BIG. CRITTERS. IN. FLORIDA!!!! (and you think YOU have pest problems!)

[dlavery]

I was recently thinking about this thread, and just sitting there calmly musing on the possibilities of beautiful Gulf coast sunsets, warm weather, life on the beach, etc. etc. etc. Until a friend at Kennedy Space Center sent me this image:


It seems that wildlife activity is picking up around KSC. It is normal for gators to be on the move this time of year, looking for a nice watering hole to settle in to. However, walking into your shop in the morning and finding this guy looking back at you is NOT what I would call normal! It seems that someone forgot to close all the doors to the high voltage shop the evening before, and "Bubba" wandered in during the night. The guy that found him was only a few feet away when he realized what was on the floor (the lights were off except in the office area). Yikes!

I guess I will never complain about the rats in the streets in D.C. again!

-dave

[Greg Marra]

I think that alligator is battery powered. Look at its eyes!

[Tytus Gerrish]

here at work i see at least 4 aligators a day. at one time the aligators in florida outnumbered people.

[Jaine Perotti]

hmmm... what a comforting sight. I am moving down to Florida next year for college.
And I thought bear and moose were bad up here in Connecticut/New Hampshire...

I remember the first time I ever saw an alligator in the wild, I was in Everglades National Park (I must have been about 10 or 11 years old). They scared the --- out of me, especially because my stepmom (who is an adventurous person), decided it would be fun to try to touch one. She got about four feet away from this 14 foot long alligator when I started screaming because I was afraid that it would attack her. I also remember vowing that I would never move to Florida because of the alligators. Isn't it funny how your perspective changes over time?

I am sure I will have lots of fun with the alligators living in Osceola Lake on the University of Miami campus next year.

[Cappeh]

Oh, Jaine. xD

Alligators are nothing. In India, they have ELEPHANTS. :/

[Michelle Celio]

Oh, come on..that's not even that big. I've petted bigger.

[nehalita]

Originally Posted by Cappeh

Oh, Jaine. xD

Alligators are nothing. In India, they have ELEPHANTS. :/

actually the mosquitos in india are the size of elephants also. man do they love my blood...

also. as for the spiders... i mean they have daddy long legs but those are harmless...i remember holding them in my hand in preschool (which wasn't far from UM actually). they do have these tiny ones the size of my thumb nail. they're annoying... i seem to find them everywhere in my old house. but they don't bother you.

also... fyi, that picture that i took was actually in a place called "shark valley" (go figure!). It's not a normal road, but my brother and i took a tram through the trail and tried to keep count of alligators. i think we lost track after around 40... it's the coolest place ever. My dad even stood right next to them!


see? it ain't that bad.
atleast these are picture of live alligators. 5 years ago, i had the unfortunate luck of seeing 2 dead alligators in one of our canals. heads cut off, legs cut off, tails cut off. This is what greedy people do in florida and i think it's horrible.

alligators and spiders are great down here but man, have you seen the snakes? my dad seems to love going up to them when they're around our house.

later note: banana spiders are the coolest looking things EVER. if you go on a nature trail you're bound to run into one (and in my case it was physically... numerous times...)

[JaneYoung]

Oh dear you just had to say the snake word and things were going so well too.

I think the banana spiders are orb spiders. Maybe Fruity Pebbles could find a gorgeous pic for us - they are some of the best weavers ever. If you see one then you know the environ. is healthy.

Here in Austin we have wolf spiders. Those are cool. They are big and furry and live in holes and cracks in houses. They eat mosquitoes but not elephants.

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by Jane

I think the banana spiders are orb spiders. Maybe Fruity Pebbles could find a gorgeous pic for us - they are some of the best weavers ever. If you see one then you know the environ. is healthy.

BAM! Banana Spider!

Originally Posted by Jane

Here in Austin we have wolf spiders. Those are cool. They are big and furry and live in holes and cracks in houses. They eat mosquitoes but not elephants.

Love bugs were "manufactured" to eat mosquitoes...didn't quite work.

And why do I know that?!

[JaneYoung]

thank you, happy, happy

[Jaine Perotti]

Lets just say that as a person who hates spiders, this strikes fear into my heart:




Florida: Spiders and Gators and 'Canes... oh my!

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by BurningQuestion

Lets just say that as a person who hates spiders, this strikes fear into my heart:




Florida: Spiders and Gators and 'Canes... oh my!

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by BurningQuestion

hmmm... what a comforting sight. I am moving down to Florida next year for college.
And I thought bear and moose were bad up here in Connecticut/New Hampshire...

I am sure I will have lots of fun with the alligators living in Osceola Lake on the University of Miami campus next year.

Being next to a body of water in Florida you'll find lots of "visitors"!

My grandfather's house borders two canals in Cape Coral and I've seen so many different things crawling or scurrying around there it was unbelievable. The small lizards aren't bad and are fun to play with but watch out for the palmettos and other water bugs. I'd rather deal with the deer in my backyard every morning. I've never seen any alligators in the canals there although I have seen them on the sides of the road like in Nahalita's pic.

And be careful when walking through the grass barefoot.

[Jaine Perotti]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

Being next to a body of water in Florida you'll find lots of "visitors"!

My grandfather's house borders two canals in Cape Coral and I've seen so many different things crawling or scurrying around there it was unbelievable. The small lizards aren't bad and are fun to play with but watch out for the palmettos and other water bugs. I'd rather deal with the deer in my backyard every morning. I've never seen any alligators in the canals there although I have seen them on the sides of the road like in Nahalita's pic.

And be careful when walking through the grass barefoot.

Yeah, I remember visiting Florida when I was a little kid (visiting my grandparents), and I was always spending hours and hours trying to catch the lizards that like to lay out in the sun. I was never able to catch one (I was only 7)! I also remember seeing all sorts of cool birds, with really beautiful and unique plumage. One of the great things about moving to Florida is that I will have a chance to become familiar with an ecosystem entirely different from my own (I am a nature nerd, and my other interest has always been environmental science). Although those alligators still scare me!

Actually, the other night I was watching Animal Planet, and I was watching that show with Steve Irwin in it (Alligator Hunters Diaries or something like that), and I found it so interesting. In that particular episode, one of Steve's favorite alligators died, and even though it was really sad, I couldn't help but chuckle when Steve Irwin sat there crying and said, "I loved her [the alligator] like I love my wife."

Now, can anyone tell me if there are really big spiders in Florida? It's so embarrassing, but I literally scream every time I see one...

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by BurningQuestion

....Now, can anyone tell me if there are really big spiders in Florida? It's so embarrassing, but I literally scream every time I see one...

yeah...they're called banana spiders; they aren't really dangerous, though they seem to have an affinity for weaving webs right at head level on walking trails... i've never heard of anyone ever even bein' bit by one, but i don't think having a spider the size of your hand crawling around your head is a pleasant sensation...luckily, they seem to stick to wooded areas. in miami, you only have to look out for palmetto bugs* and fire ants.<edit> yeah, and love bugs; nothing like drivin' down I-75 during love bug season. just hope you don't run out of windsheild wiper fluid... and if you venture into an undeveloped (now there's a rarity!!) coastal area during dawn/dusk, you might encounter a fun little critter called a "no-see-em"**; just don't leave your car windows open in the presence of no-see-ems, otherwise you'll have to do the something we call the everglades run: AC on full, windows down, at >50 MPH. and how could i forget about the mosquitos? but then, those are everywhere, aren't they? man i left out a bunch of fun little insects, didn't i?</edit>

*we only call them "palmetto bugs" around tourists. around other floridians, we just call them (the bugs) "really, really big cockroaches".
**some of the bigger ones outta be called "see-em-just-fine"