So last year I was walking through the FIT jungle and found a neon blue Spider on a web over the trail.  Have any of you seen a similar spider and if so what is it and is it poisonous.  I would appreciate it if you would post pictures of anything poisonous that lives in FL including snakes.  I don't want to accidentally smash something helpful.  

Currant policy blast and or smash first and ask questions latter.

Sounds like an orb weaver, completely harmless. The only spiders you really need to watch out for are the widows (black, brown and scarlet) and the brown recluse (never proven to actually breed in FL).

common Spider link w/ pics: edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_IN017

brown recluse info: creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/spiders/brown_recluse_spider.htm

widows: well, you should know what a black widow looks like, the other two species look the same but are just colored slightly different.

SNAKES

beware of rattle snakes and coral snakes. i think rattle snake identification is pretty common knowledge, so here's some coral snake info: www.pestproducts.com/coral_snakes.htm

note that the king and coral snakes look a lot of like, so if you see one and aren't sure what species it is, just walk away and play it safe.

if i forgot anything, hopefully some of the other board members will fill in the gaps

Timber Rattle snakes.
Diamondback Rattle snakes.
Pigmy Rattle Snakes.
Cotton mouths aka Water Mocassins.
Coral snakes.
Copperheads.
Mosquitoes.
Sand gnats.
Flea's.
Horseflys.
Yellow flys.
Hornets.
Wasps, numerous versions.
Yellow Jackets.
Bumble bees.
Honey Bees.
African Bees.
and numerous other insects which would make a list long enough that I dont have time to post it. Above all, watch out for the Tiger Mosquitoes. Those are the absolute WORST pest in FL.
Enjoy your stay!

The Coral snake is rear fanged and must chew on it's prey in order to inject venom. The Coral snake is easy to remember: If the red bands touch the yellow bands, it's a Coral snake.
The Scarlet kingsnake's bands will show red bands touching black. Red touches yellow, kill a fellow. Red touches black, venom lack. I cannot emphasize this enough, DO NOT KILL VENOMOUS SNAKES! They are mother nature's form of rodent control. If you come across a snake that you cannot identify, back away and allow it a wide birth. Most snake bites occur when the person accidentally steps on or very near a venomous snake. Never touch a dead snake unless you know for a fact that it is NOT venomous. Three years ago my cousin got tagged by an Eastern Diamondback which was run over and appeared to be very dead. Luckily there was no venom injected, but it shocked the shit out of us.

Quoted: Timber Rattle snakes. Diamondback Rattle snakes. Pigmy Rattle Snakes. Cotton mouths aka Water Mocassins. Coral snakes. Copperheads. Mosquitoes. Sand gnats. Flea's. Horseflys. Yellow flys. Hornets. Wasps, numerous versions. Yellow Jackets. Bumble bees. Honey Bees. African Bees. and numerous other insects which would make a list long enough that I dont have time to post it. Above all, watch out for the Tiger Mosquitoes. Those are the absolute WORST pest in FL. Enjoy your stay!

No wonder only savages live there.

Quoted: No wonder only savages live there.

Ya gotta luv it.  

Quoted: Quoted: Timber Rattle snakes. Diamondback Rattle snakes. Pigmy Rattle Snakes. Cotton mouths aka Water Mocassins. Coral snakes. Copperheads. Mosquitoes. Sand gnats. Flea's. Horseflys. Yellow flys. Hornets. Wasps, numerous versions. Yellow Jackets. Bumble bees. Honey Bees. African Bees. and numerous other insects which would make a list long enough that I dont have time to post it. Above all, watch out for the Tiger Mosquitoes. Those are the absolute WORST pest in FL. Enjoy your stay! No wonder only savages live there.

So how'd you get stuck all the way out there in the desert????????

Where Angels fear to tread....

Originally posted by: Lumpy196 No wonder only savages live there.

     

I take offense to that remark, we're rednecks not savages.



Dirk

Originally posted by: HighStrung1 I cannot emphasize this enough, DO NOT KILL VENOMOUS SNAKES! They are mother nature's form of rodent control

Venomous snakes are the only snakes I kill.    

Dirk

If you encountered a neon Blue spider that had a 2" body and 4" legs on a web over your head in the middle of the woods what would you do?
Assuming you didn't know what it was.

I walked under it and kept on going allthough I did pay very close attention so that I wouldn't walk through something like that.

Quoted: Timber Rattle snakes. Diamondback Rattle snakes. Pigmy Rattle Snakes. Cotton mouths aka Water Mocassins. Coral snakes. Copperheads. Mosquitoes. Sand gnats. Flea's. Horseflys. Yellow flys. Hornets. Wasps, numerous versions. Yellow Jackets. Bumble bees. Honey Bees. African Bees. and numerous other insects which would make a list long enough that I dont have time to post it. Above all, watch out for the Tiger Mosquitoes. Those are the absolute WORST pest in FL. Enjoy your stay! hr

Tiger Skeeters, aint they the state bird?

originally posted by Dirk Pitt:

Venomous snakes are the only snakes I kill.
------------------------------------------

You are a ignorant and most likely inbred toothless bastard child. Fucktards like you who
brag about that kind of thing are BAD FOR THE SPORT. I'm hoping you are just kidding, but somehow I think you have so little going for you upstairs that it's probably true. Apparently
morons have an uncanny ability to reproduce future generations of assclowns.

Quoted: originally posted by Dirk Pitt: Venomous snakes are the only snakes I kill. ------------------------------------------ You are a ignorant and most likely inbred toothless bastard child. Fucktards like you who brag about that kind of thing are BAD FOR THE SPORT. I'm hoping you are just kidding, but somehow I think you have so little going for you upstairs that it's probably true. Apparently morons have an uncanny ability to reproduce future generations of assclowns.

Easy there highspeed.

highspeed?? WTF Hawkeye??

Quoted: Timber Rattle snakes. Diamondback Rattle snakes. Pigmy Rattle Snakes. Cotton mouths aka Water Mocassins. Coral snakes. Copperheads. Mosquitoes. Sand gnats. Flea's. Horseflys. Yellow flys. Hornets. Wasps, numerous versions. Yellow Jackets. Bumble bees. Honey Bees. African Bees. and numerous other insects which would make a list long enough that I dont have time to post it. Above all, watch out for the Tiger Mosquitoes. Those are the absolute WORST pest in FL. Enjoy your stay!

Fire Ants
Giant Water Bugs (produce a painful bite and are sometimes agressive)
Wheel Bugs(Produce a painful bite)
Scorpions (rather small only a couple inches...sting feels about like a wasp...non poison)

God I love florida!

Quoted: originally posted by Dirk Pitt: Venomous snakes are the only snakes I kill. ------------------------------------------ You are a ignorant and most likely inbred toothless bastard child. Fucktards like you who brag about that kind of thing are BAD FOR THE SPORT. I'm hoping you are just kidding, but somehow I think you have so little going for you upstairs that it's probably true. Apparently morons have an uncanny ability to reproduce future generations of assclowns.

Listen Dickbreath,

I don't know what kind treehugger you are but I can tell you this, I'm not going to let a cottonmouth or rattlesnake bite one of my children or animals. And if I could yang your sorry ass through this internet connection I'd put my foot up your ass and teach you a little respect. From now on I'm going to go out of my way to kill every fucking snake I come on and think about you when I do it.

Fuck off and die HighStrung1

Dirk

Quoted: highspeed?? WTF Hawkeye??

I was mearly trying to say in a polite way, that you might want to take it easy on the comments about Dirk. He is a personal and well known friend. He is quite the opposite of your description in your post.

I try my personal best to remove snakes from the area around my house without harming them, even poisonous ones sometimes. However, I have very little problem capping one if he doesnt want to co-operate or repeatedly comes back. I have two small boys and two dogs. One of my moms dogs just recently got bit by a water mocassin, and is now blind. That same snake is a repeat show in their back yard. My boys go over there quite often. Once I find that snake, I plan on killing it and skinning it for a belt.

Quoted: You are a ignorant and most likely inbred toothless bastard child. Fucktards like you who brag about that kind of thing are BAD FOR THE SPORT. I'm hoping you are just kidding, but somehow I think you have so little going for you upstairs that it's probably true. Apparently morons have an uncanny ability to reproduce future generations of assclowns.

www.sptimes.com/2003/08/16/Tampabay/As_boy_rebounds__more.shtml

As boy rebounds, more snakes found
Two people have been bitten by pygmy rattlesnakes at Tampa Palms schools. Rain has likely forced the poisonous snakes from their usual homes.
By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 16, 2003
TAMPA - With a microphone clipped to the collar of his Bugs Bunny hospital gown, R.J. Gambill didn't look like the typical media celebrity.

Reporters and cameras flanked Gambill during a Friday afternoon news conference at University Community Hospital, and the 6-year-old boy wasted few words answering questions about surviving a pygmy rattlesnake bite on Tuesday.

"Do snakes scare you?" one TV reporter asked.

Gambill squirmed in his seat, scribbling away on an etch-a-sketch, and nodded "no."

"Would you ever pet a snake again?" another TV reporter inquired.

Smiling a shy baby-tooth grin, Gambill nodded "yes."

"This is the better end of a crisis," his father, Ray Gambill, said later. "We've had so many people who have seen us on TV and ask us about R.J. I don't know if R.J. understands all of this. I think he just likes the company."

R.J. was bitten on his right index finger Tuesday while bending to touch the snake during recess outside Clark Elementary School, where he is in first grade, according to school officials. His parents, Ray and Bridget Gambill, said he told them that the snake jumped up and bit him.

The boy was taken by ambulance to University Community minutes later. Doctors injected an antivenin serum to fend off the poison. Still, swelling crept up his arm to the shoulder and by Tuesday night, Ray Gambill said, R.J. was looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy.

By Friday's news conference, however, the swelling had receded and his finger, despite being covered by two ugly scabs, looked almost its normal size.

R.J. was the first of two snake bite victims this week at Tampa Palms schools that are near a nature preserve. On Wednesday, Jorge Pena, a 55-year-old custodian at Freedom High, was bitten on his left index finger by another pygmy rattlesnake. He was treated and released at University Community Hospital.

And on Friday, two more pygmy rattlesnakes were seen in the same area.

At about 7 a.m., a custodian at Clark Elementary was trimming ivy beneath a stairwell when he surprised an 8-inch snake, which quickly slid away. And at 9:30 a.m., a custodian wielding a pitchfork at Freedom High School trapped a 11/2-foot snake. It was released in another location, said Hillsborough County schools spokesman Mark Hart.

Letters were sent home Friday with students, for the second time this week, telling parents that their children were not in any immediate danger.

Just in case, however, a wildlife specialist will survey the two campuses this weekend, Hart said.

"If there is a particular problem, we want it detected and eliminated," he said. "But we expect this to be a case where it's a natural occurrence. Under wet conditions like this, you're going to have close encounters. We've had heavy rainfall, and we're very close to wetlands. It's a known fact that this drives snakes from their habitat."

Hart said officials might drape fences bordering the campuses with a rugged silt screen that snakes can't penetrate.

- Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 269-5312 or [email protected]



Well I guess I'm an a "ignorant and most likely inbred toothless bastard child, fucktard, with so little going on upstairs member of the moron generation of assclowns"
There is an abbreviation in there I'm sure.

Anyway, I find snakes on my 10 acres of property all the time. I relocate the non venomous ones. As for the rattlers and cotton mouths, their skins & rattles look real nice on my walls. If I'm in the woods huting, if I'm in a park, I'm in their home and I yeild, if they are crossing the road, they are free to go. If they're on my property, where I work, where my livestock treads, where I tread, their hide is mine.

BTW Highstrung your eloquent use of the English language: "ignorant and most likely inbred toothless bastard child, fucktard, with so little going on upstairs member of the moron generation of assclowns" demonstrates your your well bred lineage rather well.

It's a shame ........ name calling is not allowed.

LOCKED

Names, what names... I didnt see anyone calling anyone else any names? WTF?