# Venomous Snakes, Spiders



## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

We live in a developed rural area. There are other houses but there are also vacant lots which normally are cut back maybe twice a year or so. Sometimes when the lots are cleared (now) stuff gets stirred up.

We have most all the openings (doors,windows) screened. We have covered the chimney openings such that a bird, and hopefully a swarm of bees cannot enter the house (as has happened). I'm allergic. 

Earlier this evening something had the attention of two of our cats on the living room floor. I saw something move very quickly trying to escape them. I grabbed a book and went to have a look. Looked like a brown recluse spider to me. Smack. We do have a rather large potted bamboo plant that we move in and out of the house from time to time to give the cats something to play with. That spider might have come in via the pot.

This week while watering in the garden I noticed something moving in the grass in front of me. I spayed some water at it and it climbed onto a nearby wall. Looked like a tarantula to me, about the size of my palm. Smack.

One morning this week we were out for our pre-dawn neighborhood walk. In an area of the street light up by a street light we saw what looked like a thick shoe lace. My wife shined her flashlight on it and it was a small dead snake. Later when the gardeners arrived for work I showed the snake to an old campesino. He turned it over, pointed to the tail and announced - peligroso ! Turns out the arrangement of the scales on the tail of a snake are a good indication as to whether it is poisonous.

Last year I found a black widow spider living in a very large cactus in the yard. I sprayed the cactus. 

The cats do a pretty good job ridding the house of the occasional scorpion. I also spray the inside of the house with a pet safe insecticide.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Tarantulas are not deadly...should not have killed it..


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

citlali said:


> Tarantulas are not deadly...should not have killed it..


"All tarantulas are venomous and some bites cause serious discomfort that might persist for several days."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes they bite if you bother them but they are very timid and do not bite if you do not handle them.. In the villages in the jungle the kids play with them..One of them got bittenafter while he was annoying one.. and thurt him for a while and then the pain was gone..
The black widows are more dangerous than the tarentulas.. 

A friend of mine was bitten by a brown recluse in Puerto Vallarta, she was told that they are brought in in luggage from tourists as it is not their territory. The woman get getting infection from the bite and eventually a vein or artery got infected, she went into the hosptal who managed to screw up what they were supposed to do and she died..It was like 2 years later. Yes some bites from some spiders can be dangerous but the tarentula is not one of those.
In Chiapas they also have some type of furry caterpillar that can kill you or regret the day you were born as well. People there really scream when they see them, they are usually in the trees and apparently can drop on you . I never mange to see the thing, nut one day I was in the shade of a tree and they all jumped on me and made me move before the ting dropped.. I never did see it but I do not stand under trees anymore in that area.


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## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

If you are allergic to bees I would not recommend being too quick to cozy up to any venomous critters. Tarantula venom is not the same as bee venom but why tempt fate? Me, I would remove the spider. The choice of how to remove it is up to you.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

There is a time of year in Parkfield, California when the roads are covered in tarantulas. I brought one home once. Half of the family thought it was interesting to look at, and the other half of the family said the jar had to go immediately. So we didn't keep it as a pet for very long. I no longer keep animals in cages.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Some tarentula live 30 years.. Yes in the desert you sometimes drive over thousands of them. I actually like tarentula and try not to kill them.. Black widows and brown recluse if I ever saw one, are killed quickly but tarentulas I do not kill although I have never seen the very large one in my house.. In the huts in the jungle yet but not in my house.. We have many species of tarentulas in Mexico and Jalisco has many but you rarely see them.. 
We have some flat large spiders not as big as the tarentula from the jungle . and those are no kill in my house. They do not wander much and I leave them alone.. They do not seem to multiply much and are harmless. The gardner showed me how you can grab them and they do not sting or bite so I leave them alone..

I also leave snakes alone here because we do not have any dangerous one in the house or garden. We get the little black snakes that swim in the lake once in a while but they are harmless. 

We lived at the mouth of the Fowl river in the swamp in Alabama and there , the snakes were everywhere and we killed the ones where we used to be in the garden and in the house. Some of them were aggressive, Water mocassins and cotton mouth were everywhere.. There were bugs we used to joke were probably not classified and we had the house sprayed and killed anything found in the house..
Scorpions also get killed. My husband got stung 3 times and did not get affected by the sting. Some people who are allergic have to get a shot so the risk varies according to the condition of the people who are stung.
If you are allergic to bees I sure would not experiment..
The roaches also had a bad habit of flying where here they do not seem to do so..

When it comes to bugs and snakes, the coast in Alabama in the country was full of bugs, snakes , aligators, snapping turtles and god know what else...Here we do not even spray the house and in San Cristobal we have no bugs.


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## Jreboll (Nov 23, 2013)

I’ve only seen black widows and scorpions in all my years in Mexico.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I have not seen brown recluses but our friend got stung puttng her pants on..so they are around in some places..

If you go out in the jungle Lacandona , they are plenty of bugs that will sting or suck your blood if you go to the right place


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

I have been zapped by a scorpion once but it was not in Mexico. I was wearing shorts, sitting on a couch with my feet up on the table in front of me. I felt something crawling around inside my shorts and stuck my hand up the leg. It got me on my thumb. I had no reaction which is a good thing since I was nowhere near medical help.

Here we have mostly 3 types of scorpions; the common non-poisonous black/brown ones, the white (dangerous) ones and the red/translucent ones which are very dangerous.

Our first year here we rented in a totally developed urban-ish place. One morning we woke up to find our four cats had a decent sized snake trapped in the corner of the master bedroom. I've seen a few 5-6 inch centipedes which seem to like hanging out under the pots on the front patio. 

Most every year, usually in January, we have a problem with migrating bees. Hundreds arrive and can build a basketball sized hive in a couple hours. Often we have to have the bomberos come by and take care of it. Sometimes the bees just stay a few hours and move on on their own. 

It is funny how many times we have been told that there is nothing in our area that can really cause any harm. Mostly you hear that from someone who probably never works outside. Last week I mentioned it to one of the guys clearing lots in our area. He smiled as he showed me how well he was protecting himself.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

My maid ´s father in law. was attacked by Africanized bees and almost died.. yes there are some dangerous things out there but we had them in California as well..Nature can strike any time anywhere not need to be in the tropics for that.


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## windwalker (Dec 21, 2009)

mattoleriver said:


> If you are allergic to bees I would not recommend being too quick to cozy up to any venomous critters. Tarantula venom is not the same as bee venom but why tempt fate? Me, I would remove the spider. The choice of how to remove it is up to you.


We have tarantulas here too, including the very large ones. They have very fragile bodies. I once watched a very big one trapped in a web and being attacked by a small spider. I tried to rescue the tarantula but inadvertently harmed it. When I see one, outside, I let it be.


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## CDMXian (Jul 29, 2019)

Silverfish. How annoying are they?


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