we ever found was right here in Maine, with a HUGE spider sitting in its web right on top of a GRC! I made David get that one!:D:D

JustKev
03-09-2010, 05:11 AM
"The creepiest cache we ever found was right here in Maine, with a HUGE spider sitting in its web right on top of a GRC! I made David get that one!"

Define huge. According to my wife, anything large enough to see from three feet away is "huge".

JustPJ66
03-09-2010, 08:31 AM
Told you so ...there are bad things that bite here LOL
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=115274&catid=2

Moonsouth
03-09-2010, 10:01 AM
I had to make a sig just because of this topic, it is what it is I guess..

fins2right
03-09-2010, 04:30 PM
I went to a presentation in Orlando a few years back and went out to find a TB hotel to exchange a few coins and put Florida on my map. Well, the cache led me to this little patch of trees outside of the Orange County Civic Center and as I was walking through the tall grass in order to reach the trees I thought to myself "Am I doing this wrong?" I grew up in Maine and lived here for most of my life, so the idea of walking through tall grass and reaching into holes is not a big deal. By the time I reached the cache (A very nice set up with an ammo can) I had freaked myself out to the point where I found a 10 foot stick, pulled the can out, banged the can a few times to make sure nothing was on/in it. Signed the log and ran like hell. :D I'm just not used to that kind of thing!! :eek: Snakes and Spiders and Ticks oh my!

Ekidokai
03-09-2010, 06:44 PM
You know these things only bite the don't rip and crew. Oh wait crocodiles, never mind, but that's it. Even in Maine besides the big mosquito's we don't have anything real bad. Oh wait, bears and dogs and mean turtles and badgers.

Oh never mind, now I'm scared.

Waterski
03-09-2010, 10:52 PM
Fins,,,I headed to that exact cache by the O C Civic center last month by myself, STARTED, and never did make it in.....Good for you!!

Waterski
03-09-2010, 10:57 PM
We found a real nest and a real mouse running out of it. He probably never thought someone would be poking their hand in there.

Waterski
03-09-2010, 10:57 PM
That was a guard rail cache, by the way.

4ccnhikers
03-10-2010, 02:10 AM
"The creepiest cache we ever found was right here in Maine, with a HUGE spider sitting in its web right on top of a GRC! I made David get that one!"

Define huge. According to my wife, anything large enough to see from three feet away is "huge".


Ha Ha! I knew David was thinking I must be exaggerating when he came over to brush the web away , but I saw the split-second look on his face, and he was just as creeped out as I was! LOL! I swear that spider was a good 2" across, without even stretching out its creepy legs.:eek::eek: That's huge!

Moonsouth
03-10-2010, 09:11 AM
Ha Ha! I knew David was thinking I must be exaggerating when he came over to brush the web away , but I saw the split-second look on his face, and he was just as creeped out as I was! LOL! I swear that spider was a good 2" across, without even stretching out its creepy legs.:eek::eek: That's huge!


Haha you should see the camel spiders I encountered in Iraq!!! Do a search :D

pm28570
03-10-2010, 09:26 AM
You know these things only bite the don't rip and crew. Oh wait crocodiles, never mind, but that's it. Even in Maine besides the big mosquito's we don't have anything real bad. Oh wait, bears and dogs and mean turtles and badgers.

Oh never mind, now I'm scared.

Sounds like one of your rides on the Stud Mill Road

JustPJ66
03-10-2010, 09:29 AM
turtles and badgers and bears OH MY!

Team V3
03-10-2010, 02:09 PM
Haha you should see the camel spiders I encountered in Iraq!!! Do a search :D

Just googled it... NASTY! And I am not even afraid of spiders! :)

4ccnhikers
03-11-2010, 12:46 AM
Haha you should see the camel spiders I encountered in Iraq!!! Do a search :D

Those are really creepy, :eek::eek:and apparently not actually spiders! According to one web site, "A camel spider, which is also in the class Arachnida with spiders interestingly enough, is not a spider at all. A camel spider is actually a solpugid....."

Ekidokai
03-11-2010, 03:29 AM
I don't care what it is called. Anything that can take down a cat is something to be avoided.

darterkitfox
03-11-2010, 07:57 AM
Then you guys wouldn't like the Gaboon viper I put down in Saco with my new cache behind the cinema in Saco. Trouble is, my coordinates must have been off with my worthless Delorme because I can't find the viper now.

Moonsouth
03-11-2010, 08:11 AM
Then you guys wouldn't like the Gaboon viper I put down in Saco with my new cache behind the cinema in Saco. Trouble is, my coordinates must have been off with my worthless Delorme because I can't find the viper now.


Wow...first off, Delorme is not worthless, sometimes its the operator...and cloud cover :) Secondly, YOU killed the viper? It was in the news they found a gaboon viper...very scary stuff. Or you are say that you put a gaboon viper in your cache DOWN in saco, not you "put it down".????

Moonsouth
03-11-2010, 08:13 AM
Wow...I am a little slow this morning.....disregard the above....only just started my coffee


Edit to add, disregard all but the delorme piece : ) :D:D:D