Slither Dither

Thanks for your response sunnflr. That's two feet too close for me. I was wondering though, Did you get chills up and down your spine when you first saw it? I know I Did. Do you live near a river or a body of water of some kind? BTW, is that hurricane affecting you?

I get chills, can't breathe good, and shake uncontrolably when I see a snake. I also cry sometimes. I can't even watch them on television. No, we don't live close to water, but we do alot of hiking and have to be on the look out for snakes. When I was small we lived close to a little creek. I think that's where the snakes came from. We are under a thunderstrom watch, but only had few sprinkles from the storm here so far.

You can't even watch them on television? Wow! Now that is what I called being afraid of snakes! The chills were the thing that I noticed the most. They lasted about 2 hours.

Yes, they sure are! I was lucky (????) in that I got blood poisoning right away and was rushed to the hospital and put on antibiotics immediately. Otherwise, I'd have suffered what most people suffer with brown recluse spider bites... tissue necrosis!

The show I was watching also dealt with the bite of the Brown Recluse. I can't believe it! You were actually bitten by a brown recluse? From what I saw on TV it was a very ugly scene. Did it leave any scars? That guy had some very ugly scars from where they had removed about 1/2 inch of tissue in a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Just the thought of those things scare me worse than snakes. How lucky you are to live with a deck over a lake. I would be in hog heaven if I had something like that. I tell you one thing; it wasn't funny at the time. I was very serious about moving on. When you have an incentive like that, you can cover a lot of ground in a very short time. Thanks for responding, my friend. BTW I'm going to send you a PM with a link to a story about snakes which should give you a good laugh.

First, let me thank you for that hysterically funny but sad story! Man! Those poor guys! Since they weren't REALLY hurt, I had to laugh. Now, when I think I'm having a bad day, I'll just remember that story and won't complain! Thanks for sharing! Second, yep, it was a brown recluse, at least that's what the doctors told me. I didn't suffer any tissue necrosis since I was in the hospital within hours of being bitten. It takes, I believe, a few days to a week before necrosis actually sets in after the bite. Before that, it's just the swelling and redness that are so bad. It was a horrible experience, nonetheless. The red streak up my arm began within hours and I was in the hospital where they gave me a tetanus shot (which I had an allergic reaction to) and put me on antibiotics, then sent me home. Within 6 more hours, I couldn't move anymore (from the blood poisoning... your muscles/joints get very stiff) and my temp. was up to 105 deg. Back at the hospital, I was put on IV antibiotics while a venom specialist was brought in. They have to give me some other kind of anti-toxin since I couldn't handle the tetanus vaccine. That's probably what saved me from losing a lot of flesh from that bite! I have a little scar, but it's only about 1/8" in diameter. Now, third, you might be in hog heaven if you had my deck and lake, but I want your boat!!! All I have is a rubber thing you blow up. Okay, it's a NICE rubber thing you blow up, but it's rubber, just the same. I want a real boat!!! One of these days... then I'll be heading out to the James River for some REAL fishing. Oh, we have a lot of bullfrogs here, too.

I agree, they are not out to hurt humans. Usually they are just trying to find something to eat. Unfortunately though, encounters of snakes with humans don't usually turn out well for the snake. But sometimes the snake wins, though. That's what gives them such a bad reputation. The fact that there are no snakes in Ireland and New Zealand, as you say, is something I did not know and I dare say many other people did not know. Thanks for the response, painkiller77.

Great story! Thanks for sharing it.

That was a great story cyclegmom. I can understand how you would hate things like you mentioned. I don't think Florida has things like alligators walking the streets everywhere. Maybe occasionally, especially when it has rained for several days. Thanks for the response.

Been there! Done that! As you can see from my post. LOL I know exactly how you felt. But did you get the chills up and down your spine? No one seems to mention whether or not they got the chills. Thanks for the response, Hatley

I can certainly understand why you didn't go back. It's the snake that surprises you that you remember the most isn't it? Thanks for the response.

BED SNAKES?!!!!!! Boy, does that ever conjure up unusual mental images! ROTFL. Thanks, I needed that. I hope you never see one in the wild considering you've never seen one anywhere other than the zoo. Thanks for the great response.