Author Topic: Backyard critters  (Read 104434 times)

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Offline tomterp

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Re: Backyard critters
« Topic Start: May 31, 2007, 10:05:45 AM »
My family was stationed in SE Asia when I was a kid, and I loved (and still love) snakes...it's amazing my mom didn't have a heart attack every time I'd come into the house with something writhing about in my herp bag (considering how many of the snakes there are poisonous, odds were pretty good that it would be a cobra, green pit viper, banded krait, or something of similar toxicity).  People freak out about these snakes, but they don't want anything to do with us...just watch where you walk at dusk and don't go rooting around in dark places without giving a poke with a stick first, and you'll be fine. 

That said, when the annual monsoon floods happened, there were snakes swimming around pretty much everywhere, but meh, that's a week a year  :D

Now that's some real danger.  Thousands are killed in Asia each year from the bite of venomous snakes, vs. just a handful in the U.S. 

Just two weeks ago, my brother and his son were exploring in WV along the Cacapon River, and his son nearly stepped on a small timber rattlesnake.  Those used to be native to the DC area, but are likely no longer in this area.  Snakes that rattle tend to get shot.