Are you afraid of snakes?

[lyra]

LOL PartGypsy, loved your museum story.

I feel the same way about some insects. Usually spiders are the worst, but I can watch videos or look at them on the screen with no problems at all. From what I've seen, I guess I'll never live in Australia. When a spider can land with an audible THUNK, I'm out. I would be absolutely paralyzed if I saw something like that in my house or really in any shared environment.

 

[lioness]

I'm an Aussie boy; I encounter dangerous, venomous snakes on a regular basis. If I were afraid of them I would have had a heart attack by now lol

I used to run a pub in a rural area and we were pulling venomous Red-Belly Black Snakes out of the outside beer garden once or twice every week. Despite being a venomous snake they are a good sign; the highly aggressive, extremely venomous Brown Snake is usually nowhere to be seen when the reds are around as the reds eat the browns.

Only in Australia are people happy to see a venomous snake because it means they won't see another venomous snake

Oh my gracious Goddess, that's why all those nature show guys are Aussies. You're used to the critters!

I can hold a nonvenemous snake. I was quite charmed by a tarantula that lived outside our front door. It just hung out in the bushes and tapped a few of its eight legs whenever I came around. Live and let live.

Scorpions, however? It's on. I will go after it with Raid, shoes, whatever I have on hand, until it's very dead. A scorpion shows up in my apartment, and it will die at my hand. Period.

 

[packrat]

OMG a tarantula living outside your door no no no no no no ohhh no.

We had two different occasions very large corn spiders in the basement-in the same stinking spot, right at the bottom of the stairs and the high pitched jibbering and screeching while I tried to find help at 10:00 at night..yeah no.

 

[junebug17]

OMG a tarantula living outside your door no no no no no no ohhh no.

We had two different occasions very large corn spiders in the basement-in the same stinking spot, right at the bottom of the stairs and the high pitched gibbering and screeching while I tried to find help at 10:00 at night..yeah no.

Packrat, I had to edit my post because I initially thought the spider was screeching haha - but now I realize it was you! Sorry, I'm not too swift sometimes. I would screech at finding a big spider at night too!

As for snakes, I'm not exactly afraid of them, but I guess I don't particularly like them that much lol - we had a fairly large, long snake in our garage once and I was a little freaked out about how fast it moved - my dh finally got it into a recycling bucket and took it back to the pond behind our house and the snake poked its head out of a small hole in the bucket as he was carrying it, which looked weird - on second thought, maybe I am afraid of snakes!

I do love animals and nature, but I guess I do get frightened by anything that scurries/slithers/runs in close range to me.

 

[ckrickett]

I am not, and I have been bitten by several (thankfully non venomous, so just sore spots).


but I actually find them quite fascinating.

 

[ckrickett]

I'm an Aussie boy; I encounter dangerous, venomous snakes on a regular basis. If I were afraid of them I would have had a heart attack by now lol

I used to run a pub in a rural area and we were pulling venomous Red-Belly Black Snakes out of the outside beer garden once or twice every week. Despite being a venomous snake they are a good sign; the highly aggressive, extremely venomous Brown Snake is usually nowhere to be seen when the reds are around as the reds eat the browns.

Only in Australia are people happy to see a venomous snake because it means they won't see another venomous snake

The more I hear about the fauna in Australia the more I think I would probably go nuts from paranoia there. I have a huge respect for Australians. My friend went on vacation there and sent me a picture of a giant spider in her room, looked like a huntsman found here only about 60000% bigger. I am not scared of snakes at all, but giant spiders UGH

 

[packrat]

SHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH! I'm not listening I'm not listening!

 

[jordyonbass]

I'm an Aussie boy; I encounter dangerous, venomous snakes on a regular basis. If I were afraid of them I would have had a heart attack by now lol

I used to run a pub in a rural area and we were pulling venomous Red-Belly Black Snakes out of the outside beer garden once or twice every week. Despite being a venomous snake they are a good sign; the highly aggressive, extremely venomous Brown Snake is usually nowhere to be seen when the reds are around as the reds eat the browns.

Only in Australia are people happy to see a venomous snake because it means they won't see another venomous snake

The more I hear about the fauna in Australia the more I think I would probably go nuts from paranoia there. I have a huge respect for Australians. My friend went on vacation there and sent me a picture of a giant spider in her room, looked like a huntsman found here only about 60000% bigger. I am not scared of snakes at all, but giant spiders UGH

It was probably what we call a huntsman as well, I used to scare my school teachers when I was a kid when I would bring one into the class and it was bigger than my hands. Their venom isn't potent enough to kill a person and they are generally harmless - they're just the size of your hand and love to give you a fright when you turn on your light and see them on the wall. At least they don't hide, they're always on a white wall or something where they stick out and are not hidden. A spider in plain sight is better than a hiding spider!!

It's actually not too bad here when it comes to dangerous animals; you just have to know what is most likely in your area and know the best way to stay away from said species. For example, nobody swims in anything but a pool at any house in the northern half of the country due to the Crocs, Bull Sharks and a few other nasties.

OK maybe it is a wee bit dangerous here lol but to be completely honest, I am more worried about the injuries I will suffer from our tag and release efforts with big billfish and apex predator sharks than any of our venomous/deadly wildlife. I nearly got dragged in the water 2 weeks ago by a 700lb Blue Marlin which I was trying to 'leader' to the boat so we could tag it, I now need an operation on my left hamstring to rearttach it to the bone
Can't say I have ever had a deadly animal inflict as much damage as that!!!

 

[lioness]

OMG a tarantula living outside your door no no no no no no ohhh no.

We had two different occasions very large corn spiders in the basement-in the same stinking spot, right at the bottom of the stairs and the high pitched jibbering and screeching while I tried to find help at 10:00 at night..yeah no.

Leggy Furry (yes, I named him) was totally harmless and really quite fascinating to watch. And, he stuck to his zone - outdoors. Had he come into the house, I might have been less neighborly.

Take a few months ago. Some hella-big spider, but not in the tarantula category, was lounging on my bed. From the time I saw it to the the moment a shoe crushed it? A handful of nanoseconds, at most.

Not in my bed. Not in my children's room. Not in my home. You invade, you die....

 

[packrat]

OMG a tarantula living outside your door no no no no no no ohhh no.

We had two different occasions very large corn spiders in the basement-in the same stinking spot, right at the bottom of the stairs and the high pitched jibbering and screeching while I tried to find help at 10:00 at night..yeah no.

Leggy Furry (yes, I named him) was totally harmless and really quite fascinating to watch. And, he stuck to his zone - outdoors. Had he come into the house, I might have been less neighborly.

Take a few months ago. Some hella-big spider, but not in the tarantula category, was lounging on my bed. From the time I saw it to the the moment a shoe crushed it? A handful of nanoseconds, at most.

Not in my bed. Not in my children's room. Not in my home. You invade, you die....

I wish I could be as swift in justice rendered at my home. If they're big...I can't. I can however jump around and wave my arms and screech. That doesn't help tho.

We had a big corn spider take up residence outside our front door the spring I was pregnant w/London. I kept asking JD to get rid of it and got the yeah yeah yeah I will standard husband response. I kept going out w/the broom to smash his web. Finally at work I typed up a letter to my husband from the spider. It was a "howdy neighbor!" note, saying he's new around town, would he be up to taking him out sometime and showing him the sights, introducing him to some people, and it said he wanted to make up for my being upset, that he didn't like seeing me flinging myself out the door and trying to hurtle over the threshold. He just wanted to be friends. Your new friend, Mr. Recluse, Brown.

Didn't work. JD cried he laughed so hard...and still the Mr. Recluse, Brown, stayed. Until he got in the house one day and JD was at work so I called my uncle in hysterics and he came down to take care of him.

 

[JewelFreak]

Packrat, a brown recluse is a corn spider? Ick, those guys are nasty. Their bite can really make a mess -- a friend of mine had 3 surgeries after one & almost lost her entire leg. I carefully check clothes I haven't worn in a while to be sure one hasn't moved in. I HATE bugs (except ladybugs). Anything with more than 4 legs makes me screech. DH thinks spiders are interesting (shudder!) so he escorts them outside when I yell like a banshee.

Zero to 4 is ok. Reptiles are pretty -- Tyty, that's a beautiful snake. Gaboon viper, have to look him up. We have black snakes & copperheads & a few others; also really pretty lizards about 3" long, spring green except their throats which puff out like a balloon when they're scared & turn bright red. Skinks -- teeny tiny iridescent lizards that grow new tails when they lose one -- used to live in the garage constantly, not so much now that a bunch of local cats lurk around.

Here is me many moons ago at the San Francisco SPCA, showing the boa to a visitor. He was rescued from a garbage can with many broken vertebrae after some evil idiot snapped him like a whip, then dumped him. The shelter healed him up & he became a wonderful ambassador for his species.

 

[ckrickett]

OMG a tarantula living outside your door no no no no no no ohhh no.

We had two different occasions very large corn spiders in the basement-in the same stinking spot, right at the bottom of the stairs and the high pitched jibbering and screeching while I tried to find help at 10:00 at night..yeah no.

Leggy Furry (yes, I named him) was totally harmless and really quite fascinating to watch. And, he stuck to his zone - outdoors. Had he come into the house, I might have been less neighborly.

Take a few months ago. Some hella-big spider, but not in the tarantula category, was lounging on my bed. From the time I saw it to the the moment a shoe crushed it? A handful of nanoseconds, at most.

Not in my bed. Not in my children's room. Not in my home. You invade, you die....

I wish I could be as swift in justice rendered at my home. If they're big...I can't. I can however jump around and wave my arms and screech. That doesn't help tho.

We had a big corn spider take up residence outside our front door the spring I was pregnant w/London. I kept asking JD to get rid of it and got the yeah yeah yeah I will standard husband response. I kept going out w/the broom to smash his web. Finally at work I typed up a letter to my husband from the spider. It was a "howdy neighbor!" note, saying he's new around town, would he be up to taking him out sometime and showing him the sights, introducing him to some people, and it said he wanted to make up for my being upset, that he didn't like seeing me flinging myself out the door and trying to hurtle over the threshold. He just wanted to be friends. Your new friend, Mr. Recluse, Brown.

Didn't work. JD cried he laughed so hard...and still the Mr. Recluse, Brown, stayed. Until he got in the house one day and JD was at work so I called my uncle in hysterics and he came down to take care of him.

Is the corn spider like the golden orb weavers? If they are they get HUGE and like to make massive webs all around our yard. I went walking on a nature trail and there were DOZENS in one big web above me. Gotta love the tropics!

 

[packrat]

Ohhh what a pretty snake! We have *tons* of them in our yard. Garter snakes-I don't know that I've ever seen a different kind here..tho I know there are bull snakes and occasionally a rattle snake. They love the hostas, and we have a lot of railroad ties, they like to live inside them and sun on the hostas. We walk around the yard before mowing, and I keep an eagle eye out for any grass movement, so I don't run them over. I did hit one a few years ago and it didn't die right away, slithered off into a crack by the house, and I sobbed, JD rolled his eyes at me "It's just a snake!". But I don't care. We got a cool picture of a bunch of them all knotted up around the center of one of our wagon wheels up front..I don't know if they were mating or what.

Not many lizards here..there were a couple now and again at my parents house in the country, but still, I've seen like...5? my entire life, here.

ugh, we have brown recluses but I don't know that I've actually seen one. I just call them all brown recluses b/c they're so scary and dangerous, and it sounds more dramatic to my husband...not that it works. We just now this past year started getting the black and yellow ones that we call garden spiders-at my parents acreage they were *every* where, like you couldn't shake a stick w/out hitting one and I HATE them. They're like...spindly pointy legs and just awful. A couple summers ago I finally saw one here, and I'm sure it's b/c we now have so many plants, and they really like daylilies, which we have a lot of.

They might be barn spiders or wolf spiders...I can't bring myself to look at pictures enough to figure out what they are. And funny, when we bought this house, it was FILLED w/a weird kind of spider..ok not filled like millions, but I killed at least one daily, sometimes up to three. They make their web-cocoon up by the ceiling, they need an angle of some sort. And I can see them inside there so I started taking a broom and jamming the bristles up really hard, holding it there and scraping it across the ceiling to squish them. I even forced myself to save a dead one and look at it-and it had some pretty good sized fangs on it, so that sent me into hysterics. My mom took it to my uncle who has a spider book (who the heck wants a spider book???) and he said it was nothing to worry about, it was some sort of recluse. My mom's like "do you know what recluse means? It means they don't like people and won't come out" Um, duh, I was reading at a 12th grade level when I was six yes I know what recluse means-HELLO???? BROWN RECLUSE MUCH? That didn't help matters. She insists that's not what they are tho, and we've sprayed so much I've not hardly seen any of them anymore--just those big thick nasty ones. We had them a lot at my parents, and we were in the country in the middle of corn fields, so always just called them corn spiders. They are brown/gray and thick..big bodies and when they die they curl up/fold their legs to their underbellies. I've seen them folded up like that the size of my palm, and it makes me do some sort of weird losing my mind giggle and want to pull at my hair. nope nope nope nope no can do.

 

[lioness]

See, you folks know the names of spiders. In my world, only the following five species exists:

1. Itsy-bitsy spiders that climb down water spouts.
2. Something slightly bigger than #1 but less than an inch diameter, including legs.
3. Big shiny black things, about 2 inches total diameter, including legs. This is the start of hella-big range. Slated for instant death if I see one within these four walls.
4. Big-ass critters with creepy long legs. The death sentence set forth in #3 applies, but I'll scream first.
5. Tarantulas. They're endangered, and if I smash one it'll squirt juicy wet spidey-guts on my shoe. I'll sweep it into the dustpan and toss it outside.

I can smash spiders to oblivion because they can't fly. Same goes for scorpions. Waterbugs? Giant NY flying roaches? This is me shrieking and charging at the thing with a broom in one hand and spraying enough Raid to poison a city block. I hate flying roaches!!!!!!

 

[jordyonbass]

See, you folks know the names of spiders. In my world, only the following five species exists:

1. Itsy-bitsy spiders that climb down water spouts.
2. Something slightly bigger than #1 but less than an inch diameter, including legs.
3. Big shiny black things, about 2 inches total diameter, including legs. This is the start of hella-big range. Slated for instant death if I see one within these four walls.
4. Big-ass critters with creepy long legs. The death sentence set forth in #3 applies, but I'll scream first.
5. Tarantulas. They're endangered, and if I smash one it'll squirt juicy wet spidey-guts on my shoe. I'll sweep it into the dustpan and toss it outside.

I can smash spiders to oblivion because they can't fly. Same goes for scorpions. Waterbugs? Giant NY flying roaches? This is me shrieking and charging at the thing with a broom in one hand and spraying enough Raid to poison a city block. I hate flying roaches!!!!!!

Think flying roaches are bad? Should try a drop bear here in Australia!! Oh and there's flying sharks too

 

[lioness]

See, you folks know the names of spiders. In my world, only the following five species exists:

1. Itsy-bitsy spiders that climb down water spouts.
2. Something slightly bigger than #1 but less than an inch diameter, including legs.
3. Big shiny black things, about 2 inches total diameter, including legs. This is the start of hella-big range. Slated for instant death if I see one within these four walls.
4. Big-ass critters with creepy long legs. The death sentence set forth in #3 applies, but I'll scream first.
5. Tarantulas. They're endangered, and if I smash one it'll squirt juicy wet spidey-guts on my shoe. I'll sweep it into the dustpan and toss it outside.

I can smash spiders to oblivion because they can't fly. Same goes for scorpions. Waterbugs? Giant NY flying roaches? This is me shrieking and charging at the thing with a broom in one hand and spraying enough Raid to poison a city block. I hate flying roaches!!!!!!

Think flying roaches are bad? Should try a drop bear here in Australia!! Oh and there's flying sharks too

Who needs drop bears when you have real subway rats attacking people?
http://pix11.com/2014/08/18/watch-massive-nyc-subway-rat-attacks-straphanger/

 

[JewelFreak]

Oh, ick to them all! I am full of admiration, Packrat, that you kill those things yourself! I just run & yell loudly for Mr. Freak, who rolls his eyes & comes to help as slowly as he possibly can. My skin crawls if I even get close enough to off them, yuck. In Connecticut we had wood spiders -- I only saw one, thank goodness, but it was climbing up the side of our house. They also like woodpiles, obviously. They are at least the size of a dinner plate, I'm not exaggerating. I told DH about it & he laughed that I was hallucinating -- until he saw one himself, haha.

We have an exterminator come every 2 months to keep the big cockroaches away. They don't fly down here in the south & the ones in this part of the state are more like garden beetles, not the kind that climb around cupboards & kitchens; they get in by mistake, really, the same as other types of bugs. But I HATE HATE them. Resisted using exterminators for 10 yrs, then finally we had a big spate of them getting inside, so I gave in. Glad I did.

I sympathize about running over the snake. Our lawn mower guy ran over a black snake, cut it in half but it didn't die right away. He called me over to let me know & I just bawled for the poor thing's pain. Years ago & I still feel so sad. The pain is as bad to the snake as being cut in half would be to you or me would be to us.

 

[ckrickett]

See, you folks know the names of spiders. In my world, only the following five species exists:

1. Itsy-bitsy spiders that climb down water spouts.
2. Something slightly bigger than #1 but less than an inch diameter, including legs.
3. Big shiny black things, about 2 inches total diameter, including legs. This is the start of hella-big range. Slated for instant death if I see one within these four walls.
4. Big-ass critters with creepy long legs. The death sentence set forth in #3 applies, but I'll scream first.
5. Tarantulas. They're endangered, and if I smash one it'll squirt juicy wet spidey-guts on my shoe. I'll sweep it into the dustpan and toss it outside.

I can smash spiders to oblivion because they can't fly. Same goes for scorpions. Waterbugs? Giant NY flying roaches? This is me shrieking and charging at the thing with a broom in one hand and spraying enough Raid to poison a city block. I hate flying roaches!!!!!!

Think flying roaches are bad? Should try a drop bear here in Australia!! Oh and there's flying sharks too

It was raining really bad here last year and we had a giant palmetto bug take refuge in the house. I found out about it because it kept climbing on me while I slept!!! I had a cat sleeping on my lap and he didnt care oh no (neither the cat or the bug). That darn bug freaked me out all night, took me forever to catch it and kill it!

ewewewewew

 

[House Cat]

I LOVE spiders. I think they are gorgeous creatures. When I was really young I used to keep them as pets, which really upset my mom because she was the type to scream at the sight of them. I have even had a few black widows, those you don't hold. The furry ones have seriously cute faces. They look like old men or bikers because their fangs are covered in fur and look like big fat mustaches. You can google image "wolf spider face" to see what I'm talking about. I really want a tarantula, but I'm not sure if it is humane to keep one. When I kept spiders in the past, I was younger and not thinking of such things.

I am a pretty serious bug geek. At this moment, I guess I am letting that flag fly.


Two bugs I simply can't handle, earthworms and cockroaches. The earthworm thing is weird because I am a die-hard gardener, but I just leave them be and move on. I just can't touch them! Cockroaches send me into a very literal anxiety attack. I can barely look at photos of them. They are the type of bug that can take over a home. This is suffocating to me. They also spread filth and disease. All things that keep me up at night.

I'll stick to my spiders.

 

[MarionC]

Last year I had a bat in my bedroom. I didn't know what it was at first - a huge flying thing all over the bed, hitting the ceiling, falling to the floor. I was terrified. I locked myself in the bathroom, the only safe place in an open plan house. When my heart rate went back to normal I dashed downstairs and set up my tent in the living room. The next morning I put on a hat, raincoat, gloves and crept upstairs. There was a tiny brown bat sleeping on the fire alarm. Aparently they look smaller in repose...in the day time LOL. I opened a window and the next time I checked he was gone.

Hegemony you are a painter! Me too.

 

[missy]

Last year I had a bat in my bedroom. I didn't know what it was at first - a huge flying thing all over the bed, hitting the ceiling, falling to the floor. I was terrified. I locked myself in the bathroom, the only safe place in an open plan house. When my heart rate went back to normal I dashed downstairs and set up my tent in the living room. The next morning I put on a hat, raincoat, gloves and crept upstairs. There was a tiny brown bat sleeping on the fire alarm. Aparently they look smaller in repose...in the day time LOL. I opened a window and the next time I checked he was gone.

Hegemony you are a painter! Me too.

That would have terrified me. Snakes I am OK with. Bats no.
Good for you remaining calm and safely getting the bat out of your house Jimmianne. Way to go!

 

[packrat]

Awwww I know bats freak a lot of people out but they are cute to me. I did have to call JD a couple weeks ago tho and have him come check out a bat one of the cats found. It was in the neighbors yard, on the ground during the day, and I worried it might have rabies. Turned out one of its wings was all messed up, ripped, and part of it had broken off so it was nubbed. He thought maybe it had fallen or something had attacked it, but there wasn't anything he could do for it so he had to put it down so it didn't suffer.

And a few years ago one of our friends had bats in the attic and they rigged something up so that when they flew out at night they couldn't fly back in. But one of the moms had a baby on its back and the baby fell off. Was the size of my pinky finger and it made me cry that the poor mom lost her baby.



Jeezalou I have all kinds of weird stories of random things.

 

[junebug17]

It was raining really bad here last year and we had a giant palmetto bug take refuge in the house. I found out about it because it kept climbing on me while I slept!!! I had a cat sleeping on my lap and he didnt care oh no (neither the cat or the bug). That darn bug freaked me out all night, took me forever to catch it and kill it!

ewewewewew

Ok, now this would have given me a heart attack! The thought of anything crawling on me freaks me out, completely. Not a fan of those palmetto bugs, we spend time in SC and they are common there, unfortunately . If only they weren't so big I'm ok if I have a little prior warning, like looking in the shower and seeing one. A few times I'v opened a kitchen cabinet to find one scurrying around inside and I think my heart might have stopped for a few seconds.

 

[ckrickett]

It was raining really bad here last year and we had a giant palmetto bug take refuge in the house. I found out about it because it kept climbing on me while I slept!!! I had a cat sleeping on my lap and he didnt care oh no (neither the cat or the bug). That darn bug freaked me out all night, took me forever to catch it and kill it!

ewewewewew

Ok, now this would have given me a heart attack! The thought of anything crawling on me freaks me out, completely. Not a fan of those palmetto bugs, we spend time in SC and they are common there, unfortunately . If only they weren't so big I'm ok if I have a little prior warning, like looking in the shower and seeing one. A few times I'v opened a kitchen cabinet to find one scurrying around inside and I think my heart might have stopped for a few seconds.

This guy was al least 3 1/2 inches long! when he would crawl on me I would wake up and he would fly into the office area (the door was open for the cats) and there was NO way I could have found him. so i'd go back to sleep and BOOM he'd do it again right as soon as I got to sleep. took me all night to finally be able to catch him.

They are sosososo gross, I can't stand them, and they fly, which is worse!

 

[packrat]

I had to google it-they look like cockroaches! Is that what they are?

 

[ckrickett]

I had to google it-they look like cockroaches! Is that what they are?

we call them palmetto bugs but yes they are, and they are quite large! thankfully I never see them in the house unless it has been particularly rainy. even though it rains a lot down here. I usually see 1 or 2 in the summer and that is it.

 

[packrat]

ugh. barf.