What silly things have you seen people do with reptiles?

[Umbral]

Please don't point fingers at people on APS as it makes us all look bad.

I grew up on an outdoor ed place in the Drakensberg in South Africa, one group of city kids walked ahead of the instructor and when the instructor caught up the were leaning over something in a circle. The instructor went to see what it was and found a very angry puff adder ready to strike :/

Another lucky one, one of the instructors went with my dad and i to a game reserve. As we were walking to a hide he trod on a black mamba that tried to strike him. Luckily it already had a frog in its mouth.

Something else we saw that I thought was cool was when we went for a river walk there was a dead bush absolutely covered with some kind of snake. Thinking about it now I think it must have been breeding season, that's the only reason I could think of.

Share some of your stories with us

[shrinkie]

as a kid i was very intreaged by snakes and lizards (not alots changed, but thats what happens when you live in a place that means land of snakes) anyway dad used to let me outside to play with my 2 mini foxies while he sat on the balcony watching me of corse and i would always find swamp snakes and bluetounges and a few turtles and always try to catch them thinking about it now i think that was probably kinda stupid (my dad used to yell at me of corse and try to prevent me from going near them but he taught me alot about them to) but its how i developed my love for reptiles

[Revell13]

My first memory of reptiles was when I was about 6 and I had been down by the creek that used to run through our old property, I had found a "legless lizard" and ran back up to the house to show dad what I had found... What I HAD found infact was a very young, very angry little red bellied black snake :p

[ZsaZsaGaboa]

The first memory I have of reptiles is the "legged snake". I would have been about 5 when I came across it and I remember screaming at the top of my lungs for mum because I thought the 'snake' was going to kill me.

As it turns out it was a blue tongue

[Hannaz]

As a thirteen year old, my mate and I were out herping, with a particular interest in blue tongues. We knew there were heaps of blueys in the area, but on this day, we couldn't find a single one.

However, we did keep finding these small snakes with a black hood. We looked at our copy of Stephen Swanson (it was a very long time ago) and decided they were little whip snakes. Not too venomous, we thought, so we decided to catch some in our hands. It would be no great drama if we copped a tag, so we thought.

However, from that moment on, these little snakes, which had been everywhere up until that point, were nowhere to be found. A few days later, we were told by more experienced guys that the "whip snakes" were in fact juvenile eastern browns.

[longqi]

A friend asked me to move a python out of his clothes dryer
Didnt even think and opened the door which was head height
Copped a drop of venom on my nose as a brownie just missed

Didnt believe spitting cobras were too bad until I was careless and copped a tiny bit of spray in my right eye
Washed it immediately but technically blind for two hours and hurt like a mongrel

Wiped ratty hands on my head and walked under a big retic on top of a display cabinet
Smacked on the head and part wrapped resulting in dislocated shoulder

In Venezuela played twinkle toes with a fer de lance in bare feet
Swam in a river in Florida near Deland with goggles etc
Loads of small gators and great fun until a big one surfaced right beside me and escorted me back to the shore

Equatorial Africa put a Gaboon viper in a bag and then my backpack
2 minutes later my mate told me stop and carefully drop the backpack
Fangs went through the bag and were sticking out the back
Just lucky it struck the wrong way

Rhodesia picked up a rinkals that was playing dead

Great Bear lake North Canada
Float plane couldnt tie up so I jumped in the water to grab the bouy
Talked in soprano for a week it was that cold

[disintegratus]

I did something stupid today...
I took Noodles (2+ metres of Brisbane Coastal) out of his warm hide and into the front yard for a walk to the mailbox with me. Had him around one wrist/arm, and he managed to get over to the other wrist and basically bind my hands together behind my back. I didn't realise how much bigger and stronger he's become since we got him!

[Umbral]

Longqi, I think perhaps (for your own safety) you should never be let near a reptile again. I always enjoy reading your posts always entertaining, informative or a nice mixture of both.

[PMyers]

What silly things have you seen people do with reptiles?

Well, I was at a club in Mexico several years ago, at a delightful seaside village south of Cancun... ... ...

[Nighthawk]

A friend asked me to move a python out of his clothes dryer
Didnt even think and opened the door which was head height
Copped a drop of venom on my nose as a brownie just missed

Didnt believe spitting cobras were too bad until I was careless and copped a tiny bit of spray in my right eye
Washed it immediately but technically blind for two hours and hurt like a mongrel

Wiped ratty hands on my head and walked under a big retic on top of a display cabinet
Smacked on the head and part wrapped resulting in dislocated shoulder

In Venezuela played twinkle toes with a fer de lance in bare feet
Swam in a river in Florida near Deland with goggles etc
Loads of small gators and great fun until a big one surfaced right beside me and escorted me back to the shore

Equatorial Africa put a Gaboon viper in a bag and then my backpack
2 minutes later my mate told me stop and carefully drop the backpack
Fangs went through the bag and were sticking out the back
Just lucky it struck the wrong way

Rhodesia picked up a rinkals that was playing dead

Great Bear lake North Canada
Float plane couldnt tie up so I jumped in the water to grab the bouy
Talked in soprano for a week it was that cold

You win... *horrorface at the Gaboon Viper* Holy crap!

[Coppersimon]

The first reptile memory I have was coming home from school to find four big cops in my courtyard, guns drawn, trained on a very cold red belly not wanting to move. A female cop came in with a rack picked it up and put it in a bin removing it to safety. Then all four other cops said yeah I could have done that. Best part was one of them was my dads mate and we gave him heaps for years.