Pygmy Rattlesnakes

[whitesands]

Don't forget the dunecrashers and trashers. Human wildlife.

Yes, Ms. Kitty...human wildlife can be the worst of all! Some people just don't get it at all

 

[beachmouse]

We've seen bobcat tracks in the sand at Topsail Hill SP a couple of times in recent years.

Also saw a road kill black bear on FL 20 just east of Choctaw Beach last fall. The bears will occasionally get pretty far into civilization. A couple years back, one of them developed a taste for Krystal Burgers, and had to be trapped and relocated to a state forest in the Big Bend (where they send all the bad, bad bears) because he wouldn't stop dumpster-diving at the Krystal by Santa Rosa Mall.

 

[Rita]

heh
I found a scorpion in the house during our first couple weeks here. I was horrified yet fascinated.
I think I am more scared of snakes.
What about putting that yellow sulphur stuff at the perimeter of your yard? That's what somebody told me to do.

Some peeps who live in the country here use it around their homes and under porches/crawl spaces. (Can get "soil sulphur" for this.)
I put it around our foundation once a year.

.

 

[Rita]

Bass Pro Shops stocks snake boots. ....................................

Won't work! These snakes are trained well!

Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake. - WC Fields

 

[ShallowsNole]

As long as you are mentioning spiders, we also have the Brown Recluse, which I find on occasion, but fortunately, unlike a friend of mine, we don't have Crocodiles, Monkeys, and Cobras.

We do have what the older folks call "spreading adders," which try to act like a cobra and will play dead if spreading its neck and hissing and spitting doesn't scare you off. Many folks say they are poisonous, but I think this is actually the Eastern hognose, which isn't poisonous but puts on a show to make you think it is.

If you see one, don't pick it up *just in case.*

 

[beachmouse]

At least these guys haven't made it that far north:

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/BREAKINGNEWS/60602012/1086

CAPE CORAL, Fla. ? One minute, the 6-foot, 2-inch Nile monitor lizard was anticipating a tasty meal of raw, smelly chicken scraps.

The next, the door swung closed behind it, and the exotic reptile ? estimated to be the second-largest ever captured in the city ? was a statistic in Cape Coral?s effort to erase its current distinction as holding the largest population of the 4- to 7-foot lizards in the United States.

 

[Tom at BV]

When I visited last month one of the locals told me they call these snakes "two steppers". They hid in the trees and drop down and bite. Two steps and your in heaven or hell

 

[Kurt]

When I visited last month one of the locals told me they call these snakes "two steppers". They hid in the trees and drop down and bite. Two steps and your in heaven or hell

Pygmy rattlers are not considered deadly, and I've never heard of any rattler climbing trees. Did you mean a different snake?

 

[Paula]

That's what I read, too, Kurt, in most cases. If I or anyone I knew was bitten by a snake, spider, or whatever, I'd just get them or myself to one of the local doctors and hospitals to check it out. In most cases it would be fine, but it's good to check. Every now and then someone could have a bad reaction. We have some good doctors along 30A and I'm assuming they're familiar with the different kinds of bites people can get in the area -- I hope they are. We keep the phone numbers to physicans and hospitals at our cottages on the fridge or by the phone just in case guests need them.

 

[SlowMovin]

I am not a herpetologist so don't take this as gold-plated gospel, but I have read that none of the North American poisonous snakes (copperheads, moccasins, rattlesnakes and coral snakes) climb trees.

A number of non-poisonous snakes do. Including pine snakes and rat snakes which are some of the most common ones you see around here. We have one that has shown up in our backyard twice over a one-year period. He climbs a small oak and wraps himself around our birdfeeder, waiting for dinner. It's kind of a combination birdfeeder/snakefeeder to paraphrase Tim Allen.

The banded water snake looks remarkably like a cross between a copperhead and a moccasin. I shot a whole bunch of them in our backyard one year before I learned to tell the difference. They are very aggressive and they do climb trees but they are not poisonous. The bite can become infected though.