Any of you folk out there in SDMB-land got animals that are REALLY fascinated by your computer whenever you switch on, settle down, and try to kick back?
Right now, purely by coincidence, I have a jumping spider on my monitor, just beside the screen. It’s been there for at least nine hours now. Probably waiting for prey. Anyway – whenever the computer lights up, and I start moving the mouse, the spider moves like it’s watching the mouse pointer on the screen. And the scroll bar. Strange.
Right now, as I’m typing this up, the spider couldn’t give a darn. Too boring, I suppose …
The oldest cat likes to lie on the monitor because it’s warm. I put a big plastic colander on top so she can’t because she’s hairy & sheds a lot. The dogs could care less.
When one of my cats was younger, he used to sit beside the keyboard and watch the screen. One evening he started watching Wolfenstein 3D and got mesmerized by the visuals. After a while, I realized he was leaning into every turn. Just for jollies, I started running through the game as fast as I could, and he was leaning harder and harder into the turns. I finally came to a door that opened to reveal a Nazi firing a machine-gun at me–the cat exploded off the table in a weird half-backflip. I laughed so hard I almost shit.
My cat has a sort of weird combative relationship with my printer. He sits on top of my files and stares at it, or walks on top of it, whenever I’m trying to print something.
My cat is entranced by the printer. If she hears the computer boot up, she sprints out to the office to watch the carriage move back and forth a few times. And god forbid you really want to print something, because she’ll try to catch the carriage, and then she’ll yank the completed page out of the tray so she can still see things moving.
This is the same cat who figured out that if she hit the big green “test” button on the fax machine, paper would come out and she could try to catch it…:rolleyes:
Oh, dear. We need to get you into a support program with Democritus. He had a pet spider also; Pierre by name.
Actually Demo was in much worse shape. Your spider just reacts to the mouse pointer on your computer. His spider lived in his bathroom. The mind boggles at Pierre’s visual stimuli.
My dog is pretty indifferent to the computer, save that it takes up valuable time that could be better spent in ear stroking, chin scratching, etc. When I spend too much time at the keyboard she wedges her nose under my elbow and flips my arm upward.
One thing does bother her. I have a program called WeatherBug installed that give weather infomration and alerts. The audio signal for an alert sounds like a cricket chirping. By chance, da woofer hates crickets. Or rather, she loves chasing them. So every time there’s a weather alert this 70 lb. dog rockets out from underneath the desk, looking around for a cricket to chase down. Stupid pooch.
I had a pet jumping spider, xerxes, last year in the dorm. They’ll chase laser pointers.
My cat’s ignore my computer for the most part, but they do occasionally like to sit in front of the monitors and try to catch the mouse pointer.
They’re also mesmerized by the printer.
My cat has never really been interested by the computer except for liking to stand between the monitor and me for attention, but when we first got a super nintendo and legend of zelda he would spend hours trying to catch the little guy on the screen.
My cats usually ignore the computer in favor of trying to get me to pay attention to them, rather than the glowing box.
However, I did discover a computer thing that fascinates (or disturbs) Kitty #1:
I was testing new ring tones for a cell phone on the VoiceStream site. Every time I played a tone to see if I liked it, Kitty #1 meowed and pawed at my leg. She seemed especially perturbed by Funky Town. If I picked her up, she tried to paw the speakers, and then she jumped to the floor to meow and paw at my leg again.
Ah, Veb, you remembered! Yep, good ol’ Pierre. He (or she :eek: ) was a good friend. Kept me company and all. I guess the thing is, with pets, ya gotta accept the good with the bad. Of course, if Pierre ever bit me on the ass, I woulda squished him like the dirty, bloosucking spider that he was.
BTW, Ice Wolf, be very careful while using Mop N Glow around your spider…
My dog has somehow come to the conclusion that the sound my ICQ makes when I log on is a dog call. She can be completely asleep on the other side of the house and she will come running as soon as she hears it–and then sits and looks at me expectantly. I have no idea how this started.
Also, the knocking sound that occurs when someone from my ICQ list logs on will send her into a barking and growling frenzy because she is certain there must be a heavily-armed, evil rapist/murderer knocking at the door.
Spider update: still there in the monitor case. Got bored with chasing the mouse pointer, and now just sits on the vertical, above the screen, looking real cool.
He/she isn’t my pet, but I think I’ve been adopted. Probably in here because of the noise of all the cicadas outside (120 decibels). And thanks everyone for the posts! Gee, my first MPSIMS thread worked! (Guess this is a lucky spider, huh?)
Anyone got ideas for a name for my little visitor?
Montfort, you are chock full of style! :):) I loved that book as a kid (still do)! I’d love to call my little visitor that – but what if Charlotte’s really a Charlie?
Any jumping spider experts out there can help me tell which is which? Is there a size difference?
(Right now, MLV is being treated to Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. MLV is not running as fast as an arachnid can run. This means, MLV has great taste. Neat.)
Any spider that would run from Dire Straits should be squashed like the noxious, creepy, miniature alien monster it is. Your visitor, OTOH, sounds pretty cool–at least until you start playing Thief or Thief 2. You will begin thinking deep thoughts about your little friend there, and s/he might get ideas…
I’m still cringing from the miserable “baby” (6-inch) spiders that jump on your head and sit there biting you in those games.
Spiders that enter my territory make their involuntary way to Spider Heaven as soon as I notice. I’m sorry…I just am not a spider fan. I don’t mind them outside, but not in my apartment.
My mom’s cat likes to sit on the monitor and waver her tail over the screen. Makes it pretty hard for anybody to DO anything on the computer what with Emily there. The BossCat is very very good at her self-appointed job…
Every time I’m at the computer, one of my dogs will stick his head under my right elbow, meaning that I should be petting him instead of clicking a mouse.
One of the cats is like an obsessed strung out junkie when I’m at the computer. That’s because his favorite toy, the laser pointer, is next to the keyboard. At first, he was content to jump on the cahir by the window and rattle the aluminum mini-blinds to get my attention. He would then run over to me, stare at the desk, then at the floor, back and forth.
Now he just stands up and taps my back when he wants to play. If I’m busy surfing or typing and I don’t respond, he’ll jump on the back of my chair and swat me in the head.
One of my two 14 lb grey tiger tabbies seems to think that my PC will work better without the cords attached. He will unplug or pull down any cord he can get his razor-toed paws on.
He is very partial to my microphone cord.
[sup](I think he’s trying to tell me something.)[/sup]
I can’t use the water spritz bottle back there and I think he knows it. My counter-attack? An eye-dropper with vinegar. This triggers a previous tramautic cat experience involving an accidentally dropped dill pickle jar - both my cats HATE vinegar. One drop applied anywhere near them works better than any shouting or water spritzing, both of those tactics have grown ineffective.
Dear SDMB. I think that Charlotte/Peter is addicted to the electro-magnetic stuff coming from the computer system. Day 3, and subject is still on the monitor case. Only this time, over by the vents. Charlotte/Peter is alive, and reacts if I tap the monitor.
Either Charlotte/Peter is a candidate for Weight Watchers Loser of the Month (how much food is on a monitor, for stars sakes?), or Charlotte/Peter is simply insane due to the radiation. I’ll let everyone know if Charlotte/Peter mutates. Signing off, Ice Wolf.
