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AAAAAARGH!! Earwig inside my telescope!

Tim

By Tim
in The Astro Lounge

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Tim

Tim

Posted
Posted

With dropping temperatures tonight I thought it prudent to adjust the position of my dew band on my imaging refractor.

Imagine my horror when INSIDE the lens was a rather large earwig!

Getting him out was a nightmare, with all the baffles stopping him falling out. Try as I might I couldn't shake him out, so as a final option managed to raise the Mrs from her slumber, no mean feat in itself, and we performed a pincer movement on the thing, she held the hoover pipe inside the telescope, while I held a torch and gave directions, until eventually the critter was sucked out.

I've no idea how it got in there, as far as I am aware the tube is sealed at all times, by the lens cell at the business end, and a flattener at the other. Unless he perhaps walked up the side of the focuser somehow?? Just hope the little so and so wasn't in there for long.

Anybody else found anything unpleasant in their equipment?

Tim

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Galen Gilmore

Galen Gilmore

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The only thing I can think of was when I was observing with a friend and a firefly flew into his dob.

It was funny because he is scared of fireflys (for some reason) and he was freaking out for about 5 minutes. I was laughing the whole time while also trying to help him get it out.

:laughing4:

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

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Not in a telescope - yet. But....

A guy hired me to overhaul his bicycles' bottom-bracket (where the pedals go through in the bottom). In there I found a complete colony of Carpenter-Ants, complete with Queen - all through the entire bicycle-frame. That was fun! Hauled it outdoors but quick! Lest it moved into my walls of the shop.

I charged him my top price for the labor. He asked me "Why so much?" I told him: "I really had to work the bugs out."

Dave

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JoeP

JoeP

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2 hours ago, Subdeo said:

I  did once find a dead spider inside my long unused telescope viewfinder, but nothing else. At least you got him out!

I once found 2 alive spiders in my dob - there are still bits of cobweb on the primary!

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carastro

carastro

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I get large spiders in my obsy, I am arachnophic, but I bought a gadget to pick them up with a long handle.  I don't like killing them just because I don't like them, this gadget picks them up with a nylon brush gripper, and I can put them outside safely.  

It's when they suddenly drop down from the dome on a thread in front of my face when I am sitting at the laptop, luckily these are usually the small ones though.  Yuk Yuk

Carole 

 

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knobby

knobby

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I had hundreds of baby spiders in the bottom of my DOB a few years ago ...

It was quite weird as initially looked like primary was very dirty, but then realised it was moving :happy7:

Left it upside down in garden and air dusted it a few times !

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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7 hours ago, carastro said:

I get large spiders in my obsy, I am arachnophic, but I bought a gadget to pick them up with a long handle.  I don't like killing them just because I don't like them, this gadget picks them up with a nylon brush gripper, and I can put them outside safely.  

It's when they suddenly drop down from the dome on a thread in front of my face when I am sitting at the laptop, luckily these are usually the small ones though.  Yuk Yuk

Carole 

 

I have to get myself one of those spider catchers. Can you suggest which one. The longer the handle the better. 40cm (as i have seen) just aint long enough and i have to slide the shutter closed?. 

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Macavity

Macavity

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A female Earwig (Straight Pincers)? Not much consequence except for other Earwigs! :p
Haven't seen one for YEARS... Such things (Beatles, Bugs etc.) used to be a regular
feature of my "garden safaris" when I was a kid. A confirmed "year for spiders" tho... :)

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Tim

Tim

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Posted
12 hours ago, carastro said:

I get large spiders in my obsy, I am arachnophic, but I bought a gadget to pick them up with a long handle.  I don't like killing them just because I don't like them, this gadget picks them up with a nylon brush gripper, and I can put them outside safely. 

Good on you Carole :)  I love spiders and share my warm room with several that are big enough to fill my palm. They keep the midges down, and probably the mice too!

Only two things have freaked me slightly by springing out in the middle of the night, one of them was a Chafer beetle that barged around like some kind of drunk boxer, and then one night around 1am I heard a tapping against the other side of the door from my warm room to scope room. On opening the door a huge hornet flew in and proceeded to have a karate fight with me in my tiny warm room. Must have looked a right wuss!

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Gina

Gina

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When I took my all sky camera apart I found it full of fine cobwebs plus three tiny spiders (dead).  It's amazing how small a gap these tiny critters can get through!!  There were no flies on the cobwebs - they couldn't get in!

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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On 10/27/2017 at 18:11, Demonperformer said:

This is the one I've got. I find 65cm to be a satisfactory distance, even with the big ones. The only thing I've found is that you need to get fully round the spider before it realises you are there, otherwise they disappear back into their webs like greased lightning.

I bought this one from Maplins here in Ireland.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Katcha®-Buster-Spider-Vacuum-Blue/dp/B009PNXV40/ref=sr_1_38?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1509291165&sr=1-38

I think i may have bought 2 by accident. That is fine though because i can have them in different rooms.

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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How does it work in practice? Some of the reviews say that the sucking power is insufficient to capture big spiders. Also, I'm not convinced by the 'take it outside when ready, remove the top and collect it when the spider has gone' ... I can't imagine why a big spider, having gone through such a traumatic experience, would want to leave the safety of a nice narrow enclosed burrow-like tube for the (dangerous) wild open spaces ...

With mine, I also have a 300g coffee jar (empty). Once caught, just hold catcher over the jar and pull the lever and the spider plops into the jar. Then, when I take it outside I can turn it upside down and again the spider just plops out ... and I can see that it has gone!

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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1 hour ago, Demonperformer said:

How does it work in practice? Some of the reviews say that the sucking power is insufficient to capture big spiders. Also, I'm not convinced by the 'take it outside when ready, remove the top and collect it when the spider has gone' ... I can't imagine why a big spider, having gone through such a traumatic experience, would want to leave the safety of a nice narrow enclosed burrow-like tube for the (dangerous) wild open spaces ...

With mine, I also have a 300g coffee jar (empty). Once caught, just hold catcher over the jar and pull the lever and the spider plops into the jar. Then, when I take it outside I can turn it upside down and again the spider just plops out ... and I can see that it has gone!

I do have the same concerns about the vacuum sucker.

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astronymonkey

astronymonkey

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You can easily make and insect "pooter" which is how those interested in these critters catch them for studying. Ive used one many years ago and they were really effective and remarkably basic. Ive not tried one with the really big spiders though.

If you do make one though, make sure you remember to add the pice of fabric to the end of the suck tube or youll end up with a six legged supper !

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JOC

JOC

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Well I can now report that you cannot catch huge black legged monstrosities from the middle of an expanse of drawn curtain using the glass and cardboard method.  The curtain is too soft and flexes and the rotten critter vanishes back down behind the cupboards and disappears again.......Eeeek!

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carastro

carastro

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This video demonstrates it, but it's a different make and the handle is shorter than mine.  I don;t have to bend down with the spider catcher, it is long enough to reach the floor.

https://www.timeout.com/usa/blog/someone-finally-invented-a-contraption-to-deal-with-spiders-041516

I will see if I can find a link to the one I have.

Carole 

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