Many of us on this list conduct a lot buying and selling of vintage bicycle parts on eBay. With that of course comes the headache of packaging the item(s)--(if you are the seller.)
I am receiving parcels with all kinds of insects that live in moist habitats primarily found in the Mid-East to the Eastern regions of the US. How do I know this? Well, I lived in Beaumont, TX for a few years and have never witnessed such infestation in my life! In addition, I have family who live in the East. Other than house flies and little ants, the majority of insects in the aforementioned regions are not common to California.
The insects usually hide in your old newspapers or even in the bottom of old cardboard boxes.
To name a few I have received thus far:
-A little scorpion (an arachnid?)--(alive) from a guy in South Carolina,
-LARGE brown roaches (both living and dead) identical to the ones that have infested South East Texas. The things are HUGE, have wings, and fly!!!
-Giant red "fire ants" (alive) that I only recall seeing in St. Louis as a 5-year-old child,
-a dead dragon-fly from a seller in Georgia,
-many of those little "ear-wigs" that have the pincher on the front. I find the majority of these to be hiding between cogs in old filthy freewheels. They also hide in the cracks below old leather saddles, inside of seat posts, and down in the dark depths of old frame seat tubes.
I think if the buyer is going to do the seller the favor of buying his/her item and on top of that pay for shipping, the seller should at least keep the insects out of the box.
Ted E. Baer
"trying to work the bugs out"
Palo Alto, CA