Chick makes me think of a brother I never had and thought that having a pic of the snake was such a laugh! You get the picture...little girls huddled about...boy comes with a snake...girls scamper in all directions (a cute little red-head screaming the loudest and running the fastest)...boy laughs...TOO FUNNY!!!

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Don't ya wonder who in their right mind was sittin' round the house one day and said "Bubba, Let's go round up some rattlers!". & Bubba went..?

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EARL?

When we vacationed in Spain, I took a picture of a cliff covered with beautiful purple and pink flowers. In front of the stone wall, people were sitting on park benches, and along some of the rocks.

While focusing the camera, something gray and big flashed by. I looked again and it was a gigantic rat…but not only one, there were dozens of them scampering out between the rocks, behind the flowers, just everywhere, and only inches away from the people’s heads!!!!

Of course I yelled and pointed at the culprits. Most of the people were over 70 years old. But you should have seen them run!….They shed off those years within a split second!

Qball,
I'm wiping my arms off the rest of the walk. Gosh, I hate that!
I hate snakes! I hate spiders! And rats???? Forget rats???
Gray hair or not, I'd be goooooonnnnnneeeeee...Exit, stage right, or left, or over the cliff!

The only good spider, snake or rat is a dead spider, rat or snake... NO exception!

When I was nine years old my family traveled one summer from Indiana (our home) to Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX., to visit my Uncle Johnny the Fighter Pilot. He(and his family) was stationed there.
Their ranch home was at the very end of the town and all you could see for miles was empty desert.

The first night we were there and it was bedtime, my aunt put us to bed and said, "now don't get up out of this bed for any reason during the night, ring this bell on the nightstand and one of the adults will come and see what you need." Then she began to lay sheets of newspaper all around the bed. On our arrival we were told in no uncertain terms to lift the toilet seat with the stick on he tank top before sitting down, to make sure there were no visitors on the bottom of the toilet rim or the seat. When questioning my Aunt/Uncle we were told that scorpions, (big black ones) would climb up the toilet and settle under the rim where it was damp and cool. They also said that the newspaper around the beds was to hear if any of them were crawling around on the floor.

MY GOD!!! I bet I didn't sleep the entire time we were there, I was he only nine year old with black bags under my eyes. Never saw a scorpion there but every morning when they freed us from our beds the entire back yard was a light green color as far as we could see, my uncle said, "watch this." As he stepped out the back door a million little green lizards ran in all directions, ucovering again the sandy floor of the desert.

One good thing is both mom and dad decided one trip to that insect haven was enough for a lifetime...

Oh, another thing was we would visit my dads brother and wife in Wyandotte, MI and the men went 'Froging.' Then they'd come home and prepare the frogs legs for dinner. We kids ate them never ever knowing it wasn't chicken. I have to admit if you can get past the yuk, pooey of it being a frog, they are quite tasty...

I thought oysters grew in the ocean. How did they get up in the mountains?

In my more adventurous culinary past, I tried both frog legs and snails. Can't say I'd try either one again. And bugs, regardless of what they're covered in -- YUK! Not food in my book.

I always liked snakes and lizards. When we went to Bangkok in 1987, I got a picture of me with a boa constrictor around my shoulders. It was that or feed the alligator, and I wasn't too sure about the alligator. Hubbo was too scared to do either one. I think maybe he petted an ostrich or something lame like that. No, I don't know where my picture is.

When we see spiders in the house, sometimes we set them outside (alive) and sometimes we ignore them. If I see a cockroach, I scream and then run to pour boric acid on it.

Lordy lordy Chatty, that story gave me the weeawillerkers!

Meredith, for some reason I can imagine you with a boa constrictor around your shoulders. It's that exoticness about you.

These rats EW living near the sea.
We have a lovely town next to the sea. Elie..its a favourite for quiet holidays.There is the Point..where the bay meets the estuary.We parked there to picnic then walk along the shore.A place had been created with benches and bins for picnicers.
We were a while in returning and most cars had gone.As we watched the sun setting a whole group of rats came out.Just like kids from school and foraged round the bench/tables and bins.There were little one and mothers and great big ones.
I decided then to always bring my rubbish home..and never to use these benches.Many do in fact just like they were eating at home as they were designed for.

There is a story (never seen it myself) but have no reason for disbelieving.That if a place where they live is treatened by disturbance say in building rats will move out on mass.Thise who report if may exagerate but they say its like a river of rats.one man said some held tails..to navigate.
We had a quarry which was then used for the towns rubbish.Pre incineration.It was said this happened there.I though it was said to scare us children away from a dangerous spot. But since then I have seen it in different newspapers letter columns.
Mountain ash

Chatty, Divine Ms. M.,
When I visited my sister Tucson, she said there were scorpion around, but I didn't see any. It's a good thing!
I would've freaked!
Ms. M,
I helped hold a large, yellow snake at an alligator farm in Florida. Never again. Hate snakes, spiders, cockroaches,
rats and all their relatives!

Dumb me watched a late movie about a few thousand copperhead snakes invading a small town and I had nightmares all night long, darn movie gave me the willys...

I love snakes - don't want to be near them or touch them - but they have always fascinated me. When we use to visit the Houston Zoo, I'd want to go directly to the snake house (then the gorilla cages). I think my guardian would be a snake (you know, the guardian from the animal world - not that I believe in the concept, but if I did and I asked it to show itself, I can almost guarantee you that it would be a snake... ok, ok, after reading a book that introduced the subject to me, I did ask, before falling asleep, if I could see my guardian - and a snake DID present itself... OK, OK, you can quit laughing NOW!).