Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat

[tridentk9]

 Since I've had chickens, I have not seen a frog, toad, or snake in my yard.  Coincidence???  I miss them.  

So the frog that hides behind my shower curtain in the bathroom should be safe but I'll probably lose it's father that lives under the house. He or his replacement has been there for about five years. I can hear him croak in the dead of winter with snow on the ground and during the summer he comes out in the evening to swim in the dog's water bucket.

 

[vehve]

Quote: Hey, I have a pet frog too. He lives next to the front yard hose. Actually I think there are two.

 

[tridentk9]

Shortly before I left California some "animal advocates"  did a "documentary"  on a large egg farm near me showing all sorts of alleged cruelty and mistreatment of the hens.  The whole thing was staged and last I heard the egg farm was taking them to court for defamation..

HSUS, Etc (seems like PeTA was involved too) sued Barnum and Bailey circus using a paid informant and the attorney and he lied about his payments under oath. It didn't help him that his testimony had holes in it.

http://www.midwestproducer.com/news...cle_fb1bbab2-e696-11e3-8afc-0019bb2963f4.html

 

[evemfoster]

So the frog that hides behind my shower curtain in the bathroom should be safe but I'll probably lose it's father that lives under the house. He or his replacement has been there for about five years. I can hear him croak in the dead of winter with snow on the ground and during the summer he comes out in the evening to swim in the dog's water bucket.

I have toads all around the coop. They come out at night and eat the Mosquitoes that swarm in as soon as the shade starts moving across the coop in the evenings. There are toads hiding both inside and outside the coop in all the niches during the day. When i take a flashlight and head out a bit late to close up the coop i see the toads hanging onto the welded wire of the windows and from the wire around the run about shoulder height all facing away from the coop. Waiting for the next meal to come buzzing up.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Yes red bellys are elapids, and we do have a ton of dangerous snakes (tiger, inland taipan) but where I live we don't really have that many. Red bellies are only dangerous if you don't get to hospital quick enough. They are pretty clumsy when they bite so they kinda hang on and chew O_O. We also have brown snakes which are pretty bad too. My friend lost a terrier to a red belly though, they are pretty deadly to dogs .

I have friends who are Australian, and they have come to the US when the husband is on business, and they have repeatedly invited my husband and I to visit them in NSW. The truth is flying makes my Meniere's go bonkers, and I'm terrified I'd be staggering around and land on my rump on a Tiger snake. Those things terrify me.

Maybe some day we'll take a passenger-ferry to Australia.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

In all fairness though there are only two species of snake that are actually poisonous, garter snakes and rhabdophis snakes. In most cases venomous is the correct word.

Yep. And we had the garter snakes in Oregon. Every once in a while they'd poison someone's pet that decided to eat one.

 

[tandykins]

I have friends who are Australian, and they have come to the US when the husband is on business, and they have repeatedly invited my husband and I to visit them in NSW. The truth is flying makes my Meniere's go bonkers, and I'm terrified I'd be staggering around and land on my rump on a Tiger snake. Those things terrify me.

Maybe some day we'll take a passenger-ferry to Australia.

Perhaps I can reassure you. I am an American (from Eugene, Oregon) who has been living in Australia for nearly 12 years. I've seen fewer than five snakes in that time. Most of them crossing the road (not including dead snakes on the road which would probably be closer to 50). Two of them were in nature reserves. One was in my yard. Every single one of the snakes I've encountered has fled in a panic.

Unless you're tromping around in tall grass in the summer you're fine. The vast majority of snake bites occur when people try to capture or kill a snake.

Frankly, if an animal in Australia is going to kill you - it's going to be a kangaroo hopping out in front of your car and totaling it ....or a tourist ignoring signs and wandering into a body of water with a croc in it. Though in NSW (where I live), crocs aren't a concern.

 

[tandykins]

Yep. And we had the garter snakes in Oregon. Every once in a while they'd poison someone's pet that decided to eat one.

(But mostly they just stunk a lot. XD)

 

[The Yakima Kid]

From Wikipedia:
"Garter snakes were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed they do, in fact, produce a mild neurotoxic venom.[5] Garter snakes cannot kill humans with the small amounts of comparatively mild venom they produce, and they also lack an effective means of delivering it. They do have enlarged teeth in the back of their mouths, but their gums are significantly larger.[6][7] TheDuvernoy's gland of garters are posterior (to the rear) of the snake's eyes.[8] The mild venom is spread into wounds through a chewing action."

Yep. There was a kid that got one locked onto his arm and that was part of how they discovered that garter snakes are venomous, but, like the Mussurana, they don't have a venom delivery system that is generally adequate for injuring people. They are colubrids; at one time it was generally believed that almost all of the colubrids - with certain famous exceptions like Boomslangs and Twig snakes.

Meanwhile, the kid whose arm turned black has the snake get stuck on him and remain there unable to let go until a janitor was able to dislodge the snake by prying with a screwdriver. The kid apparently recovered completely, I have no idea of what happened to that poor, terrified little serpent who was picked up and terrorized by a child.

Can you tell I really like non-venomous snakes - I go into raptures if I find a rubber boa, sharp-tailed snake, garter snake or bull snake anywhere I live.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Garter Snakes are not venomous per se but they do retain toxins from there prey as The Yakima kid mentioned, such as newts, salamanders, frogs, ect. Now Gopher Snakes can be both poisonous and or venomous do to the fact that they eat small prey such as newts, salamanders, frogs, ect along with your average mouse, small rat, small gophers, ect. But one fact that most people do not know and should is that a Gopher Snake can and will hibernate with Rattlesnakes and also breed with them witch in fact can make the hybrid just as dangerous as a Rattlesnake. In my 30+ years as a reptile keeper and a freelance herpetologist i have seen 3 Gopher Snakes with fangs and venom glands witch makes the Gopher Snake venomous to humans and animals.

Whoa. Never heard of that; I knew that they hibernated together. I would have suspected there would be a chromosome count issue.

Garter snakes actually do have a neurotoxin. Don't know about Nerodia.