Hello everyone!

This morning, I was out on the property cutting some brush. I was walking down the road home when I saw a large square of red plastic/foam on the ground under a cactus. It was one of those pieces of flooring that they sometimes put in playgrounds, you know the soft yet hard stuff? Anyway, I had been out picking up trash a few days before and I must have missed this. Since it's the desert, and I've had plenty of run-ins with snakes, javelina, coyotes, etc. I played it safe and used a stick to poke at the object, lift it, and flip it over before getting anywhere near it. It was covered in cactus needles, but I picked it up, seeing there wasn't a rattler under it. (I'm terrified by them, almost having been bitten twice) What I wasn't looking for or expecting, was a scorpion! xD Oops, I totally forgot about those nasty things, and the one that just so happened to have been sleeping under this object was the size of my hand. It's tail and stinger had to have been 3 inches long, it's body about 5 inches. I have NEVER seen a scorpion that gigantic...and I have them in the house all the time and see them in the yard. It was huge, it was mad, and if I would have been less cautious I would have had that thing on my arm. We live one hour from the nearest medical clinic, an hour and a quarter from the nearest hospital. I don't know how venomous those are, but it would have done some major damage I'm sure. I freaked out a moment, and thankfully here came the truck with my ride home. *whew!* But, I did get the eyesore out of the desert! :sarcasm: I wasn't scared, but things could have gone differently for me this morning, it is one of the stupidest things I've done. I should certainly know better.

So, discuss:
Have you ever had an animal encounter that was dangerous/resulted from something foolish you did/or was unexpected or sudden?

Did you learn anything from this experiance or develop a new respect/dislike for this animal?

Anything else you'd like to add to this!

(This is my first thread in this forum! I did a search and didn't find any threads like this, so hopefully it's okay, if not please tell me!)

I heard the larger the scorpion is, the less venomous it is. But still, the size of that scorpion would frighten the hell out of me too o_o;

When I was little, I got bit by a stray dog. We were at a boat store and it was warm and sunny. I wanted to sit out of the sun while my parents were discussing something with the shopkeeper and found a boat on a trailer with plenty of shade under it... there was a dog sitting there, it didn't move, it didn't even look at me. So I sat down and the dog went rabid. @[email protected]

Originally Posted by Volucria

I heard the larger the scorpion is, the less venomous it is. But still, the size of that scorpion would frighten the hell out of me too o_o;

I'm pretty sure that's true actually, the same with some snakes I think, the baby ones are deadlier.
It still would have hurt terribly.

That's scary about the dog. How awful, no warning or anything. :shock:

They say the smaller the pinchers and the tip of the tail is, the more poisonous scorpions are :3 I've had one come out from under my chair once and it was a clear, tanish color and the tip and I couldn't see the pinchers or stinger lol. I'm glad you didn't get hurt from it :3

When I was a baby I crawled to a bucket and went in it xD My mom came and found me there and called me, thinking I would gladly crawl back. Instead I started crying and lifted my hand, where a little scorpion was attached to my little baby hand D: My mom killed it, and was scared I might be poisoned, but my father refused to go to the hospital 'cause he thought I had nothing.

... and here I am, alive! It was sore for a couple of minutes, then I went back to being a happy baby again xD I guess I was lucky x3

PS: Maybe it has to do with the species. Smaller animals need better ways to hurt and/or scape.

Well, the good part is that a scorpion that big... probably wouldn't hurt you very badly. Smaller it is, more deadly, as a rule.

The only thing that I can think of is that one time, my dad and I were walking on a nature trail and toward the end, we saw three things down the road. At first, we thought they were deer. We had been on the lookout for those the whole way, but never saw any. As we came closer, we realized that they were birds, but we couldn't tell what. Eventually, we discovered that they were three sandhill cranes! Just hanging out on the pathway! We walked toward them... we were right in front of them, and they weren't fazed by us.

I came as close as about a foot away from one, standing about three and a half feet tall, but then it began to hiss at me, and I'm thinking.... that beak? You don't want one of those angry at you.

@Kah Hilzin-Ec:
Wow, I also had a scorpion encounter when I was a baby, scared my mum to death, but it was apparently just crawling on my arm. I picked up a rock. Heh.

@poet's:
Those were some brave cranes. I've only ever seen them from very far away or in a zoo. xD They are a bit scary! I wonder if they would have attacked...maybe like swans do! It's a good thing that didn't go worse.

And I'm glad I now learned that smaller critters tend to be more poisonous, I used to know that, but I had forgotten. I'm not so worried about that scorpion this morning now, but the ones that we sometimes find in the house make me more nervous! I'll be checking my shoes in the morning like I'm supposed to now, that's for sure.

I'd never actually seen one in person before, so I thought that was pretty sweet.

Eh no, smaller size does not dictate the venom.
There are scorpions here but they usually don't show themselves in the rural parts.

Though I have sat in the ocean and let string ray nibble on me.

I suppose it depends on species and region Urboros. ^^
O_O Considering I haven't been to the ocean in almost 15 years...and I don't recall ever seeing a stingray before, I think that sounds quite cool....however, I think it was a stingray that got poor Steve Irwin, so I suppose that wouldn't be the best idea! =o But again, I think that depends on the species of stingray? It's sad that in 4 years I've lost so much of my zoological "knowledge". =(

I got bit by a wolf that my neighbor had as a "pet". It wasn't very tame and they used to let it run in the neighborhood until they got sued because it bit a few people. I think it's sad that some people don't understand that some animals should not be kept as pets.

I also get bit by everything. I'm guessing animals just don't like me or something.

Well the sting rays though, generally aren't they more docile?

Yeah, I've never really seen a wild scorpion before, and I've never been to the ocean...

Yes the rays are a bit more docile (cow nose rays)if you understand their behaviors. Never pick them up, Steve however didn't under stand that.

Still a scorpion would freak me out not as much as the roaches do >.>

I think Steve Irwin was perhaps just overly confident in himself, temorarily forgetting himself? Or maybe it was just bad luck. Oh well.

@poet's: I think they are pretty docile, but like everything they can be...provoked eh?

@mystic kiwi: my uncle had a friend who had a wolf hybrid. What a mess, he treated it like a kid and it would get wild and bite. It's like the people who have monkey's or large snakes as pets...some things are just too wild to take risks with, if it's not the owner it's the kid next door who gets hurt or something.

I stayed at a hotel in Subic (Philippines) and there was an area there where monkeys could roam around freely.

Before boarding the bus I saw a monkey nearby.

I have this weird habit of teasing animals and so I teased the monkey.

The monkey got mad an chased me. Good thing I jumped inside the bus before he/she could bite me.

Hmm, this reminds me of something.



Haha, it is /slightly/ dangerous, no?

Something like that happened, except obviously, not so exaggerated. My friend's little kitty was licking my fingers, it was beyond adorable. Sadly, she suddenly bit it. D;

@General:
I've heard similar stories about monkeys, they're from Costa Rica I think though.
Monkeys tend to scare me, they can be so territorial, and they bit so hard, it's a good thing you were able to escape. xD

@Royalis: Ha, when kitties go bad. That's funny.
I have two cats, but they haven't ever done that to me yet. They like to claw sometimes when they're scared, but it's always been my fault. O_O My cat likes to lick people too, then bite, but it's never very hard. ^^

When I was in 3rd grade my school used to be infested with iguanas. They liked to walk here and there, and be fed fruit from the little girls who only like junk :/ I was going to the hall once, and accidentally stepped on an iguana's tail O_o Hah I ran away before it could reach me and whip me with his tail x_x It has happened to some people xD
Also, there's a park at the center of the city, where iguanas live Owo' I once went there and saw this canadian man feeding a cookie to an iguana with his mouth! xD A moment later, I felt an extra weight in my jeans, so I looked and... there was an iguana trying to climb ME. Plus a few people looking horrifiedly to my legs. It was really funny xD

PS: I also have had my wrist bitten by a big dog D: Luckily, I had a thick sweater, and didn't feel much ^^''

@Kah:
O-O Iguanas? That sounds almost like a horror movie. xD Funny that one crawled on you...xDDD
That would have been neat to see so many iguanas. The part about the Canadian guy reminds me of a story my mum once told me, we went to Yellowstone National Park when I was a baby, and drove past a field full of elk and apparently there was a group of Japanese tourists in the field really close to the elk taking pictures and whatnot, with a forest ranger yelling at them to step away from the dangerous beasts! People are crazy, I hear they do that with the bison there too. Hmm.

Uhh...my dog I guess.
When she's sleeping and you bug her, she gets pretty mad, and sometimes I disturb her too much that she starts to growl then attacks you.
I still do it, because I know she's just cranky cuz of little sleep, but I still love her, even though I get some bruises and cuts xD

I've never been hurt by any strange animals. Although a chihua hua that some lady was walking tried to bite me once. ><

I guess i'm lucky. I don't really live where alot of wild things are.

I've been attacked by a squirell. Does that count as a dangerous animal encounter?

Originally Posted by Marina Toriama

I've been attacked by a squirell. Does that count as a dangerous animal encounter?

A squirrel certainly counts. xD Did you steal it's acorn or something? Those things scare me, I read an article once about a dog in Russia who was in a park tormenting and barking at some squirrels...and they all of a sudden ran down from the tree and bit the poor dog to death. It was insane, that poor dog. Who knew squirrels could go crazy like that? I know where I saw the article, but it was some months ago and it probably now buried. It was on the Unexplained Mysteries website somewhere.

No, I didn't do anything to it! The thing was sitting on a fence, and then it lunged at me! It still have scars on my hand from it....

Originally Posted by Marina Toriama

No, I didn't do anything to it! The thing was sitting on a fence, and then it lunged at me! It still have scars on my hand from it....

=o
Jeez, must be territorial or something. That sucks. :shock: