animal cruelty - retribution !

[chesters1]

A kid up the road brought down a bucket with hay in it to show our kids what he found ,i thought it was a grass snake but realised instantly it wasnt and put it back in ,unfortunately it had a friend that bit me on the finger as i put the first one back.

After 20 minutes i got an ache under my arm at the shoulder so decided it was time to go to the hospital (snakes were released safely its not their fault) go to hospital and was remembered because the week before i had been attacked by a tawny owl and it scratched my eye ,anyway long story short ,felt very unwell had an injection felt extrememly ill ,lots of injections oxygen etc and woke up next day covered in bruises then released after 4 black and yellow!

 

Talking to his parents found out they had been 'playing' with them for half an hour before putting them in the bucket ,some people need help! ,apart from the green/yellow "ears" grass and adders are similar in a bucket of hay grrr perhaps their house was cold they were a bit sluggish

 

Loudest scream i ever heard was due to a grass snake ,housekeeper didnt realise we had snakes (as in the garden) ,i asker if i came across it would she like to see it she said yes ,a week later i found a grass snake about 5 ft long and went looking for her ,she was out so i put it in a box in the fridge in the work shop ,half an hour later almighty scream she found the thing before i found her ,whoops.

No snakes were harmed in this story they just doze off a bit and was released into a sunny spot to wake up

Edited October 20, 2016 by chesters1

[Sportsman]

We were out walking the dogs in a dried up river bed the other day and came across a Common or Mediterranean Chameleon. First I've seen in the wild.

Within 10 minutes we had seen four more. There are lizards galore around here, the cats keep bringing them home. I don't think there are any poisonous ones but I did find one of these in the garden

http://www.iberianature.com/material/spain_wildlife/Megarian_banded_centipede.htm

Very nasty and painful bite by all accounts.

We had a very small brown snake in the pool house and the cat brought another one home unhurt. I think they were grass snakes.

haven't seen any large enough to identify yet.

[corydoras]

A kid up the road brought down a bucket with hay in it to show our kids what he found ,i thought it was a grass snake but realised instantly it wasnt and put it back in ,unfortunately it had a friend that bit me on the finger as i put the first one back.

After 20 minutes i got an ache under my arm at the shoulder so decided it was time to go to the hospital (snakes were released safely its not their fault) go to hospital and was remembered because the week before i had been attacked by a tawny owl and it scratched my eye ,anyway long story short ,felt very unwell had an injection felt extrememly ill ,lots of injections oxygen etc and woke up next day covered in bruises then released after 4 black and yellow!

 

Talking to his parents found out they had been 'playing' with them for half an hour before putting them in the bucket ,some people need help! ,apart from the green/yellow "ears" grass and adders are similar in a bucket of hay grrr perhaps their house was cold they were a bit sluggish

 

Loudest scream i ever heard was due to a grass snake ,housekeeper didnt realise we had snakes (as in the garden) ,i asker if i came across it would she like to see it she said yes ,a week later i found a grass snake about 5 ft long and went looking for her ,she was out so i put it in a box in the fridge in the work shop ,half an hour later almighty scream she found the thing before i found her ,whoops.

No snakes were harmed in this story they just doze off a bit and was released into a sunny spot to wake up

That's a monster grass snake. When I was a kid we had a kind of "pet" grass snake. He used to spend a lot of time under the garden shed. He took a live frog out of my old man's hand once or twice.

 

The only other time I've came across one of our native reptiles was one sunday afternoon when I was pottering around in my greenhouse. I found a slow worm behind an old grow bag. I knew what it was despite not having seen one before.

[corydoras]

We were out walking the dogs in a dried up river bed the other day and came across a Common or Mediterranean Chameleon. First I've seen in the wild.

Within 10 minutes we had seen four more. There are lizards galore around here, the cats keep bringing them home. I don't think there are any poisonous ones but I did find one of these in the garden

http://www.iberianature.com/material/spain_wildlife/Megarian_banded_centipede.htm

Very nasty and painful bite by all accounts.

We had a very small brown snake in the pool house and the cat brought another one home unhurt. I think they were grass snakes.

haven't seen any large enough to identify yet.

Scolopendra; Very nasty bite. The flesh rotting type bite.

 

I don't think your snake was a grass snake though. Grass Snakes wear yellow V neck jersies ;-)

 

Ask you neighbours if there are any "viuda negra" about. You don't want to be bitten by one of them. Have you seen any praying mantids?

Edited October 20, 2016 by corydoras

[Sportsman]

Slow worms were common when I was a kid but hadn't seen one in 50 years. Then in France the cats were bringing one home every week, usually unharmed.

Ironically the really dangerous things around here are the Pine Processionary caterpillars' They have very fine long hairs which they shed and which can cause allergic or toxic reactions. It is not uncommon for dogs and cats to die from sniffing at them.

http://www.abacoadvisers.com/spain_explained/life-spain/news/processionary-caterpillars-spain

Edited October 20, 2016 by Sportsman

[chesters1]

Slow worms were common when I was a kid but hadn't seen one in 50 years. Then in France the cats were bringing one home every week, usually unharmed.

Ironically the really dangerous things around here are the Pine Processionary caterpillars' They have very fine long hairs which they shed and which can cause allergic or toxic reactions. It is not uncommon for dogs and cats to die from sniffing at them.

http://www.abacoadvisers.com/spain_explained/life-spain/news/processionary-caterpillars-spain

Lots of slow worms here in the summer theres usually half a dozen under the mat i keep under the satellite dish to stop the plants obscuring it and last time i emptied the compost bin theres was probably 50 i caught a few and put them inna bucket and posted a picture on here ,i found an albino one many years ago Edited October 20, 2016 by chesters1

[Ken L]

All this talk of dangerous beasties..

You wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of what I found last Friday.

I'm 99% certain it was Vespa velutina, also known as the Asian hornet.

It was packed up and posted off to DEFRA and I'm currently awaiting confirmation.

[Norm B]

So bad i had it xrayed but no broken bones ,the worst bruising i ever had was from an adder ,whole arm plus half my chest down to my waist ,arm swole up so much it couldnt bend at elbow or get my hand closer than 18" to my body ,great fun riding home on my scooter after 4 days in hospital

I trod on an adder once and it bit me. It got sore and I felt sick but was otherwise OK.

[chesters1]

I trod on an adder once and it bit me. It got sore and I felt sick but was otherwise OK.

May have been a dry bite ,i think mine was full bore!

[chesters1]

All this talk of dangerous beasties..

You wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of what I found last Friday.

I'm 99% certain it was Vespa velutina, also known as the Asian hornet.

It was packed up and posted off to DEFRA and I'm currently awaiting confirmation.

We had a non british hornet or huge wasp the other night ,it flew into the kitchen at dusk ,we tried shooing it in the direction of the back door ,then two blasts of wasp killer ,then i turned the kitchen light off and waved infront of the back garden light trying to lure it out with more light than indoors ,locate beast kitchen light out ,wave newspaper frantically, outside light goes out (its timer is about 5 seconds) ,kitchen light on (after finding switch in dark) locate beast ,light out ,repeat 4 times until it leaves .

Why is it everytime you need a camera of phone the battery is dead?