Surprises are great.

I haven't found any unusual critters included with any plants, but I have had visitors, like Dragon Flies and Swallow Tails.

My surprises have been other plants, like the 'Royal Purple' Bougainvilleas that suddenly showed up in my garden strip, growing out of Climbing Roses after 4 years of dormancy and neglect. Old dead stumps hidden in the Climbing Roses just suddenly came to life!

Then too, I've had strange things come to life and later found that they had sprouted from seeds that I had thought failed and so, recycled the soil that they had been planted in. I've got things sprouting out of pots that have since been used for other plants. It's absolutely astonishing, from Palm saplings to Iris and other seedlings. I figured the seeds got cooked to death in the heat of Summer and now that temps have dropped, the recycled soil is mixing the seedlings with potted plants that I moved into bigger pots, using the recycled soil as fill.

I have some very odd combinations, indeed. And they can't just up and fly away.

How cool! I don't have any hitchhikers but I have a story. My father wasn't afraid of anything EXCEPT spiders. He was in the Marine Corps at the end of WWII and was stationed in Guam. His favorite fruits were bananas and figs. So, he and his buddies would hike out and cut a big stalk of bananas and carry them back to their unit. One day, after he and his buddy had hauled a big nanner bunch back to camp, they dropped it onto the ground and out crawled what the locals called a banana spider. HUGE, hairy beast the size of a dinner plate. He said that was the last stalk of bananas he ever touched outside of a grocery store!

There is a spider that lives in Banana clusters in some tropical countries that has a very venomous bite and apparently, the cause of death for banana harvesters and later, folks who handle the bananas on the way to or at market.

It's a tiny little critter, but the spiders hitchhiking or living in Bananas are in that case, worth being afraid of.

I still think that talking to them is the most important thing you can do when caring for your bananas..lol

fozebear, you mean like THIS "little" guy? ; )

banana spider!

Wicked! But this, like the Golden Orb Weaver, which we called Banana Spiders as kids, back in the Midwest, is called a Banana Spider because of its yellow colors.

No, the critter I refer to is I believe, the Brazilian Wandering Spider. The link below shows a nice picture of one in a petre dish so that its size can be judged.

There are other web sites about this spider, but the photos do not hint at its size and actually, those photos make it look as big as the one in your photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Brazilian Wandering Spider (Banana Spider )

Nyssaman not only do I talk to them i keep a small radio going for the ones in the basement. I know I have gone bananas cuz I KISS them, mist them with my concoction several xs aday, make sure their humidifier is full, rotate them, check on them , OH MY!!! ........Ohgirl

I DO NOT HAVE A BANANA IN MY HOUSE BUT OUTSIDE AND THERE ARE ALLWAYS CUBAN TREE FROGS ON IT I DONT REALY CARE THAT MUCH

Wow, that is quite amazing! How is the little guy doing? I actually don't know much about baby birds. I hope you found the right food source for him.

Here's my interesting critter story:
Starbucks gives away used coffee grounds in mylar-type bags. I often leave them around the yard, where they eventually get reused for something. One year I had a carolina wren build a nest in one. Another year, a mouse with her babies enjoyed a bag that still had grounds in it.

seahorse

As a teenager I worked in a grocery store for a while, once when opening a crate of grapes I found a black widow inside. I captured it and showed it to my manager and said something to the effect of "This was in the grapes. Should we fumigate them or soemthing?" to which he gave a reply along the lines of "Nah, squish it and put the grapes out." I made sure there were no more spiders in the crate of course. It was a bit creepy because customers touch grapes with their hands, and black widows bite, and can mess you up pretty bad (Especially if you're a child or elderly). On a happier note, once I opened a package of Polypeltis ferns I ordered mailorder and got a tiny baby praying mantis in the package. Little guy came out as soon as I opened the box.