bugs and insects in your part of the state (Rio Rancho: house, living in)

[clairz]

Yikes, Mike, that photo should come with a warning to viewers before they scroll down. Good thing I'm a loyal watcher of the TV series House or I might have fainted dead away.

I'm a little suspicious, though, that the URL for the photo has "urban legends" in the address line: http://z.about.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/z/A/day_9.jpg.

~clairz

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by clairz

Yikes, Mike, that photo should come with a warning to viewers before they scroll down. Good thing I'm a loyal watcher of the TV series House or I might have fainted dead away.

I'm a little suspicious, though, that the URL for the photo has "urban legends" in the address line: http://z.about.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/z/A/day_9.jpg.

~clairz

Point well taken Clairz. I am really sorry for all that viewed it. I just changed the photo, put in a warning, and made it a hyperlink instead. Again, my apologies.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by mike0421

The spider you really want to look out for is the Brown Recluse spider. Although they are in New Mexico, I think their most common residence is Missouri and Arkansas. Their bite has the ability corrode flesh. An example of a brown recluse: (Warning, graphic, do not open if squeamish)
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/p...s_1_020724.jpg

It should be noted that thousands of people are bit by the brown recluse (Loxoceles reclusa) every year, and only a few people actually develop lesions from the spiders' necrotic venom (cytotoxic venom).

Here is a brown recluse from Missouri. Note the violin shaped marking on the cephalothorax (head if you will). Also, brown recluses have only 6 eyes (3 sets of 2), whereas most spiders have 8 eyes.

[Steve-o]

Oh, here is a Kansas specimen I photographed last June:

[boomslang]

i love reptiles and spiders and scorpions i am so moving to NM

i kid you not i would be so happy to see a rattle snake in my drive way!!!

[Devin Bent]

Here north of Santa Fe at 6,000 feet we had rattlesnakes in this neighborhood only once in recent years -- during an unusually wet spell. My impression is that they like water and its just too dry here (no water rights) most of the time. Please correct me if I am wrong.

We do get bull or gopher snakes -- the largest was about eight feet. They are constrictors, I believe, and harmless except to a small animal.

[boomslang]

YOUR RIGHT IT HAS TO DO WITH WATER BEING EVEN MORE RARE THAN IT USUALLY IS BUT THE MAIN REASON FOR THE DECREASE IS THEIR BREEDING HABITATS AND HABITAT DESTRUCTION DON'T GO TOGETHER VERY WELL!!!



I KNOW QUITE A BIT ABOUT REPTILES I WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE TO STUDY REPTILES=HERPETOLOGIST

[desert sun]

In my front yard I often catch a couple of rabbits eating my cactus at night,and I do see coyotes roaming around close by.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by boomslang

YOUR RIGHT IT HAS TO DO WITH WATER BEING EVEN MORE RARE THAN IT USUALLY IS BUT THE MAIN REASON FOR THE DECREASE IS THEIR BREEDING HABITATS AND HABITAT DESTRUCTION DON'T GO TOGETHER VERY WELL!!!



I KNOW QUITE A BIT ABOUT REPTILES I WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE TO STUDY REPTILES=HERPETOLOGIST

Id love to be a herpetologist, best of luck with that!

And youre correct, habitat destruction and breeding habits play the biggest role. There are areas of the country that are absolutely swarming with rattlers (ie Texas), others that have dwindling populations due to habitat loss. In any case, rattlers are wonderful creatures, often misunderstood and targeted for mindless annihilation by idiots who know nothing about them.

[Merlander]

About that brown recluse bite photo - I've read that people react to their bites in varying degrees, and some not at all. I think that's reassuring...

Aside from the black widows in our garage, the main insect I've seen around Albuquerque are termites. Scariest when they're coming out of a hole in the ground and swarming all over the place.