# What 'wildlife' do you encounter under houses?



## Christina (Jul 14, 2009)

I think we have all encountered the dead housecat, small dog, litter of puppies (maybe accompanied by territorial mom), waterdogs, slugs & frogs... but what else have you encountered?

In southcentral Oklahoma you have Rattlesnakes, Copperhead Snakes, Skunks, Scorpions, Bull/Chicken/Ratsnakes, Wasps & Dirtdobbers, Blackwidow Spiders & Fiddleback/ Brown Recluse Spiders. 

I have encountered several Blackwidows in metercans. Scorpions & Frogs under houses. No snakes yet, just the crusty skins they shed in the floor joists. Was bitten by a Fiddleback and it rotted out the flesh behind my knee cap... 

So, what 'intruders' are in your area?


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## HandsomeMike (Feb 8, 2009)

Homeless ( new construction )


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## Christina (Jul 14, 2009)

HandsomeMike said:


> Homeless ( new construction )


 Are you serious??


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## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

I was under this credit union building that used to be a home years ago. I was crawling around under there with a mickey mouse flashlite that kept blinking on and off, on and mostly off. I weaseled my way around this huge duct and low and behold there was this huge huge nest made of twigs, straw, leaves, etc. I don't know what the heck was living there but I got about 4 hard knocks on my head from hitting the joists on my way out of there. I think they should film a series to animal planet at that place. Scared the cri-app out of me.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

The one that really bothered me the most was meeting face to face with a skunk...

Fortunately I was able to back away nice and smooth in a none threatening manner.:whistling2:


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Ran into a black snake once but it was outside the crawl space access as I was crawling out. He was cool I was cool all went well. I too got bit by a brown recluse on the thigh but realized it as soon as it happened so not too much rotting skin. doc put me on anti biotics within a hr or 2.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Redwood said:


> The one that really bothered me the most was meeting face to face with a skunk...
> 
> Fortunately I was able to back away nice and smooth in a none threatening manner.:whistling2:


 You mean that pretty kittycat with the white stripe.


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

I got way up under a mobile home and ran into a mama raccoon and her babies. I slowly crawled my way out of the situation. My boss made the people get a trapper to get rid of them before we would make the needed repairs.


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## tnoisaw (Jun 16, 2009)

Just a rat.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

2 ft. aligator


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## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

mice, snakes, in a 3' crawl i ran into a human turd, i was not happy


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

The only thing I worry about is snakes in the winter time. Anything else should fear me. I've heard stories about 20' long pythons under houses in FL. and nobody new about the smake until neighborhood dogs and cats started coming up missing. A 20' long python might be able to eat a small man depending on the size of his shoulders. They would for sure kill you anyway,maybe not eat you. one bite and 3 coils get around you its all over with except you crap'n on your self as he squeezes:laughing:
I found a cat in an attic that was nothing but bones and hair...scared the crap outta me.....when they dry out the teeth show alot and the hair was still on it and the attic was dark so my flashlight focused on IT perfectly. I've found plenty of snake skin. I'm more concerned with a weird fungus or bacteria.....animal droppings can be deadly if breathed.....watch for that also. Pigeons are the nastiest things living almost...rats wiff wings if you will. I would be paranoid around protechs area with the aligators....2' not so much but you know momma an daddy are close and they aren't 2' long. They are good hunters too..use the tail to knock the prey into the water and then drowned you....NICE!!!!!!


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## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

The drugbaggies, condoms, needles always keep me on my toes in ATL crawlspaces


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

You don't know what you're talking about



TheMaster said:


> The only thing I worry about is snakes in the winter time. Anything else should fear me. I've heard stories about 20' long pythons under houses in FL. and nobody new about the smake until neighborhood dogs and cats started coming up missing. A 20' long python might be able to eat a small man depending on the size of his shoulders. They would for sure kill you anyway,maybe not eat you. one bite and 3 coils get around you its all over with except you crap'n on your self as he squeezes:laughing:
> I found a cat in an attic that was nothing but bones and hair...scared the crap outta me.....when they dry out the teeth show alot and the hair was still on it and the attic was dark so my flashlight focused on IT perfectly. I've found plenty of snake skin. I'm more concerned with a weird fungus or bacteria.....animal droppings can be deadly if breathed.....watch for that also. Pigeons are the nastiest things living almost...rats wiff wings if you will. I would be paranoid around protechs area with the aligators....2' not so much but you know momma an daddy are close and they aren't 2' long. They are good hunters too..use the tail to knock the prey into the water and then drowned you....NICE!!!!!!


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## user823 (Feb 3, 2009)

I found an old bag full of 1960's Playboy magazines once, the job took a lot longer than it should have.:laughing:

The worst one was I opened the trap door to the crawl space to fix an active water leak. I saw literally dozens of huge rats. They were going single file out to the backyard stealing the dog food, and they had their own little private lake under there too. They had it made.:thumbup: I walked from that one.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

1. When a gator is 2' long he has already left the guardianship of his mother.

2. They don't knock you in the water with their tail. They only attack prey that they know they are big enough to drown and when they do they hunt from the water's edge and bite when the prey is close enough. Once latched on, they use their tail as a "reverse propeller" and pull the prey into deep water. Once in deep water they pull the prey under and start doing the "death roll". They do this for 2 reasons. 1 is that it usually rips off the appendage. 2 because if the appendage doesn't rip off it will spin and disorient the prey further making it difficult for escape.

The pythons are only in south Florida by the everglades. It gets to cold for them as you go north but south Florida doesn't freeze so they can survive there. Like many invasive species here, they were introduced from south America.


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

Pythons in the glades, Iguanas on Boca Grande, Nile Moniter lizard problem here. People just do not get it when they let there pets go. They are talking about putting open season on the pythons on the glades with huge cash prizes for the biggest etc... Hunt them into extiction


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

wet insulation, lint from inproper dryer vents. Lit my turbo torch around that lint, and Poof, like Clark Griswalds chirstmas tree, big ol flame for a short second or two. Scarred the shiot out of me. Thought the house was going to burn to the ground. But, it didnt even catch.


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

Bumble Bees


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## Plumbworker (Oct 23, 2008)

San Francisco Sewer Rats....


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## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

i think thats a NUTRIA


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

ROCKSTARPLUMBER said:


> wet insulation, lint from inproper dryer vents. Lit my turbo torch around that lint, and Poof, like Clark Griswalds chirstmas tree, big ol flame for a short second or two. Scarred the shiot out of me. Thought the house was going to burn to the ground. But, it didnt even catch.


 Have you ever caught that mesh that they use to hold the insulation in a prefab home on fire. that crap must be made of pure gasoline. It spreads and I mean quick in about 100 different directions. From that point on I always cut it out.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

Protech said:


> 1. When a gator is 2' long he has already left the guardianship of his mother.
> 
> 2. They don't knock you in the water with their tail. They only attack prey that they know they are big enough to drown and when they do they hunt from the water's edge and bite when the prey is close enough. Once latched on, they use their tail as a "reverse propeller" and pull the prey into deep water. Once in deep water they pull the prey under and start doing the "death roll". They do this for 2 reasons. 1 is that it usually rips off the appendage. 2 because if the appendage doesn't rip off it will spin and disorient the prey further making it difficult for escape.
> 
> The pythons are only in south Florida by the everglades. It gets to cold for them as you go north but south Florida doesn't freeze so they can survive there. Like many invasive species here, they were introduced from south America.


 Aligators will use there tail to swap a dog off the bank....YOUR NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS ALIGATORS CLOSE BY........there have been plenty of attacks here in the Delta...LOOK on a MAP. I dont care what your books say.....I believe the old man that told me that...it was his dog and he watched it happen. I have no idea where you live exactly.....I just know evertime I turn the news on they are talking about pythons in florida......one killed a kid there about 3 weeks ago....SHE WASNT IN THE F'KN EVERGLADES EITHER she was in her BED. It was her fathers PET.
Anything else i can help ya with?


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

Protech said:


> 1. When a gator is 2' long he has already left the guardianship of his mother.
> 
> 2. They don't knock you in the water with their tail. They only attack prey that they know they are big enough to drown and when they do they hunt from the water's edge and bite when the prey is close enough. Once latched on, they use their tail as a "reverse propeller" and pull the prey into deep water. Once in deep water they pull the prey under and start doing the "death roll". They do this for 2 reasons. 1 is that it usually rips off the appendage. 2 because if the appendage doesn't rip off it will spin and disorient the prey further making it difficult for escape.
> 
> The pythons are only in south Florida by the everglades. It gets to cold for them as you go north but south Florida doesn't freeze so they can survive there. Like many invasive species here, they were introduced from south America.


I forgot to answer the 1st part of this. If there is a 2' gator around wouldn't it be safe to assume it could be a larger one 4 houses down? Or the next street over wheres theres a bigger pond? Point being if theres one then there prolly 20 and they are probably bigger. I wouldn't want to crawl up on a 3 or 4 long gator face to face.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

While you do get a few in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida is by far the densest population. There is a reason it's called the Florida alligator you know. Again, they don't hunt using their tails as whips though they do tail whip as a defense when approached from the sides and rear. They hunt with there teeth not their tails. Out of the hundreds of gators I've seen, I've never once seen one take prey using their tails as weapons. And I don't just know what I know from reading books. I know a bit about gators because I've caught many of them (fishing poles, bow and line, or just plain running them down and jumping on them)

While it CAN be true that if you see one there can be many, it's not always or even frequently true. They can cover good distances and go from one lake to another. The lake that my mom lives on has one and only one. Gators aren't as aggressive as crocs and rarely hunt on land. When they do it's usually an opportunistic kill on something small that happens to cross it's path (small dog, duck, cat). As a general rule you don't have anything to worry about from a gator that's as short as you are or shorter(especially if you are on land). Gators like easy meals. They want to attack prey smaller than them and in the water so they can drown it and they want to catch it of guard. Unless you fit into that prey classifying that gator is proly more scared of you than you are of it. That gator I encountered under the house was frozen in fear when he saw me and as soon as I tossed a pebble at him he took off in a lightening fast sprint toward the exit(as they usually do).

Now for the pythons. As I said earlier they don't survive long term in central Fl for several reasons. One is that they can't survive the winters. Down south in Miami and the glades is a different story as it NEVER freezes there. Another thing is that there is a lack of habitat here. Central Fl is so crowded and developed that they don't have a place to live and grow undisturbed long enough to grow big enough to become a danger to humans. Down south they do flourish because of the everglades. They have an enormous aquatic habitat full of prey and for the most part untouched by humans. They have no natural predators once they reach adulthood and no freezes. Because of this they have exploded and become a problem. The constrictor that you are talking about was a pet that escaped and quickly killed someone. It had not been living on it's own for long and would have died within 12 months. The girl was killed because she was in the house and the snake got out of it's enclosure and was hiding in the house. It was a 1 in a million thing. To put it simple, the big snakes are all down south. 



TheMaster said:


> Aligators will use there tail to swap a dog off the bank....YOUR NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS ALIGATORS CLOSE BY........there have been plenty of attacks here in the Delta...LOOK on a MAP. I dont care what your books say.....I believe the old man that told me that...it was his dog and he watched it happen. I have no idea where you live exactly.....I just know evertime I turn the news on they are talking about pythons in florida......one killed a kid there about 3 weeks ago....SHE WASNT IN THE F'KN EVERGLADES EITHER she was in her BED. It was her fathers PET.
> Anything else i can help ya with?


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Obvious photoshop job.



Plumbworker said:


> San Francisco Sewer Rats....


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## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

Protech said:


> While you do get a few in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida is by far the densest population. There is a reason it's called the Florida alligator you know. Again, they don't hunt using their tails as whips though they do tail whip as a defense when approached from the sides and rear. They hunt with there teeth not their tails. Out of the hundreds of gators I've seen, I've never once seen one take prey using their tails as weapons. And I don't just know what I know from reading books. I know a bit about gators because I've caught many of them (fishing poles, bow and line, or just plain running them down and jumping on them)
> 
> While it CAN be true that if you see one there can be many, it's not always or even frequently true. They can cover good distances and go from one lake to another. The lake that my mom lives on has one and only one. Gators aren't as aggressive as crocs and rarely hunt on land. When they do it's usually an opportunistic kill on something small that happens to cross it's path (small dog, duck, cat). As a general rule you don't have anything to worry about from a gator that's as short as you are or shorter(especially if you are on land). Gators like easy meals. They want to attack prey smaller than them and in the water so they can drown it and they want to catch it of guard. Unless you fit into that prey classifying that gator is proly more scared of you than you are of it. That gator I encountered under the house was frozen in fear when he saw me and as soon as I tossed a pebble at him he took off in a lightening fast sprint toward the exit(as they usually do).
> 
> Now for the pythons. As I said earlier they don't survive long term in central Fl for several reasons. One is that they can't survive the winters. Down south in Miami and the glades is a different story as it NEVER freezes there. Another thing is that there is a lack of habitat here. Central Fl is so crowded and developed that they don't have a place to live and grow undisturbed long enough to grow big enough to become a danger to humans. Down south they do flourish because of the everglades. They have an enormous aquatic habitat full of prey and for the most part untouched by humans. They have no natural predators once they reach adulthood and no freezes. Because of this they have exploded and become a problem. The constrictor that you are talking about was a pet that escaped and quickly killed someone. It had not been living on it's own for long and would have died within 12 months. The girl was killed because she was in the house and the snake got out of it's enclosure and was hiding in the house. It was a 1 in a million thing. To put it simple, the big snakes are all down south.


 Wheew! that was a long breath:laughing: Get em pro. we Floridians do know gators for sure. Hmmm, gator tail for supper this Saturday night. Everyone is invited


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

Plasticman said:


> Wheew! that was a long breath:laughing: Get em pro. we Floridians do know gators for sure. Hmmm, gator tail for supper this Saturday night. Everyone is invited


Do you hunt em? Season is coming up you know. I love some tail when cooked properly. When cooked poorly it is nasty.


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## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

I don't have a permit if thats what you meant. lol.
I live by the lake, the river FROM the lake, and next to the national forest. Who needs a permit? :laughing:


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## ESPinc (Jul 18, 2009)

Proud Plumber said:


> Do you hunt em? Season is coming up you know. I love some tail when cooked properly. When cooked poorly it is nasty.


Going in search of an 11ft+ August 21st


Critters I've had upclose encounters are black widows, they sure like the meters boxes, a few rattlesnakes and a family of water moccasins, I almost had a heart attack on that one..


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## Plasticman (Oct 14, 2008)

heard ja


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## nhmaster3015 (Aug 5, 2008)

Got bit in the ass by a goose once crawling under a mobile home.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Ew, 11 footer? Ya gonna eat the tail off of that thing? They get nasty when they get big.



ESPinc said:


> Going in search of an 11ft+ August 21st
> 
> 
> Critters I've had upclose encounters are black widows, they sure like the meters boxes, a few rattlesnakes and a family of water moccasins, I almost had a heart attack on that one..


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## ESPinc (Jul 18, 2009)

My friend that I'm going with is in search of his largest one to date, I would be happy with a 7 to 8 footer. Well see what happens.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Calico Jacks still serve gator tail? Theres a reastraunt in Monroe, LA that my wife and I stopped at a few years back visiting her Grandpa. R.J. Gators. Heard of them? Thats the last time I had gator. It was cajuny.


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

ROCKSTARPLUMBER said:


> Calico Jacks still serve gator tail? Theres a reastraunt in Monroe, LA that my wife and I stopped at a few years back visiting her Grandpa. R.J. Gators. Heard of them? Thats the last time I had gator. It was cajuny.


There is a local place here that serves it daily.. mmm mmm . We had an RJ Gators here but they closed down with the recession. I worked in Everglades City all last summer and was given a couple of opportunities to have some locally served gator. It was like fresh seafood should be... delicious. Combined with some stone crab I thought I had found eutopia.


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

Plasticman said:


> Who needs a permit? :laughing:


Oh yes... we call that hot oil release.:laughing:


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## gusty60 (Oct 21, 2008)

HandsomeMike said:


> Homeless ( new construction )


 Same here:laughing:


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## gusty60 (Oct 21, 2008)

Scorpions, snakes, rats, coyotes, owls, skunk , ****, stray dogs, killer bees, C
Colorado River toads , quail, black widows, squirrel, etc.
Rattler in a meter box made me jump pretty good a couple months ago!:laughing:


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Had a pot bellied pig scare the hell out of me one time when working under my truck. He wasn't mean or nothing just heard a loud snort and saw that big ole fat head looking at me. Wasn't expecting it and didn't know what it was at first.


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## albplumber1975 (Jun 20, 2009)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? I have yet to ever have to crawl around under a house, come to think of it, the only house's we have here in ontario are on a foundation with a basement. For the record I am not scared of snakes.....I dont like them....not scared...but if I came face to face with some of the stuff you guys talk about, I would not be going anywhere unless I had full hockey pads on and a helmet and really big stick LoL 

The worst thing I have come up against is a Fluffy little bunny rabbit LoL


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## user823 (Feb 3, 2009)

I was soldering in a real tight dark crawl space one time and I felt this furry thing brush up hard on the back of my neck. I friggin almost crapped my pants! I slowly turned my head around and got a nice little MEOW!!!!!!!!


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

waynewright34 said:


> ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? I have yet to ever have to crawl around under a house, come to think of it, the only house's we have here in ontario are on a foundation with a basement. For the record I am not scared of snakes.....I dont like them....not scared...but if I came face to face with some of the stuff you guys talk about, I would not be going anywhere unless I had full hockey pads on and a helmet and really big stick LoL
> 
> The worst thing I have come up against is a Fluffy little bunny rabbit LoL


cockroaches scare me more than anything else. Always afraid they will get in my clothes and will bring them home with me. Spiders are a close second. snakes rats anything else will run before they attack unless you corner them. usually. I am sure we will hear a few tales to contradict me.:laughing:


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## cajunplumberjoe (Mar 26, 2009)

al- you made us bust out-tears in my eyes. my son was helping me w/ a gas repipe years ago .it was extremely tight and i couldnt fit so he was easing over to the 1/2'' drop when all of a sudden he turned into greased lightning and shot out from under the house screaming snake. me and my journeyman were right behind him. no need to discuss such issues under a house when we could talk by the snake free driveway. we had to go back during the winter to tie in the last gas drop....h.o. was cool about it.


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## PLUMB TIME (Feb 2, 2009)

A liitle kid about 4-5 years old. I crawled in from the outside access,got in about 20 feet and around a cinderblock footing. Extension cord pulls out and it's pitch black,@%&&. Slowly turn around and a small light turns on in my eyes, scared the ---- out of me. Turns out he was playing hide and seek and had dropped in from the access in his closet directly above. Aged a liitle bit that day but we had a laugh after I quit hyperventilating.:laughing:


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## bigdaddyrob (May 14, 2009)

Do the non-living kind count ?

I had a very sad, very,very dead kitty pushed onto my face once... damn I just thought about all the horrible jokes there. 
Anyway, I was working with my cousin adding a set of riser's for an attic that was going to be finished off. We were pushing soft copper, had this wonderful chase, it was dark as hell but I could here it coming and kept reaching for it....Yes! I got it no prob, feed me a little more ...and as I stepped down and pulled it into the closet I was working in...BAM!* Dead cat, in the face...*

Before lunch.... then we had to hide the poor thing in trash bags and sneak it out of the house. We had no idea weather to tell the home owner or not, it had been for a while.

If that wasn't enough fun, later the same day I closed the back door of the van and didn't realize a long black nipple was in the way of the glass...yup, you know what happened....


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## Christina (Jul 14, 2009)

bigdaddyrob said:


> Do the non-living kind count ?
> 
> I had a very sad, very,very dead kitty pushed onto my face once... damn I just thought about all the horrible jokes there.
> Anyway, I was working with my cousin adding a set of riser's for an attic that was going to be finished off. We were pushing soft copper, had this wonderful chase, it was dark as hell but I could here it coming and kept reaching for it....Yes! I got it no prob, feed me a little more ...and as I stepped down and pulled it into the closet I was working in...BAM!* Dead cat, in the face...*
> ...


 
Reminds me of pulling a floor furnace once and finding a skeleton with a collar laying underneath it. I am still not sure what it was and didn't ask a whole lot of questions either. Figured on this one it was best to "let a dead dog lay". :blink:


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

I was pulling down some drywall that was a ceiling in our garage. The roof had leaked, and the drywall was mold speckled, so down it comes. I pulled one end down and something horrible came at me. I screamed like a little girl as this horrible thing flew past me. It was a dead squirrel, it died and mummified. The damn tail was sticking up, it's teeth were bared, and still had it's fur. It took a while for my heart to calm down. I'm telling ya, that thing flew at me.


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

Roach's. 
Had a job once where I was under a kitchen sink, turn on my head light and low and behold, roach heaven! Man, trying to keep up a professional appearance and not saying anything! I cant say anything because of ones money situation, but............


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## Christina (Jul 14, 2009)

OMG!! I almost forgot the slimy... crawl and stick on everything... leave grimy trails in their rememberance... hidin in the dark... make me want to vomit.... SLUGS!! Morton Salt... I LOVE YOU!!


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