Recluse and Copperheads - Tennessee (TN) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

hiknapster · 08-31-2010, 05:50 AM

I've lived here for five years and have yet to see a snake, a scorpion, a black widow or a brown recluse. Heck, this is the first year I've seen mosquitoes. I suspect the drought had something to do with that.

Brian · 08-31-2010, 08:32 AM

While growing up in Tennessee, I've seen several different kind of spiders. Don't recall of them biting/stinging me. I didn't let them survive.

I have seen three large snakes at different times. I am terrified of them. I once ran over one on way to home from my grandmother's house. When I realized what it was, I screamed, my grandmother rushed down with her garden hoe.

She is terrified of them big time, she was bitten by one when she was a little girl. I saw my first snake outside of Tennessee just about four weeks ago. I usually know when there is one around by the smell.

I have just learnt that you can pour boiled water over them and they will die quickly. If you know what you are doing, you can get the hot water from your water heater. Anyone here call the PETA on me?

as3369 · 08-31-2010, 09:19 AM

We have seen two snakes (can't say what kind they were), dozens of unknown type spiders, but the most annoying thing to me are the chiggers... Since we have numerous deer that graze around our property, there is not a whole lot we can do to combat the chiggers and ticks other than spray DEET before walking out into the high grass or wooded areas.

Lamplight · 08-31-2010, 04:01 PM

The only spiders I'll kill are brown recluses or black widows, and that's if they're in my house. I've yet to see a black widow in the house, but I've killed a few brown recluses. I hate to kill anything, but I also don't want to be bitten. Harmless spiders don't bother me. In fact I prefer to have a few in the house because they catch annoying flying insects. I'd probably never kill a snake unless I was in danger. I actually love harmless snakes, but obviously I stay away from the venomous ones! I've heard of some people intentionally alloying certain small lizards in their houses to eat pests. Not sure I'd go that far.

An Einnseanair · 08-31-2010, 05:06 PM

I've hiked and mt-biked along many miles of trails in TN. I've never seen a poisonous snake here, and I'm usually pretty good at spotting them. Plenty of other snakes, though. I've found several king snakes in my back yard which I relocate to the nearby wooded area so my dogs don't eat them.

I grew up near a swamp in MS and learned very early on to watch for snakes. Standing up in an aluminum john boat and using your paddle to beat a 5-ft water moccasin that just fell in your boat from a snag is not a fun experience. So now I look above me for snakes.

Unfortunately, I must also confess to killing dozens of harmless brown water snakes because someone told me they were copperheads. FYI, Copperheads don't live in water.

As for spiders, I've seen dozens of black widows everywhere from MS to SC to TN to OH to CA (I've explored dark holes all over the country as a geocacher), but never indoors. Never stick a bare hand into a dark hole without looking first and you should be fine. Brown recluses are the opposite and are usually found indoors instead of outdoors. If you use some sort of pest-control service at your home (to control termites, ants, fleas, etc.) it will usually control brown recluse spiders also. But spider bites in general are rare because things have to go just right. You have to invade the spider's space with a bare body part and NOT squish it, then it might bite. If you stick a socked foot into a shoe you'll probably squish the spider before it gets a chance to bite; if it does get the chance, its fangs probably won't make it through the sock.

JoAnn5 · 08-31-2010, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamplight

The only spiders I'll kill are brown recluses or black widows, and that's if they're in my house. I've yet to see a black widow in the house, but I've killed a few brown recluses. I hate to kill anything, but I also don't want to be bitten. Harmless spiders don't bother me. In fact I prefer to have a few in the house because they catch annoying flying insects. I'd probably never kill a snake unless I was in danger. I actually love harmless snakes, but obviously I stay away from the venomous ones! I've heard of some people intentionally alloying certain small lizards in their houses to eat pests. Not sure I'd go that far.

I'm glad to find someone else like me! My mother, when she was in her 80s, just insisted that my boys kill a snake that was in our front yard.... I about cried! It was a harmless chicken snake, but you couldn't convince her of it!
If i get a pair of shoes out of the closet that i havent worn in a while, i shake them well and sometimes use an old cloth to wipe out the inside, just in case there might be a spider in there. Have never been bitten (knock on wood).
Each fall somewhere on our back porch, there will be a large black and yellow spider building a web. It's one of those big beautiful webs and the spider takes such good care with it, cutting down the damaged part and re-weaving it each morning. The grandkids and I call her "Charlotte" and none of us bother her or her web until wintertime comes and the spider is gone.

hiknapster · 09-01-2010, 12:53 PM

I'll fess up, too. I hate killing anything. I hate flies, and they are such pests so I kill them, along with ants and mosquitoes, but I don't like killing anything and it really, really bothers me. I always wondered if there is something wrong with me. I'm the opposite of a serial killer. If I step on an ant I feel bad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoAnn5

I'm glad to find someone else like me! My mother, when she was in her 80s, just insisted that my boys kill a snake that was in our front yard.... I about cried! It was a harmless chicken snake, but you couldn't convince her of it!
If i get a pair of shoes out of the closet that i havent worn in a while, i shake them well and sometimes use an old cloth to wipe out the inside, just in case there might be a spider in there. Have never been bitten (knock on wood).
Each fall somewhere on our back porch, there will be a large black and yellow spider building a web. It's one of those big beautiful webs and the spider takes such good care with it, cutting down the damaged part and re-weaving it each morning. The grandkids and I call her "Charlotte" and none of us bother her or her web until wintertime comes and the spider is gone.

as3369 · 09-02-2010, 07:58 AM

LAFAYETTE, Tenn. -- A Macon County family is mourning the loss of a 3-year-old girl who died less than a day after being bitten by a brown recluse spider.
Pam White said her great granddaughter, Kaylee Davis, was bitten on her chest by the spider on Tuesday evening.
The girl was taken to the Lafayette Hospital, but was allowed to return home that night.
White told WTVF-TV in Nashville that her condition got worse and that she had a 104-degree fever and was vomiting.
The next morning, she was taken to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville where she was given a blood transfusion. She died at the hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
An autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of death.

skinem · 09-02-2010, 09:25 AM

We had a boy die in our county a few years back from a brown recluse bite. It's rare, but it does happen. My wife was bitten two times as a child and still has the scars from it. The news snippet posted by as3369 pretty well mirrors what happened here.

My youngest daughter carries out any spider she finds inside and gently puts it down on the porch. I've told her they will either beat her back inside or be a snack for something...(yeah, I'm sweet like that.)

Haven't seen but one snake in my yard this summer--usually I see more and a couple of years ago during the drought, I saw at least one a week.

I did find a snake skeleton at the edge of our yard by the woods. No rattles or head, so I don't know what kind it was. But based on the spread of the ribs it was probably close to fist-sized in girth. Looked big to me.