[kwlug-disc] home security cameras

[Znoteer]

On Wed, Aug 10, 2022 at 10:24:56PM -0400, Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account) via kwlug-disc wrote:
> On Aug 4, 2022, at 11:58 AM, CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Someone asked me about home security cameras, i.e. which ones to buy, how do they work, etc.
> > 
> 
> My system isn’t tied to any one vendor of camera, and you can tweak/tune the performance/sensitivity any way you like. The only real downside I have run into with my approach is that it can't keep the damn spiders off the lenses. It’s my understanding that they’re attracted to the heat and IR, and if I had separate IR lights they’d probably build webs in front of them instead of the cameras. A combination of laziness and didn’t-think-of-installing-power/fixtures-for-IR-lights-ness keeps me from trying that. I have, however, tried mothballs, tung oil, and even cotton balls soaked in (organic) peppermint extract, stuffed into those plastic cat ball toys and hung like Truck Nutz under the cameras. None of those work, BTW, but I do get the curious delivery person or tradesman ask me why I have cat toys hanging from my cameras.
> 

Your spider problem got me wondering, what would repel a spider and I thought that something that eats spiders might be a deterent.  So I searched for what  eats spiders.

Maybe, instead of toysticles for your cameras, you need to go to the dollar store or joke store and get a rubber lizard, frog, or centipede. Actually, tarantula hawks sound like the most awesome predator, but I'm not sure your average Canaydjun spider would recognize it :)

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/spider-predators/

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