General Chat

A phobia is different from being a bit scared of something. It has nothing to do with whether the snake (or spider, whatever) can hurt you or is venomous. In other words, it's 'irrational'. :-0

It always amazes me when grown men and women are scared of spiders and snakes ( and mice etc) , especially here in the UK. .I am so glad I am not, as it has meant that son is also not scared.

True I am not over fond of wasps, they scare me but only in as much as I know the results of getting in their way... when you're cycling to work and one flies down your shirt it is not conducive to road safety :-)

When it comes to things that creep, crawl and scuttle, I tend towards what my mum used to say when I was young, "They are far more scared of you than you should be of them" ;-)

Of course!! I should have realised I was paranoid, and you weren't patronising

*Tsk'

(Beware sarcasm overload) :-D :-D :-D :-D

no not aimed at MW at all my post was in the general sense.
Her paranoia is of no interest to me.

Thank you for your 'lesson' on British snakes, Rollo - aimed at me, I presume?.
Did you try to teach your granny to suck eggs too?

Having spent a fair portion of my childhood living in both Dartmoor and the New Forest, amazingly, I know the law on snakes - and sloworms and newts for that matter..
There was a reason I wanted the adder - yes, I CAN identify them - to move, which I stated.
It was a public show, with non-Foresters, women in sandals (they'd obviously never read your 'missive') and small children, dogs etc.
I was actually protecting the snake.
But, of course, I really enjoy being patronised.

It's also illegal to pick up an owl .
Despite being very aware of this - I picked an owl up - and then noticed it was injured.
Now, it's not illegal to pick up an injured owl - but you may not know this until you pick it up - however, the chances are, it you CAN pick it up, it's injured.
You see, it's all very well spouting laws on wildlife, but sometimes a bit of common sense is needed.
I suppose we could have walked by and left it in agony.
Instead we took it to the New Forest Wildlife Park - where we knew they'd have a vet, and if the owl had any chance, had an owl sanctuary.
We thought this better than taking it to Tesco's.

Transpires, it had flown into a twig that had pierced it's eye.
Yes, perhaps I should have abided by the law, being (apparently) some sort of urban 'numpty'.

You also failed to mention that wood ants - specifically 'Formica rufa' which are in the New Forest, are a protected species.
I have seen a tourist go to sit on a 'convenient' ant hill.
I advised her not to - not that she would damage the hill, but she would have been bitten to b*ggery

No British snake is aggressive including the adder.
The adder is widely distributed in S England esp the heaths of Hampshire and Dorset. It is very shy and will usually flee if it senses oncoming hooves or feet. Sometimes it is caught napping when it will stay still. The snake should be left alone to move in its own good time. Any attempt to force it to move is illegal adders being a protected species.
Walkers in adder areas should wear strong shoes as the adder cannot bite through them. Tourists and grockles often opt for flip flops. In any case the bite while painful is not lethal to adults if the antidote is given within an hour or so.
The barred grass snake is often mistaken as an adder. It is not venomous.

:-D :-D :-D :-D

As the late Dave Allan once said regarding the serpent

in the Garden of Eden.....I don't like snakes, if one came

near me I'd back off, if one spoke I'd crap myself ;-)

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Species:plummetus


:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

For those who doubt the existence of Drop Bears as I posted a couple of days ago here is a link to the Australian Museum

https://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-bear

I've had 3 'close encounters' with snakes, and one very scary encounter with a spider.
My first close encounter with a snake was when I was about 3, and living in Malta.
I was about to walk down a pathway bordered by dry stone walls, when I saw a grey snake slithering between the stones. I went in to tell my dad. He came out and said ‘It’s only a rock snake, it won’t hurt you’. Even at that age, I remember thinking ‘How would I know?’
Asking him about his reaction later, he said ‘Well, you hadn’t been bitten, so you didn’t get too close, and you stayed back when I looked at it closely, so you had no intention of poking it – there was no problem’. Such trust in a toddler!!

Second encounter was when I was sitting in my mum’s garden in Portugal, in the shade of a huge bush, reading a book. I stood up to go indoors, and saw the mother of all snakes, behind my chair!!
It was at least 6 foot long. Transpires it was a Montpellier (mildly venomous) snake, but I didn’t know this at the time, but decided that. as it hadn't attacked me, there was no problem
He was just ‘chilling out’ , like I was.

Third encounter was an adder in the New Forest.
We were at a horse show in Brockenhurst, and I saw an adder basking rather too near the path.
Some people think they’re going to strike ‘cobra like’, and feel the need to batter them with sticks, in an attempt to avoid this ‘strike’.
So, in an effort to get the beast to move, to avoid someone ‘freaking out’ and injuring it, I started jumping up and down – getting closer and closer - jump any nearer, and I would have jumped on it – did it move? Of course not! In the end, I was face to face with the little b*gger, hissing, snarling and cursing it – and it eventually moved. :-S

Don't take everything so seriously Rollo.

There is a great deal of interest in insect bites or has the Zika virus been forgotten already?

My sister loathed snakes and that stopped her from visiting her son in Australia. She wasn't phased by spiders as she gardened all her life.

None of my 3 brothers were bothered by either but I, on the other hand, am terrified of spiders.

Both my daughters hate spiders but my son isn't bothered by anything (I guess because he lives with all the beasties that live in the jungle. Having said that about my daughters, eldest now copes with huge spiders as she lives with her brother lolol

I think that if you HAVE to cope because you will come across spiders and/or snakes on a regular basis you learn to cope better.

Just my opinion of course.

There are over one million human deaths per year down to mosquito bites mainly in third world countries. No other wild creature is anywhere near. Humans Bob are not usually regarded as wild. The oft quoted idea that man is his own worst enemy assumes warfare as the prime cause. Not at all the primary human threat is the 1.3 million annual road fatalities Again a very disproportionate share in the third world

So as I said the residents of India and other third world states have more serious problems than snakes and creepy crawlies such as venomous spuders

Of course snakes make good media. There is little to see of interest in an insect bite. Move along.

I thought my elder brothers were nice - they used to build go-carts - yes , more than one, dad was in the services so every time we moved the go-cart was left, new one was built.

Every time, they finished one, they would let me go on, then my elder sister (also younger than the boys), always down the steepest hill they could find, and tell us to use the brake. We thought they were very generous.

It was quite a few years later (okay, many years later) before I realised they were using us to test the brakes!!
ie. if they stopped with me - possibly ok. Stopped with my sister - probably ok.
....then they would try it....

Finally confessed at my 60th birthday party!!!!
A practical lesson in physics :-S

:-D :-D :-D :-D.I know real cruel.

mum was not best pleased,,,,but he was ok as she used to love him better........ :-D ;-

Oooh Kay!!!

...and I thought my elder siblings weren't very nice! ;-)

My little baby brothers was learned,,,,,,,as I used to scare him with tops off the tomatoes and tell him they were spiders and leave them on the arm of a chair for him to find,,,,,,boy he could scream.......... :-D :-D :-D :-D.and he still doesnt like spiders.

The creature that kills most humans is other humans.