😳 🐍 SNAKE 🐍 😳

[Essjay]

We have few venomous creatures native to the UK. But there's one group of people who need to take care - shop workers dealing with a crate of bananas. They have been known to contain large spider hitch-hikers, and workers are warned to treat all spiders in banana crates as though they are lethal since no-one knows what they are when first spotted.
My elder son's first job was in the fruit & veg section in a supermarket He never came across any but was warned to watch for them.

 

[Colin_T]

I think we can overreact a bit. When I was a kid, black widow spiders were presented as man eating killing machines. I remember a discussion in elementary school where a guy was saying he would never live in the US because of black widow spiders.
When I renovated (ie, bashed with a sledgehammer) my garden shed after I moved here, I found huge numbers of them. I'm at the very extreme northern part of an isolated group of black widows, even though they aren't common a few km north or south of here. I've made the shed. now greenhouse an inhospitable home for them, and while I won't stick my hand into places they like to live, they are of little concern. A bite would not be good, but.

We have redback spiders, which look almost identical to the North American black widow spider. Our redbacks are considered dangerous and highly venomous but nobody dies from them. They are actually quite harmless and females build a web in a corner or somewhere secluded and spends her entire life there. The males wander and get eaten by the females after breeding. I had a female living in my room for a year right next to my bed. I would feed her small insects I caught and she ended up producing an egg sack and babies. Three of the young stayed after she died but the others wandered off to wherever. The only time people get bitten by them is when they stick their hands or fingers in areas with the spider and she bites to say go away. They like living under the rim of plastic garden pots.

The only spider I have issues about here is the white tail spider. I kill them on sight because they carry a species of Mycobacteria on their fangs and if you get bitten, the bacteria eat you from the inside out. Mycobacteria also cause Fish TB, human and animal TB, and Leprosy. White tail spiders also wander and regularly crawl into beds, which is where most people get bitten by the spiders.

Australia's drop bears are trouble, but Canadian drop grizzlies are worse. They don't claw or bite - it's just 3 tons of fur covered lard landing on your head with no warning.

roflmao

 

[sharkweek178]

One of the pet shops here had a few small snakes for sale. One of them was horrible and would bite anything that moved or didn't move. It was a python so wasn't venomous but it was an angry little turd. One of the staff was feeding it with tongs and it ate a couple of baby mice. The staff member was then holding the snake in front of him and the dang thing lunged forward and bit the guy on the nose. We all laughed but were trying to be serious and saying are you ok.

My brother used to keep snakes, including a really cool ball python. He told me the trick is that when you feed them, you remove them from their home tank and put them in a feeder tank. Otherwise, the snake is conditioned to think that every time the lid comes off, it's getting food and will strike at whatever comes in.

 

[sharkweek178]

Nothing more dangerous in Australia than a drop bear. One of those is more dangerous than all the spiders, sharks, crocs and snakes combined.

When you get out to sea, sailors will warn each other about the mysterious sea bat.

 

[Colin_T]

When you get out to sea, sailors will warn each other about the mysterious sea bat.

Ok I'll bite, what's a mysterious sea bat?

 

[TNG]

Ok I'll bite, what's a mysterious sea bat?

Google "Drop bear reporter" to see a real drop bear.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I was going into the pool area to cut the grass and bumped into this fella! I knew it wasn’t a black snake or a rattler or a copperhead (the usual suspects) he was about 3ft long and very chubby! I googled it and found it was an Eastern Hognose and its meal of choice is frogs! That makes sense because every frog in the area thinks my pool cover is a breeding ground. They say it is fairly harmless and if it feels threatened, it will raise its head like a cobra (good thing he didn’t do that or I would have dropped over) What they do next is headbutt you and if that doesn’t work, it will play dead for up to 45 minutes. We pumped off the cover, so hopefully he’ll go find the neighbors frogs LOL!

What a cool snake! I have only seen one hog nose snake here, at a Nature Conservancy reserve out east of town. Its sighting was something of an occasion, as they're very rare in these parts. Around here, we have bull snakes, garter snakes, and racers. Racers are said to be common, but you never see them, for reasons that are probably obvious from the name.

Our only venomous snake is the prairie rattlesnake. Buzzies are rather courteous as venomous snakes go, because they let you know they're around. The sound of a buzzy is unmistakable. Even for someone who has never heard it before, it distinctly says, "Go away. Now."

Bull snakes are fun because they act extremely dangerous, hissing, puffing up, coiling and striking, even vibrating their tails in the grass like a rattlesnake. They also get quite large--a six footer isn't unusual. But it's all bluff. They're constrictors and their teeth are barely big enough to break the skin, let alone do any actual damage. Gotta admire their fighting spirit, though.

 

[sharkweek178]

View attachment 341578

Google "Drop bear reporter" to see a real drop bear.

After you're done getting the left handed screwdriver and the can of steam, come back to the fantail to see the sea bat they caught.

 

[Colin_T]

After you're done getting the left handed screwdriver and the can of steam, come back to the fantail to see the sea bat they caught.

At Fish Place there was a work experience kid and the bosses sent him off to find the can of striped paint. It kept him busy for a while.

For all you kids out there reading this, there is no such thing as a "can of striped paint" or just "striped paint". So if an employer sends you out to find some striped paint, they want you to go away.

 

[sharkweek178]

At Fish Place there was a work experience kid and the bosses sent him off to find the can of striped paint. It kept him busy for a while.

For all you kids out there reading this, there is no such thing as a "can of striped paint" or just "striped paint". So if an employer sends you out to find some striped paint, they want you to go away.

If the clerk at the hardware store wants to be in on it, he asks "vertical stripes or horizontal" and sends the kid back to ask.

 

[Colin_T]

If the clerk at the hardware store wants to be in on it, he asks "vertical stripes or horizontal" and sends the kid back to ask.

Then after the kid has been back to the shop and is sent back for the vertical striped paint, the guy at the hardware asks what coloured stripe paint.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

After you're done getting the left handed screwdriver and the can of steam, come back to the fantail to see the sea bat they caught.

...and don't forget the blue skyhook. My soon-to-be roofing buddies got me with that one once.

 

[Oldspartan]

Snakes are a problem for Linda. They are also pretty plentiful here --- Garden, Black, and Milk are all pretty harmless although the Milk Snake can get aggressive at times. We also have the occasional Copperhead which is problematic because they are both poisonous and somewhat aggressive.

Unfortunately, due to Linda's mostly irrational fear of these creatures, they are put to death when found in the yard. Buster dog hunts them around the pond and often chases them off but did get bitten last year by a Milk Snake. He got pretty ill for a few days and now does a standoff bark when he sees one.

I know they are healthy for the surroundings, so does Linda, but she says they can be healthy someplace else.

 

[Colin_T]

Snakes are a problem for Linda. They are also pretty plentiful here --- Garden, Black, and Milk are all pretty harmless although the Milk Snake can get aggressive at times. We also have the occasional Copperhead which is problematic because they are both poisonous and somewhat aggressive.

Unfortunately, due to Linda's mostly irrational fear of these creatures, they are put to death when found in the yard. Buster dog hunts them around the pond and often chases them off but did get bitten last year by a Milk Snake. He got pretty ill for a few days and now does a standoff bark when he sees one.

I know they are healthy for the surroundings, so does Linda, but she says they can be healthy someplace else.

I agree with Linda, they can be healthy somewhere else and not in my backyard.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

A friend who moved here recently from a different area texted me a picture of a snake last night. "What kind of snake is in my driveway?" I replied, "A garter snake. Completely harmless." He responded, "It stayed calm, even when it was airborne."