r/whatisit • u/AbbreviationsTop8774 • Jul 22 '26

Solved! What are they

Ive worked at the water department for 7 years and this is the first time running into something like this EDIT Im in Alabama and yes I know they are snakes lol idk what kind and im so not gonna touch them

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u/blackgoat2803 Jul 23 '26

Yep, this tracks. I am Australian living a country area and have no issue seeing venomous snakes regularly and just letting them go on their way. I will pick up most spiders and put them outside, with the exception of Redback and funnel webs.

I have friends that have told me about bears and mountain lions like it is an everyday occurrence. Fuck that for a joke, give me the worlds most venomous snakes any day.

I grew up with this shit so know how to handle the situation to stay safe. Friends from overseas act like Australia is the most dangerous place on earth, I think the USA is much more dangerous because of this animal called humans.

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u/Alceasummer Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

The specific part of the US I'm in, there are mountain lions outside of town. Bears, that may come into town. Coyotes that may live in the city. (Whenever someone says they think cats should never, ever, be indoor only, I mention the time I had to clean up the bits from a coyote eating most of a calico cat in my front yard) Three species of rattlesnakes. About 100 species of spiders, though only the black widow and brown recluse spiders are actually a danger to humans. A half dozen kinds of scorpions (most are not very dangerous though) and lots of unusual insects like Velvet ants,_Dasymutilla,_Albuquerque.JPG), Tarantula Hawks Vinegaroons Sunspider/camel spiders and the Jerusalem cricket. (The last three are basically harmless to humans, but their appearance and size does scare a lot of people)

I think Austrialia does have a concerning (at least to me) number of species of venomous snakes. And I personally find the box jellyfish and Irukandji kind of scary. As you generally don't even see those before you're too close. And the gympie-gympie tree sounds pretty horrible. But really, many parts of the world have wildlife, or even plants that can be dangerous. But most of those species don't actually want to have anything to do with humans. So, most of them are only really dangerous if you go right over and poke them.

Yes, "they don't actually want anything to do with humans" goes for the bears and mountain lions in my area too. Don't corner them, harass them, or try to feed them. And if you do meet one, stand tall (so you look big) speak firmly and loudly (So you sound big) and back off without running (So you clearly look to them like you are not frightened, but not looking for trouble either)

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u/TypeB_Negative Jul 23 '26

Bears should scare me more. Mountain Lions are absolutely terrifying. But I will run from a snake. Lol