What venomous creatures live around you?

In South West Texas we have:

Rattlesnakes
Copperheads
Fire Ants
Carpenter Ants
Centipedes
Bark Scorpions
Wasps

South Georgian here. Yes, we have the usual vipers, hymenopterans, and arachnids. We also have a beautiful but very painful vespid not mentioned so far:

Cow Killers.

Those bitches hurt!

In the pub garden this afternoon I was brutally attacked by a small terrier. I think it was trying to beat me to death with its tail.

Well, there are only four poisonous snake species in the USA, and all can be found in Austin.

The only type I actually SEE regularly is the water moccasin- there are all kinds of water snakes around here, most of them harmless, but there are plenty of moccasins too.

Another Australian here. Everything will try to kill you.

There are more than four species of venomous snakes in the US, but only the four main species are harmful to humans. For example, there is a species of snake in the southwest US called the night snake. It produces very limited amounts of a mildly toxic venom and does not have an effective venom delivery system. It only affects the very small prey that it hunts. The garter snake has also recently been discovered to produce venom. Like the night snake, its venom is also produced in small amounts and is non toxic to humans.

Night snake.

Garter snake.

Some of the sheep aren’t venomous.

According to Wiki:

This list is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.:eek:

Don’t mistake kind for species - I see this over and over on websites, but it is an error. The classic “four” - rattlesnake, water moccasin, copperhead and coral snake are actually ~22 species of significantly venemous snake in the United States and its waters:

16 different full species of viperids in the genus Crotalus ( the rattlesnakes ).

2 different species of viperids in the genus Agkistrodon ( the copperhead and water moccasin ).

2 species of elapid in the genus Micrurus - the eastern and Texas coral snakes, recently separated.

1 species of elapid in the genus Micruroides - the Arizona coral snake.

1 elapid in the genus Pelamis - the yellow-bellied sea snake, occasionally found in southern California waters in warm water years.

So rattlesnakes get counted once despite there being 16 of them, coral snakes once despite there being 3 ( or maybe 2 ), the copperhead and water moccasin luck out and get the right count and our lone sea snake gets ignored because it is hardly ever encountered.

ETA: And of course as cochrane points out that ignores the rear-fanged snakes like the lyre snake or black-headed snakes that aren’t typically considered a threat to humans.

Too late to edit - And dang it, I forgot two more :wink: :

2 species of viperid in the genus Sistrurus ( the pygmy rattlesnakes ). Poor rattlesnakes really get the shaft in this country. They’re a fairly diverse lot, even if they all do look kinda generically “pit vipery.”

Tamerlane has expertly (as usual) dealt with the snakes of the USA. Allow me to add one more that is also “around” me, although not quite in the USA.

Once upon a time I landed on a small island in the Bahamas’ Berry Islands chain. I was looking for anything of botanical or zoological interest and, lucky me, I saw a dark colored, very busy snake near the shoreline. The two-plus footer was actively hunting lizards in the driftwood washed onto the beach. I carefully approached and was able to place my foot onto the snake’s body, pinning it briefly and harmlessly to the soft sand. As I leaned over to pick it up, the snake turned and bit me rather vigorously on my bare ankle.

The bite was surprisingly extremely painful and began to bleed copiously. It was at that moment I remembered an at the time unconfirmed characteristic attributed to a certain Bahamian snake. This was indeed a Bahamian Racer (Alsophis vudii), a rear fanged and mildly venomous colubrid found on many Bahamian islands. Within minutes my ankle began to swell. It took me more than an hour to run my skiff back to my trawler docked at Chub Key and my foot was the size of a football by then. But the pain was already lessening and I had no systemic symptoms, so I didn’t think I needed further treatment. Good thing, because the closest hospital was across Tongue of the Ocean in Nassau. I continued to have discomfort and some swelling for a week.

Most of the pain was to my ego though. I was pleased to have added this species to my ‘life list’. But as an experienced handler of venomous snakes I was chastened and embarrassed by my first encounter with this one. I made a foolish assumption that this was a harmless snake, then violated the cardinal rule of snake handling – Don’t Get Bitten! Never again!

I’m in New Zealand. The short answer is probably nothing. Maybe some Aussie illegal immigrants (Redback spiders), but that is about it for venomous creatures.

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Okay, technically true. A lot of “harmless” snakes are now known to have SOME venom. But there are only four with venom powerful enough to kill or seriously injure a human: the rattler, the moccasin, the copperhead and trhe coral snake. All four can be found in an around Austin.

As I said, I SEE moccasins often when kayaking with my son. To be sure, there are LOTS of harmless water snakes swimming around us too, but I’ve definitely seen moccasins. They have a reputation for being super aggressive, but in my experience, they just swim their own merry way without paying much attention to canoes or kayaks.

Some years back, my son’s school had a panic because a few coral snakes were spotted around a huge patch of ivy. Coral snakes are generally shy and reclusive, but these guys had been washed out of their hiding spots by heavy rains.

We have a particularly venomous breed of sheep in the US. The bleating sounds like “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

Couple-three species of rattlesnake. Some copperheads. That’s about all if we are talking stuff that can possibly kill you without you being allergic. If we take allergic reaction fatalities into account, there are bees and wasps and such in plenty.