Do you have poisonous creepy crawlies where you live?

[GreenPartyVoter]

I live in Maine, so I have zero fear of sending my little kids out to play in the yard. On my few trips to other states (before becoming a mom), I encountered copperheads and cotton mouths, and it occured to me today that I would be very nervous taking my kids camping in other states because of the wildlife. (I once snatched my little brother away from the jaws of an annoyed cottonmouth. He was used to picking up garter snakes, and thought that little guy would be fun to play with too!)

So, folks who live with poisonous critters, what's your advice? I think I am doing my kids a disservice by not taking them to those "scary" states. What's teh rule of thumb keeping your kids (and yourself) from getting bitten by surprise by a poisonous snake or spider or something.

[RetroLounge]

1. Nope, we live in Urban Wisconsin

The only thing poisonous are the Republicons...

RL

[AlCzervik]

2. we have black widows so i shoed my daughter what their webs look like

and she always checks her shoes before putting them on, we learned that trick in texas, home of the nasty brown recluse spider and fire ants.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. We have brown recluses.. but I have never seen one. Too reclusive

[AlCzervik]

5. thats the way they are, you know, they dont like the papparazi

[catmandu57]

3. We have brown recluse spiders

that make snakes look like toys, when they bite you it kills the flesh and spreads quickly, I'd take a snake bite anyday, and we have more than our share of republicans also.

[woofless]

8. I got bit by a recluse back in Missouri,

It was no picnic. I'm a BIG guy and that little thing put me down for a couple days and the wound took months to heal. Bad juju. Nothing like that up here in the Pac NW.

[MuseRider]

6. We have rattlesnakes on occasion

and cottonmouths. Also copperheads and massasauga. I farm so I see lots of snakes but it is only rarely you see something venomous, you almost have to hunt for them. You just have to know where you might find them and then be careful if you are in their area. It is much worse in other areas. I worry more about the big snapping turtles. I occasionally run into one of them in the tall grass, big as a tire and they make me catch my breath. Know where they are likely to be, educate your kids if you will be in an area like that and be careful if you are.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Turtles? I have to be scared of turtles too? *Adding to the list* Man

I am glad I live in Maine. We're not even afraid of the bears up here. The forest rangers actually tell you to wave your arms and yell at 'em to get them to go away. You can't do that with any other kind of bear than the black ones.

[MuseRider]

14. Now bears terrify me!

I had a few unpleasant incounters with them when I worked at the zoo. No, don't be afraid. They hiss really loud and smell worse. Just do not let them bite you, they do not let go and they are powerful. Just watch out if you are where they might be. I am outside all the time with all of these creatures and I have never been bitten except when I worked at the zoo (NOT the bears).

[intheflow]

9. Umm... not to scare you, but there are poisonous spiders in Maine.

The brown recluse and the black widow have both been spotted in Maine: http://www.mmc.org/mmc_services/newenglandpoisondangers.htm

You also have the deer tick, the carrier of Lyme Disease. http://www.mmcri.org/lyme/meticks.html

And of course, there's plain old poison plants: ivy, sumac, and oak. Those are the ones that always killed me as a kid in New England. http://www.gocampingamerica.com/kidspages/plants.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Well, I know to keep the kids out of the plants, and I give 'em a good

dose of Ben's before they hit the high grass. The recluses have never shown up anywhere around us before, but that was the first I had heard that Black widows had made it all the way up here.

[xray s]

10. Yeah...the place is infested with them

Freeper-type Republicans everywhere I look

[leftofthedial]

12. yeah.

repukes, of course, creepy crawly suburban SUV slithering vermin spewing vile poisons from the pipes just below their telltale yellow ribbon decals.

then we also have this particularly poisonous and insidious batch of neolibertarians from the Independence Institute who infiltrate and then infest the shadowy hidden spaces inside public institutions, especially those charged with implementing social programs, public education, health care, mass transit and the like. Once established, they are almost impossible to eradicate as they systematically confuse and mislead the public, all the while inexoribly gnawing away the infrastructure that working class citizens require, leaving behind a toxic residue of mistrust, confusion and ill will that can waken or even kill the targeted programs for years to come.

Uuuuuuuuugggggggh. Revolting. Nasty.

[skygazer]

13. Black widows and rattlesnakes mostly

It's like anything else like electrical outlets and strange dogs. You teach kids from an early age to leave strange critters alone, to make noise when they walk in snake prone areas, to avoid dark places that may have spiders, etc.



I've always been more concerned about the threat people pose to my kids than that of any wildlife.