After reading the fiberglass in attics thread I started thinking about all the other things that might kill me up there.

I've had several over the years where I've encountered these quarter sized black furry spiders every other joist. On the way back to the exit many of them had come out of their funnel type webs several inches because of the vibrations. Not sure what kind they were. Unnerving like crazy. Never seen a scorpion up there yet.

We're out of the Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix area in Arizona where the attics get over 150f in the summer.

i would NEVER work in a Attic or any room that had multiple furry spiders in it. I would rather be in a attic that had Bears in it than furry spiders ahhhhh... that's so nasty and freaky

Well my worst was not a attic, but it was under a stage of a brand new 1500 or so seat auditorium. Ccontruction wasn't totally done so water was leaking into the building when and rained and getting under the stage, well when I got there to pull wire under the stage all the floor joists above my head were covered in mold and it smelled awful. There was also only about 2 -2.5 feet of space and about 2" of water on the ground. We used creepers to go from one side to the other, man I was under there for about 5-6 hours I was soooo sick for the next 2 weeks. Bad Idea

Several years ago I waas working in an attic that had 40-50 bats, and of course I bumped 1 with a glo rod and it started flying, in turn got the rest flying. was kinda freaky but i must say...thier radars are awsome as not a 1 ever hit me.

another job I was called out to , customers were complaining the living room speakers quit and didnt know why. so after a quit metering of the wires I saw a short. well wires were under the house(retrofit) so I began my dress for the crawl and went to investigate. Half way under I hear a chattering.....Seems I entered a new Mother racoons den and she was mad....Chased me out from under there real quick, after we got her out we found she had pulled the wires down and chewed about 1 1/2 feet of it up along with a few romex wires

And the usual Spiders

Glack

I encountered about 100 dead, decomposing rats in an attic recently. The house had been unoccupied for over two years and the new owners had the place fumigated before calling us. The smell of deceased rodents was overpowering on a hot summer day. I flat out refused to go in there until after she had the pest control people back to remove the dearly departed.

I am cool with spiders, bees and other bugs. Wasps however are another story.

I was in a LONG crawl from one side of a 5,000+ sq ft house to the other, a bundle of cables in tow. Halfway thru, my headlight decided to go belly up on me. So I grabbed my backup 2 AA maglight out of my pocket to finish up. With my limited light I made it to the end of the crawl and was on my knees terminating some cable feeds when something hit me in the side of the face. I pointed the light up at what had just hit me, only to be greeted by a wasps nest the size of a beach ball about 6 inches from the top of my head just teeming with yellow and black wasps. Frozen with fear, I turned my light off and lay flat and motionless for what seemed like hours. Hoping that the wasps had gone off "alert mode" I ran (on my knees) at top speed back to the attic hatch. Managed to get all the way out without putting my knees thru the ceiling or hitting a single can light.

Attics do have an upside, I have amassed quite a few tools and flashlights over the years that were left in peoples attics by other trades. Telco guys seem to be the worst offenders. About half the telco tools that I have were attic finds. ( I always ask the clients if the tools belong to them before I take them).

Crawl spaces under houses are another interesting place to visit. I have seen racoons, possums, rats, mice, ferel cats, snakes, lizards, frogs, POO from leaking sewer lines, giant purple mushrooms and entire dirt floors covered in green and white mold over 2 inches deep. I started in this industry doing satellite and some of the places I visited were a tad "financially challenged". They had the $ to get satellite tv, but could not afford to fix their leaking toilet mains.......

Hobo Spiders,

I was bit by one of those on my arm, right through 2 shirts, I did not know about it for a couple of hours, but everything started spinning around and my temperature went up to 104.5 by the time I got home, My wife called 911, the attendant said It was lucky that I took 1000 Mg's of ibuprofen early on, other wise my temprature might have gome so high I would have ended up a vegtable at best. I was out of work for the better part of a week. My arm turned black for a while where I got bit. The recluse spiders aren’t much better as they will actually come after you. Needless to say I bundle up pretty good now.


I have done the crawl through a sea of mold routine before, with a couple of dead cats and rats thrown in for good measure.


I once came across a paper wasp nest molded into the corner of an attic that was at least 3 feet by 2 feet in size, fortunately it was cold out and the bees weren’t up to running me out of there territory.

I was putting up outdoor speakers on a deck, and was chased out by the fatest racoon ever. It was making the most god-awful skreething noise I have ever heard. Had to jump through bush to avoid getting mauled by the racoon, and the bush was a sticker bush. Ripped jeans, ripped shirt, and cuts all over. Needles to say my boss called me a "Nancy Boy", and he went under the deck to finish the wires, and never saw the racoon.

On Spet 11, 2001, I was in a crawspace that had the insulation and vapor barrier installed backwards! The Entire floor system in the house was rotting. Some of the wood was like mush. While in the crawl space I learned about the world trade centers. After 9 hours in the basement I left to go home in my personal car. I was sneezing and nauseas (SP). I sneezed and wrecked my car into a parked car on the side of the road 200 feet from my house. Bad day I will never forget.

Mike

Squirrels

Little sons 'o b*tch*s chewed into all of my wiring and ate the crossover on one of my in ceiling speakers (yeah that's right...ate nearly the entire Xover). Urinated and sh*t on many more of my speakers. Never thought I would have to use water proof speakers in a living room!

I guess it was becasue the customers had a penchant for playing Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Yanni and Celine Dion. I guess I would have done the same if I would have had to listen to that all day long. (or slit my wrists)

I thought about getting them a Squirrel Nut Zippers CD but the customers did not have a sense of humor.

Mannequins. In various states of dress. The only things in the attic NOT covered with years of dust. "Thats Millie, she looks just like my ex-wife, care to join us for a cup of tea?"

Only if that tea is 100 proof, sir.

Worst attic experience would be old insulation and a pile of bat crap I could never imagine possible. You could shovel it out of there. Of course it was right where I needed to work. I don't know why the home owner didn't' remote it. That can't be healthy.

My worst crawl space experience would be a satellite install I was doing. The crawl space was completely filled with cob webs. I didn't run into any spiders.

My brother had the worst install experience. Got bit in the face by an american terrier. The home owner opened the door and hadn't secured the dogs. For some reason they thought he was a threat and jumped straight at his face. One just grazed him and the other was blocked by the first dog. He's lucky those bastards didn't take off his face.

I've been in some very nasty places but the one that always comes to mind is a dirt crawl space with only enough room to shimmy around under the insulated floor with almost no room to work. you couldn't even begin to roll on your side. After an hour or so under there I come out and the customer says "did you see anything moving under there?" Well no, why? "because the electrician that was under there last month found a six foot snake skin. I had to pull out the skin myself and hire another electrician to finish the job! You poor bastards. I'm glad I don't have your job!".

I always think of that when some nice woman is telling me what a wonderful job I have as I'm sitting on her comfy couch programming a remote.

We were doing an install in an attic that had a walk-up landing next to it, with a door that was missing. When I went into the attic about half way in I saw 2 eyes staring at me and jumped which caused the animal to leap at me and then run away. As I scanned the attic with my flashlight I saw 10-12 cats sitting in the insulation just staring at me. It looked like something out of a horror movie. I guess the scariest part is wondering what were they eating?

I haven't had a work related run in with anything more dangerous than overexcited playful dogs... Mind you, playful dogs that will jam their noses into your crotch, or somewhere else uncomfortable, at the exact time you are trying to realy some sensitive info to their owners... or nose into the toolbag and start chewing on something.

We had a raccoon digging under our house and tool shed when I was a teenager, I thought I would go scare it away one day and it did the screech and charge thing... I backed down quick, somehow the Mickey Mantle Louisville Slugger I had in my hand didn't seem like enough protection from this crazy thing.

Now I know that they aren't the cuddly little friends to Ranger Rick anymore, but more like close cousins to badgers and wolverines that stand their ground against black bears and grizzlys.

These days when critters are in the way, call animal control & reschedule.

well, this is not exactly the scariest but definitely one for the books of humour, or sick, depending on the personality.

well i was doing my retro job in a house and i needed to remove the baseboard of course, so as i make my first hole in the drywall i feel something weird at then end of my knife, as i pulled my knife out there was a mouse impalled on my fat max saw right there. i was sooo freaked out but then i felt sad, just imagine the last thing that went thru that mouses head. he went for a serious ride there.

Yeti is a Jedi class exterminator!!

I'd say the last thing that went through the mouse's head was ...well...your rock saw. Fat Max indeed!!!

Wrong place at the wrong time for that mouse.