# So what bit you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 29, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-bit-you/111447 "2002-05-29T21:33:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-bit-you/111447/8 "2002-05-30T00:52:07Z")
Hmmm…Lessee… Invertebrates: Several species of crustacean Octopus ( unpleasant ) Jellyfish Fleas Ticks ( two species ) Spiders ( two or three species ) Mosquitos Midges Biting Flies ( _Tabanus punctifer_ - A more appropriate name I can scarcely imagine ) Bearded Fly Honeybee Bumblebee Yellow-Jacket Paper Wasp Chiggers Scorpion ( _Uroctonus mordax_ - no biggie ) Mammals: Puli ( no one’s fault, including the dog, we startled each other badly - I’m fond of this dog ) Toy Poodle ( this, on the other hand, was the fault of that foul-tempered yappy beast ) California Meadow Vole ( vicious little guys and no mistake 😃 ) Amphibians: Arboreal Salamander ( actually drew a teensy bit of blood ) Black-bellied Salamander ( a tenacious little character ) Birds: Chesnut-Backed Chickadee ( feisty as all get out ) Purple Finch ( this one hurt for such a little bird - big, seed-crushing bill ) Brewer’s Blackbirds ( several times - thwacked on the head by dive-bombing nesters - less painful than surprising - feels like someone snapping their fingers into the top of your head ) Chicken ( pecked ) Reptiles ( Lizards ): Western Fence Lizards ( more times than I can count ) Northern Alligator Lizards ( ditto ) Southern Alligator Lizards ( ditto that ditto - Alligator Lizards are “fun” because they clamp down and you can hang them in mid-air from your hand 😉 ) Side-Blotched Lizards Long-Nosed Leopard Lizards Desert Iguana ( not the same as the ones people keep for pets that can deliver a real mother of a bite ) others I’m no doubt not recalling Reptiles( Snakes ): More bites than I can count from a variety of species, mostly various Rat ( _Elaphe_ ) and Garter ( _Thamnophis_ ) snakes. But others as well ( Racers, Kingsnakes, etc. ) The piece de resistance? A Chinese King Rat Snake ( aka Chinese Keeled Rat Snake, Stinking Goddess - _Elaphe carinata_ ) popped me in the eye. Hit me open-mouthed and his teeth penetrated the corner of my eyelid and the sclera of my eye. Must be a pretty-well vascularized area - I bled like a stuck pig. Also it turned the sclera dark red-black for several days, causing the wags at work to dub me ‘snake-eyes’ :D. The culprit: [http://www.ratsnakes.com/Ecarinata.html](http://www.ratsnakes.com/Ecarinata.html) Handsome animal, but I don’t recommend them as pets. They’re a wee bit pissy ;). But at that I know many people who have taken many far worse bites ( or stings ) than me. For example my dad, who stepped on a stingray in the Sea of Cortez, much to his distress. Or my roomate who got hit in a chine by a wild ten-foot Boa, which he said was like getting a face full of roofing nails. Or his brother who has had three of four Rattlesnake bites. - Tamerlane --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-bit-you/111447)._