Strange encounters with unusual animals or insects

[Guest Mnytime]

You want pictures I got pictures for you. By the way if you are in Austriala and see any of these make like a Cheetah and get the hell out of there.

Inland Taipan doesn't look like much but this one you never want to meet up close. Unlike most venmous snakes it bites repeatedly and each time enough to kill 100 people. They are very shy snakes so unless your stupid enough to scare it enough to attack it will leave you alone.

King Brown Snake

Eastern Tiger Shark

Tiger Snake

Black Tiger Snake

Death Adder

[Guest Mnytime]

A Reticulated Python. Though this is smaller than mine.

Mine has the striping of the first and a lighter coloring of the second.

[Guest Mnytime]

This is an Anaconda but it gives a better example of the length. Though Anaconda's are heavier than Pythons. A 20 foot Anaconda will weigh more than a 30 foot Python. This still looks about 5 feet shorter than my Python.

Edited June 29, 2003 by Mnytime

[J Larsen]

This is an Anaconda but it gives a better example of the length. Though Anaconda's are heavier than Pythons. A 20 foot Anaconda will weigh more than a 30 foot Python. This still looks about 5 feet shorter than my Python.

At the Bronx Zoo (a very depressing place that I don't recommend to visitors) they have an anaconda with a maximum cross section larger than a dinner plate.

I still have the following stories that I haven't told: my bat-infested Princeton dorm room and a chance encounter with a stray llama in near total darkness late at night in the woods in Santa Cruz, CA. If anyone's curious I can fill in the details.

[Guest Mnytime]

And I am sure that is when it hasn't even eaten anything.

I also have two of these beauties.

[Guest Chaney]

As it's nearly bedtime (and I now have to try and rid my mind of centipedes), may I choose The Tale of the Bat-Infested Princeton Dorm Room please?

[Guest Chaney]

Mny, I'm willing to relocate if you're in need of a curator for your zoo. (I can also keep your sound system company.)

[Guest Mnytime]

Actually because of my illness I am unable to care for any of my animals personally. And outside of my dogs there is no way my fiancée is getting near any of my other animals. I have had to hire people to care for each of the different animals.

Not exactly cheap either.

I would love to get some Piranha but they are illegal in Ca.

As you can tell I am into the more deadly exotic animals. Though I don't do spiders and insects.

And yes my family and girl think I am

Edited June 29, 2003 by Mnytime

[J Larsen]

As it's nearly bedtime (and I now have to try and rid my mind of centipedes), may I choose The Tale of the Bat-Infested Princeton Dorm Room please?

I don't know that it's the more exciting of the two, but sure! In 1999 I was invited to conduct a research project at Princeton for about five months. They set me up with what they call a "visitor's dorm" (or something like that). It was in a very old building where Winston Churchill once resided. The building was not in the best condition. Mind you, I am a city boy and not too swift about nature and animals. As of 1999, pigeons were pretty much the extent of my exposure to wildlife.

Anyway, it's about two weeks into my stay (excuse me as I change verb tense), and I'm up late one night in my room working on my project. I'm listening to very loud music on headphones to stay awake. I look up for a moment for a brief mental break, when I see a very strange shadow streaking across the wall right in front of me. I'll admit that my first thought was "Holy shit, there's a terydactal in my room!!!" I spin around and see a large, dark object rapidly circling my room, and BOLT! I run downstairs where I run into a guy from Bikina Faso who became my closest friend at Princeton. I tell him there's a bat in my room. He is skeptical, as the previous night I had admitted to him that I smoked my share of marijuana as a teenager and he is convinced that such induglence permanently damages one's mind. He says if anything, there is a bird. I bet him five bucks it's a bat. He goes up to look, and sure enough there are not one but two large bats hanging from the ceiling. Much to my dismay, they have been deficating on my floor. He hands me five bucks and I use my neighbor's phone to call building services.

"Hello, building services."

"There are two large bats in my room, how soon can you get over here to get rid of them?"

"Oh, we can probably be there by tomorrow morning around 10AM."

"What are you talking about, man? You're right around the corner! How can it take you 10 hours to get here?"

"University policy. Between 6PM and 10AM we only come out for emergencies." (It was around midnight at the time.)

"I've got two big bats in the room where I sleep, shitting all over the place. That isn't an emergency?"

"Nope. If you just don't like bats, don't you have a friend you can stay with?"

A long string of explicitives follow, which precipate the jackass on the other end hanging up on me. Ahmed, my West African friend and one of the most colorful people I've ever met, walks in to my room, goes right up to one of the bats, and starts having a conversation with it! "What are you doing in here, mon? You do not belong inside!" By this point about five or six people who live in the building have come by to observe the bats - the person most freaked out by them was the biggest jock in the group! Ahmed then picks up a garbage can, and, showing no sign of apprehension whatsoever, places it directly over the bat, trapping it against the ceiling. He then releases it out the window and repeats for the other bat (the other bat resisted capture a bit, but it only took a few minutes to get him out of the room). Next we turn our attention to how the bats got in my room in the first place, as the windows are screened. It doesn't take us long to realize that there is some sort of bat nest in the roof of the building, and being on the top floor that meant that there were bats in one of my walls. There were two holes of approximately golf ball size in that wall, through which the bats must have come in. The next morning I repaired the holes, and never had bats in the room again (at least, not while I was awake!). I would hear them every now and then, though, and it was a little creepy. It sort of made it hard to have female guests over. Ahmed used to give me a really hard time about that ("Mon, if some bat scared a girl out of my room, I would fry that bat and eat it!").

I hope this was entertaining enough to read. I think it was probably a lot wierder, creepier and funnier if you were actually there.

I edited this to clean up the paragraph breaks and clarify a couple points. Hopefully it's easier to follow now.

Edited June 29, 2003 by J Larsen

[Guest Mnytime]

Doesn't suprise me that Princeton has bats. I can only imagine what Yale has hiding in their Dorm walls.

So if a girl is getting raped at 5pm it's not an emergency for them?

[J Larsen]

So if a girl is getting raped at 5pm it's not an emergency for them? 

Well, I'm sure that's an emergency in their book. That, a fire, or a prowler is probably the extent of their definition of emergency. In retrospect, I should have had a femal friend call. If it was a bat in a girl's room, I bet they would have come out.

Never mind - I see where you got confused. I've edited to clarify. Note the rewording.

Edited June 29, 2003 by J Larsen

[Guest Mnytime]

So if a girl is getting raped at 5pm it's not an emergency for them? 

Well, I'm sure that's an emergency in their book. That, a fire, or a prowler is probably the extent of their definition of emergency. In retrospect, I should have had a femal friend call. If it was a bat in a girl's room, I bet they would have come out.

Never mind - I see where you got confused. I've edited to clarify. Note the rewording.

You can't be sure about that. We are talking about Princeton cops so they can't be that bright.

[Guest Chaney]

Good stuff J.

I hope you've since learned to plan your emergencies with more though and consideration?

A (female) neighbor of mine once needed my help in showing a bat the door. With a bit of patience, I was able to capture the little blood sucker by (take notes J) using a broom and gently trapping it against a wall -- then removing it in my hand while wearing (me, not the bat) a heavy winter glove.

A few days later she had the same problem and this time her dim-witted (but, amazingly, a PhD) husband managed to kill the poor critter. His manner of capture? Hitting the poor creature with the broom. (This clown also talks to his Mustang convertible using a high pitched voice - a bit like Graham Chapman in Monty Python.

indeed.

[Guest Mnytime]

Though it is impossible to import them I would love to get a few of these babies.

[J Larsen]

Though it is impossible to import them I would love to get a few of these babies.

Don't those eat people?

[Guest Mnytime]

They have been known to eat a few people but so have Pythons and few other things I have.

So you better stay off my supposed "enemies" list.

[Guest Mnytime]

Chaney

How are you with Sharks and fish?

[J Larsen]

Mny, evidently they are as tasty to us as we are to them. Check out the second item from the top on this site: http://www.petsorfood.com/reptiles.shtml .

Edited June 29, 2003 by J Larsen

[J Larsen]

Hmm, having poked around a bit on the site I linked above, I feel compelled to caution the faint of heart. They have koala, dodo, spotted owl and afghan hound meat for sale in addition to many other questionable cullinary offerings.

[Guest Mnytime]

Unless things have changed last I checked I was under the impression you could not have them as pets because they where considered endangered. There are only supposed to be 5,000 of them.

This is from the About section of that site:

Our Beginnings

Founded by a member of Mensa, the high IQ society, Pets or Food is dedicated to bringing together people and animals.

In 1987, Sidney Zwibel was working as an animal disposal technician at a Humane Society in Lincoln Nebraska. He felt that all the animals he was responsible for euthanising were being wasted, and the act itself was irresponsible and immoral in the light of all the people going hungry across America. In 1988, Sidney and a group of like minded entrepreneurs founded Pets or Food™ to take in homeless animals and rehabilitate them to fulfill their destinies as either loving family companions or nutritious, protein rich meat supplements to those going without.

What started out as a county wide effort in 1988 grew to become a nation wide endeavor with satellite processing centers in Boise, Idaho, Gainesville, Florida, Freemont, Texas and Eau 'Claire, Wisconsin. Today, Pets or Food™ is responsible for providing over a billion calories a day to the needy and places thousands of pets with new owners each week.

Pets or Food™ is the leading supplier of animal products to the nation's prison systems and was recognized in 1999 by Governor George W. Bush of Texas for helping to lower overall costs for the Texas prison system by almost 15%.

I wonder just what they are feeding those prisoners especially in Texas?

Edited June 29, 2003 by Mnytime

[J Larsen]

Afghan Hound, perhaps?

http://www.petsorfood.com/exotics.shtml

[Guest Mnytime]

Hey they have free shipping on ready to eat cats. You have to order a dozen though to get the free shipping.

Ok outside of food for some pet who eats cats?

Edited June 29, 2003 by Mnytime

[J Larsen]

Mny, I'm sure you've caught on, but in case anyone else is concerned, the site is a joke. It looks just legit enough to make you wonder for a second though! The dodo is sort of a giveaway.

[Guest Mnytime]

You know it reminds me of that Marlin Brando and Matthew Broderick film The Freshman.

When did they find live Dodo?

Edited June 29, 2003 by Mnytime

[Use3D]

Though it is impossible to import them I would love to get a few of these babies.

http://www.heptune.com/komodo10.jpg

I think the line should be drawn somewhere. You would be surprised how many people ask me if they can get these. It's stupid. Those aren't pets. Shit, most of the people that want these things from me shouldn't even raise children.