NORWAY RATS ABANDONING NORWAY

I don't like spiders, the little ones I can put outside, but the big bastards just freak me out. I kill them even though they're no threat to us they're just bloody horrible. I don't mind snakes, but we don't really get many over here, a friend had a pet corn snake that was really cute, but I've never seen snakes in the wild. I've seen slow worms, which are a bit snakey, but classed as legless lizards.

We only have three actual snakes over here, and only one of them, the adder is venomous, but not enough to kill an adult. They're shy which is probably why I've never seen one, don't know how I'd feel about a rattlesnake.

Yes, just throw a glass of water on them if they're out in the open. It pretty well immobilizes them, from surface tension, I believe. Then you can smash them with a paper towel and toss them in the trash.

You put Rikki Tikki Tavi up against a rattlesnake instead of a cobra and you've got one dead little mongoose. They're quick, and their striking distance is hard to believe.

There are lots of rattlesnakes in Los Angeles environs.

I remember that on one of our design projects of my design partner's separate business landscape firm, but that I had designed, the head guy found a nest of baby rattle snakes, and killed them.

I might have, but this is Japan and the rules are different. The death of one mouse is hardly enough for a major pet food company to bother about.

"Dear Sirs, Very sorry to interrupt your otherwise-smooth daily routine and highly-pleased communications with so many happy customers, but your cat meal killed a wild mouse..."

If I received a response, it might be something like "Our cat food contains a specified amount of the vital nutrient taurine, which is not suitable for consumption by mice and has been known to accumulate in their bodies over time and kill them. Their biology is far different from that of a cat, as we hope you are aware..."

Not to say taurine (which is indeed essential to cat health) was the cause, but just an example of a possible response, if they felt my complaint warranted one.

Often, pets are not considered by many here to be much more than property anyway. My wife and I are held somewhat in awe by locals who hear of our rescues and saves.

Also by me, not to be mushy .

I like some spiders, such as the common jumping variety, but I hate like hell that every time I go about the yard I walk into spider webs. You take them down and the spiders re-string them. Been going on for years, but I can never be used to it.

Why would I want to do that, it seems cruel?

I believe Roger was just giving a comparison between tale / legend, and reality.

Living on Okinawa, there are still mongoose-habu fights staged for tourists. They are cruel and inhumane -- forcing two natural enemies into a small space to watch one try to kill the other. The snake is often the victor as it is simply a solid cord of muscle like a whip, while the mongoose is generally fierce if it can get it's teeth into the back of the snake's neck, but slower to move and strike.

In nature, it's rare that a snake and a mongoose would actually meet up in the wild. The generally avoid each other.

I know, I was joking.

I wasn't. Those rattlesnakes are quick.

This is the most successful April Fool's Day thread I've ever started. I am amazed and gratified at the digressionary nature of this palaver.

Actually, I thought most people knew it was a joke...

It is similar to the year (in the 60's? 70's?) Queen Elizabeth "hit the headlines" by exiling a small flock of English sparrows for executing obtrusively political maneuvers in the vicinity of the English Parliament, causing "dizziness and confusion among the Members of Parliament, which was in session at the time". April Fools.

Or when the Italians celebrated the yearly Spaghetti Harvest (I think there's still a video for this on YT). April Fools...

:-)

But your thread did yield some interesting anecdotes!