🐟 Red Tide Looking Back Over —2021-2022 NOW HURRICANE IAN
No severe boating, no injuries but these tropical storms Florida is known for create wind violence 40-70 mile gusts, water spouts which are basically offshore tornadoes and enormous amounts of rain. Some scientists thought it could break up the severe Red Tide. In fact some think it stirred the pot (Some thought it would break up by turbulence and aeration of the rough water, but it backfired ) and then we had Hurricane IAN which devastated Ft. Meyers North to Tampa and Orlando, the most powerful storm zig-zaged and Tampa ducked a bullet.
2022 Daily temperatures have been in the high eighties to mid-nineties, and humidity enough you don’t need to shower, you will be soaked all by yourself just running around the block. With rain everyday the soil gets saturated and when the aquifers load up the fertilizer chemicals and only God knows what else people use on their lawns overflow into the ocean. Instead of the storm breaking the Tide it nourishes it with that great fertilizer. Especially golf courses with large ponds —
Herr Von De Santis Made It Worse —
— And then we added a contribution to the dilemma by our dumbass Governor Herr De Santis who opened up the “ RED TIDE Food Bank" by dumping sewage from a neglected water treatment area in the bay which added to the problem. He dumped millions of gallons of rich growth hormones to the RED TIDE for votes —
The Ignorant Governor of the Year, a T-RUMP trained and a bonified excess dripping sperm moron paid no attention to the fact Florida is basically built on a very porous foundation which is why we have sinkholes, underground rivers and aquifers. And dead fish showing up on our beaches — the ocean is not our garbage dump — the answer to suvival on the earth will be sustainable and reusable products and resources —
Bulldozers, Ditch Witches, Bobcats scoop up the remains and they have to be trucked to the landfill as they cannot be ground up for fertilizer nor burned. The problem is the dead fish that wind up on the beaches get filled with sand and cannot be put into the garbage grinders prior to burning as the sand would destroy the grinder machines. Put a cup of sugar, sand or any abrasive solids in your gas tank and you won’t have an engine, same thing. It in the old days a way to get rid of a noisy neighbors car —
🚰 Rivers Creating Vast "Dead Zones” — David Biello
The nation's waterways are brimming with excess nitrogen from fertilizer--and plans to boost biofuel production threaten to aggravate an already serious situation
🐬 Red Tide Questions About — And Manatees
🔘 The toxin causes respiratory issues and skin irritation — but can also cause neurological problems and harm dogs, too. Red Tide has killed tons of sea life in the Tampa Bay region, but the harmful effects to humans and pets are lesser known. “We’ve had Red Tide in our waters for hundreds of years, but as we populate our coastline, more people are being impacted.”
🔘 Scientists know this much about Red Tide: It causes sneezing, coughing and watery eyes in humans. Those with respiratory problems like asthma should stay away. Covid can become a factor. Add it up Covid, Red Tide, Asthmatic Problems, the perfect storm. Researchers expected an uptick in asthma and bronchitis, but the rise in pneumonia surprised them.
🔘 Manatee mortalities have met the criteria to be declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) by the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed the UME determination. Moving forward, the FWC will continue to coordinate closely with our federal partners, participate in the investigative team, and conduct analyses related to the cause of the UME. Working with these partners, FWC staff will explore both short- and long-term and small- and large-scale response options, including aquatic habitat restoration.
2021 Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission
Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory
Red Tide Manatee Mortalities — Red Tide Total = 32
What You Need To Know About Florida
That They Don’t Tell You
🛳 Cruise Ships and Florida Ports —
🔘 What do you get when you cram 1000-4000 people into a boat with cabins that don’t circulate air well? Lets face it, open windows or portholes are not that common below the waterline on most sea going ships. Thus the answer to the question is a bunch of little virus's and bacterium that cause about 20% -30% of the travelers to get various upper respiratory and lower tract problems. More common than you think. It’s called Legionnaires Virus or Sea Flu recently surpassed the last two years by COVID-19, all the variants.
🔘 Just recently Carnival Lines had two from their fleet come back to port with hundreds sick on board. Adds new meaning to the expression “Cruise to Nowhere". Each season either fires, bad food, epidemics of porcelain polishing or just going over the side welcome the seafaring cruise public. Fortunately they had enough toilet paper.
🔘 Cruise fever aboard the giant ships occurred seven times this year, mostly out of Florida ports. Some with Legionaries and other viruses spread around the world — Travelers referred to it as the worst Sh*t-storm they ever encountered. “ Days of Their lives” became “ Days of Their Diarrhea”
🔘 And thats nothing compared to COVID-19 when it came on the scene. Now cruise ships are being called PETRI DISHES for COVIS-19. And they were shut down. Our incredibly stupid T-RUMP Acolyte Governor Herr DeSantis did not listen to the CDC scientists or doctors and opened all capacity bars to max , and indoor sporting events like the phony Pro Wrestling WWE with 17,000 to 20,000 people attending, most no masks, and keeping Cruise ships running. Florida was almost leading the nation in new cases.
🔘 They could not handle it with regular viruses and do you expect any of our genius leadership to handle the situation with COVID-19. They all failed to listen. The month February 2022 1, 000,000 Americans are DEAD. And a new word for the Jacobs Dictionary — LEADERSHIT ! If you believed our politician’s T-RUMP and DeSantis yes, please ask your Medical Practitioner for a prescription for a lobotomy at your local mental institution because an idiot like you might just be the cause of the horrific and more vulnerable spreading of the disease by anti-vaxers.
🔘 Cruise ships estimate one year before they can offer limited cruises if the vaccines work. The vaccines work but it’s all based on how bad our LEADERSHIT can screw things up.
🔘 This is a story about my state, this is where I have resided for the past 50 or so years. And it speaks to the things you probably are not aware of. Things no one told you about Florida, especially real estate people. But I have a hunch a couple of positions, recently filled with some brighter and honest people may straighten out a few things.
🔘 And we are a state with the state bird, the Mockingbird. Who in their right minds in the Florida Legislature made the Mockingbird the State bird? Then we figured it out, all the State Senators and Representatives in Florida are goose stepping GOP practitioners just like in Washington.
🔘 Pick a new state bird, the Pelican, or the Egret. It took a while to learn why the Mockingbird was selected. It represents our politicians, it was named after our bribed, bought off, corrupt representatives, of the people, the people who bribe them with money. True, they are a mockery but thats not a good reason.
1— With hundreds of songs in his repertoire and the stamina to sing for hours on end, the male Mockingbird specializes in vocal excess. Just like our politicians, they talk a lot and say little and do nothing.
2— A masterful mimic, he mixes a variety of songs borrowed from other species with his own material to defend his territory. Just like our politicians, he takes from others and repeats the lies till new ones come up. And lies again and again.
3— The overall effect is that listeners never quite know what will come out of his beak next. For female mockingbirds its variety that counts, its the same for voters. Just like our politicians who tell their constituents anything they want to hear.
4— And he only tells it to his voters , he cares little about, Blacks, Latinos, Jews, Immigrants and other good people. He prefers the rich Reptilians ( New name for the GOP) White folk of the Villages, Sun City, and other cloisters of the old GOP that voted for him.
Lets Start With The Gators
ALLIGATORS, CROCODILES, CAIMAN
🐊 Alligators — 
🔘 Even the Alligator is better qualified. Scientists tell us the ancient Dinosaurs actually evolved into birds, thus cutting out 50 million years or so and since Gators eat a lot of birds, I assumed it should be our state bird. I vote for the Gator, winner take all, feed the politicians to them.
🔘 Someone once asked me are Gators that dangerous? GATORS DANGEROUS, no only to idiots! They are our state treasure. Generally, They won’t bother you while boating, fishing or skiing in the Florida swamps. The are best defined as curious, cunning, focused, ambush hunters. And think puppies and dogs walked near streams, rivers and ponds are a snack. One gator thought they tasted like chicken.
Around humans most of
the time these lazy critters are just looking for a handout from the human
subculture “Homominus Bidiotosis”.
They are the morons who feed them marshmallows which just makes them more comfortable around man. Then the handout can become a hand.
Gators Think Hands Taste Like Chicken — Just avoid the nests around mating season, don't look for lost golf balls near the edge of the water and don't walk "Fluffy" at the waters edge. A hand isn’t worth a Titleist nor a Noodle, and Gators think dogs taste like chicken.
And watch out when swimming in inland lakes. It's a territorial thing. And they were here first. Gators aren’t the only things we have to be aware of in our state, you’ll soon see —
Gator Style — Love or Hate Relationship —
🔘 Our Jurassic friends, some of the first settlers in Florida since they appeared during the Oligocene epoch about 37 million years ago come in two flavors worldwide. The American Alligator and the Chinese Alligator. In Florida however we have the American Gator plus two other members of the Crocodilian Family. The Salt Water Crocodile common in some estuaries and the Caiman introduced from South America by pet stores.
🔘 Thus three common types with teeth exist in Florida, with a lust for food and one pseudo branding sport gator, with lots of noise, the Florida Gators who are football fans. Some when inebriated are thrown into tanks just like gators. Some Gator fans should be fed to the real Gators —
🔘 The only other Gator specie in the world is the very rare Chinese Alligator, smaller in size, about three quarters the size of the American version whereas the record for an American Gator is 19 feet and the oldest known Gator which was donated as a yearling to a German Zoo is known to be 76 years old. Weinersnitzel must be good for you.
🔘 The Chinese alligator currently is found only in the Yangtze River Valley and is extremely endangered, with only a few dozen believed to be left in the wild. Indeed, far more Chinese alligators live in zoos around the world than can be found in the wild. So far no travel visas have been issued and the Chinese culture saw them as a food source and voila, few alive. They are not a threat, Chinese Plagues , Covid SARS and Avian Flu is.
🔘 In review, the real gator can be confused being with Salt Water Crocodiles, the Southern Gator and the Caiman. Caiman were those cute pets sold as Gators in our pet stores. Usually overfed they grew quickly. When they ate the family pet or took a finger, they all too often get the short ride to the glades or flushed into the sewer system. Surprise, they lived. Sewers have water that goes for miles and rats. Home sweet home. They hunt a lot at night so dark is OK.
Caiman — Caiman, think of them as a Gator in ripping shape with an aggressive attitude of a Crocodile. They only cause harm when people interfere with their lifestyle, which is to eat anything with fur or skin, dead or alive, moves or makes a noise. The ad said they make great pets, they forgot to ad “ who like other pets or small children”.
🔘 They were not native to Florida, but imported from S America as cute pets in the sixties. The difference between the three is evident. The Alligator has a wide face and articulates his upper jaw with incredible strength to close it. Not so strong to open it. Thus the duct tape or electricians tape you see in all those TV shows to secure them when trapped.
🔘 The Crocodile can articulate his lower jaw opposite to the alligator. The Caiman can articulate and move his upper and lower jaw. The Aliigator is more laid back than either the Crocodile or Caiman. The Caiman wins the nasty award.
🔘 Most common attacks,
realistically, the Gator is our official trash and unleashed dog law
enforcer. In residential areas he is the reminder not to leave your dog
unleashed, near the waters edge, or wandering around.
🔘 Leash laws in Florida do exist, but they are not heeded too, nor enforced strongly enough. Besides, Gators don't read, and some humans don’t read signs either.
🔘 Yes, stupidity exists, it’s rampant and is doing well amongst some of our not too bright pet owners. Cats are smarter, they don’t like water and our feral cat population (over 100,000 in our county) has not been diminished by the gator population. Cars get cats, yes, Coyotes, yes, Cat HIV yes, Gators no.
Maybe Cats Taste Like Cats And Not Chickens —
🔘 Soon we’ll have to put the Gators on Lipitor with all the sugar and carbs they are getting. DO NOT FEED THE GATOR! First it’s illegal and recently our fish and game people issued tickets. Arms, legs, pets and chicken parts look the same to the Gator. His walnut size brain has one function. Not much you can do with a walnut so it’s 100% dedicated to food and body control - temperature determines what Alligators do.
🔘 Gators think people taste like chicken and a hell of a lot better than bread. GATORS-3, HUMANS- 0 Unfortunately as things run in cycles, last year was a bad year for Gator fatalities. Three definite fatal Gator attacks on a swimmer, a gal walking real close to the edge of the water and another Gal with her legs dangling in the water off a dock. These attacks in urban neighborhoods stem from two things. Compression of the Gators habitat and the idiots that feed them while walking their dogs.
🔘 They loose their fear of humans and associate humans as a food source. An animal with hundreds of pounds of body weight and a brain the size of a walnut doesn't differentiate. Those canines will crush anything after he drowns it. And he is capable of a burst of speed faster than a human can react at estimated 35MPH. Just as terrifying in water.
🔘 They are ambush predators lying just below the surface at the edge of the water and can cover fifteen feet in less than two seconds. They think poodles taste like chicken and people taste like poodles who taste like chicken.
🚤 Tampa Bay Times — Many Negative Responses About This Place —
🔘 A popular Central Florida tourist attraction facing fines after a tour boat filled with riders began taking on water in alligator infested water. The boat at Jungle Adventures Nature Park in Christmas, FL was carrying more than a dozen people Saturday, many of them children, when it started to sink.
🔘 Terrified riders said water started coming into the back of the boat so the guide told them to head to the front while he pushed the boat back to shore with a pole. One stranded passenger said they were all very scared and they even spotted alligators by the boat. Investigators say there were no life jackets on the boat. Right now the cruise ride is closed down. the states not too happy with them—
🔘 Jungle Adventures is not so nice to its main attractions, its animals. One person wrote my family went on the tour, including 2 small children, and at the end of the tour was a boat ride through the alligator swamp. About three fourth's of the way, the boat broke down (sounded like it hit a log that was underwater). Our tourguide had no way to contact anyone on land. In fact, the only thing she had in the boat was one pole.
Don't waste your money Or Your Life!
And Don’t Believe The Reviews —
Last Week - Trailer Parks —
🔘 Happens all the time: Someone did feed the “ Pet” Gator last week in a trailer park. The folks that live there thought the nine footer was harmless. They got the guys arm back (so much for stories of the arm that feeds you) so he could be buried in one piece. Gators drown their victims. They got the gator and the mans arm back, so he could be buried whole.
🔘 You would have better luck smoking in a dynamite factory. In the wild the Gator is the top of the food chain except for man and many restaurants who serve farm grown gator, quite good I might add. It’s got a slight but not gamier taste than chicken. Don’t overcook it. Tastes more like rattlesnake than Chicken unless you get them free ranging chickens. We have dirt-fed free-road kill chickens here.
🔘 After Hurricane “Fay” with water as high as three feet deep covering a good part of the state, and 40 million dollars of damage, one group did benefit from all the rain. The Gators ( not the football team) are thinking main street is their new turf while surveying millions of dollars damage. The Gator Lobbyists are claiming victory for mother nature in returning all this nice land the developers ruined when they turned the state into the Condo-Congo. Leave them alone, give them a birth, avoid them during the mating season and we’ll all sing Kum-Ba-Ya around the fire missing no one.
Our Amoebic Killers
🔘 “ Naegleria Fowleri” Officials: Flu-like symptoms after swimming in a lake should spark alarm as something in the lakes around Orlando, Florida, has claimed the lives of three boys this summer. "This thing is just there. It's lurking like some deadly thing in the water which can take our children's lives and we all have to be aware," said Orange County Health Department Director Dr. Kevin Sherin.
🔘 The "thing" isn't a fish or alligator. It is so small it cannot be seen with the naked eye. The killer that lives in the hot, fresh water is a single cell amoeba that once exposed to the human brain through the nasal passages is almost always fatal.
At first people exposed to the amoeba, “ Naegleria Fowleri”, suffer from flu-like symptoms. Very quickly, in from one to 14 days, the symptoms worsen, Sherin said. "There's a downhill course. Folks lapse into a coma; there are abnormal movements of the eyes and a terrible cascade of events leading to the actual death of parts of the brain."
🔘 Sherin said exposure to the amoeba can be detected by an MRI and it can be treated with antibiotics if caught early enough, but Sherin said he believes medical personnel are not in the habit of looking for the disease. That is because the amoeba is very rare. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, has documented 24 cases in the United States since 1989.
🔘 Health officials do not know what caused three cases in Orlando in one summer. Theories range from warmer temperatures to a drought that has lowered lake levels. Sherin said officials considered closing access to the lakes, but concluded they did not have the authority. Even if public lakes had been closed, private lakes would have remained open.
🔘 So, at 15 parks and lakes around the city, warnings about the amoeba have been posted. The signs urge bathers to wear nose clips or stay out of water warmer than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be a breeding ground for the amoeba.
The warnings provide little solace for Steve Sellars. Health investigators said they believe Sellars’ 11-year old son, Will, was exposed to the amoeba during an August weekend spent learning to wakeboard on Orlando’s Lake Jessamine. “ Will's symptoms were like a flu bug," Sellars said, "We rushed him to the hospital and two days later he's passed away. It’s like a nightmare.”
A month later, a 10-year-old boy died from exposure to the amoeba. Investigators have not determined where he was exposed. The death of a 14 year-old boy in June in the Orlando area also is being blamed on the amoeba.
As he investigates the deaths of the three boys from the amoeba, Sherin is concerned these type of deaths may be underreported. Health departments in Florida are not required to report amoeba infections to the state. The illness is so rare, he said, it may be commonly misdiagnosed in the United States and internationally.
He said anyone who exhibits flu-like symptoms who has been in a lake recently should see a doctor immediately.
HURRICANES, LIGHTNING AND SINKHOLES
🌀 Mother Nature Wins With Wind And Rain
🔘 Once again the brunt of the storm wormed and turned its way around the Bay of Tampa. We have missed the last ten mild and severe storms thankfully. One circumvented the state and went to New Orleans, Katrina. Since my condo is six stories up, I do not fear the flooding. If it gets that high I’ll need to put a call into Noah. Thats Noah, not NOAA —
🔘 It's a site-cast total concrete building with lots of rebar and built strong with bullet level plastic safety coated windows. It’s on a golf course surrounded with lakes and ponds galore, really an Island accessible by a forty foot bridge and SWIFTMUD who is our water management is behind the power curve on dredging thus, a good flood could happen. With food, water, enough propane, and a natural barrier to keep thieves out, it’s doable. I have taken enough precautions for thirty days of survival for four people, a cat named Abigale and a nutcase Cock-A -Teal who bites—
🔘 Lately, hundred of rental apartments have gone up in Florida and they are what we call matchboxes. 100% All wood construction and this is what they look like after a direct hit.
🔘 My garage on the surface level has an elevated five foot platform with Gorilla Brand nuclear rated shelves with cases of canned food and water five feet off the floor.
🔘 It if gets that high the Canoe comes out. We keep a propane stove, propane lights, and reserves, water and canned foods, back up batteries for all the radios and an ample supply of Budweiser, C- Rations, Ramen noodles in four flavors, Bud light, Cheeto’s, Peanut Butter, Miller Light, Crackers, and Martini Mix and a small Honda generator.
🔘 After I put this collection together easily keeping me warm and dry, no hurricanes, rain nothing else. And city days of free dried foods, civilian and Military. I had ninety percent of my gear from camping and hunting so equipping took no time elevating above the five water mark than anything else.
Public Safety And Get On The “A” List For A Good Hurricane Party
🔘 For those who have not taken advantage of the tons of public safety information available, here are the basics from the local advisory and stock up on those necessities, the FEMA folks usually distribute Ice and water.
🔘 Oh, the ice is for the beer. Hurricane parties are great occasions for the drunks to expand their turf and influence all not to seek higher or safer ground. We get to bury a few each year…
🔘 Dress appropriately, flip flops, big-fish patterned shirts and shorts for the men, no underwear. Go commando… For the girls, halters, tops optional and really short shorts or bikini bottoms and thongs.
🔘 Study the words to “ Margaritaville” for the sing-along’s.
🔘 Fill vehicle gas tank with gas, it displaces water, fill yourself with Vodka, it displaces fear. Or may we suggest this fruit filled concoction called a ‘ Hurricane”
🔘 Not a bad idea to have something for home defense and protection. Things get crazy during evacuations and crazier when supplies get low. Baseball bats are Ok, if you read the whole story on Katrina you would understand. But a .380/.40 cal Glock in all sizes and a Remington 870 all good. And I go to the range each month and stay very qualified.
🔘 Get cash and secure papers and valuables and store in safe place, computers might not take credit cards during the building break-ins.
🔘 Refill medications and make sure you have the bathroom basics, band-aids, toilet paper, Alka seltzer, PROZAC, Viagra, Preparation H and Medicinal Brandy and Duck tape.
🔘 Fill containers and tubs with water, even if evacuating – you may need the water when you return, fill one container with Brandy or at least good Vodka (2 liter min) floating in large pieces of ice if this goes more than a few days.
🔘 Your windows, if not safety glass, at least cover them with DUCK TAPE to prevent flying shards. (Remember we are the State for Shards and Chads.)
🔘 Be sure to help neighbors with their preparations. They won’t listen anyway proclaiming, “ I’ll ride this one out”. SURE, you will, remember how helpful they were to you during the last hurricane.
🔘 And be sure to cover your own ass, even the LORD said do not covert thy neighbors ass. Unless she is divorced and has a drop dead ass as shown in the insert. Sit back and watch, Enjoy natures way of getting even and leveling the land again after we screwed up her previous work.
🅴 Hello Earthquake —
🔘 Besides hurricanes, we have tornadoes, waterspouts and our newest phenomena, the earthquake. Didn't think California and Turkey had the edge. We get earthquakes emanating from the Gulf. Funny the last one we had emanated from the center of the Gulf.
🔘 Almost the same location that the meteor that caused the extinction of the Dinosaurs (no no no, please Evangelicals, are people who think this is the United States of Jesus and the Dinosaurs were not killed off by the cavemen, that was 200 million years later.
🔘 But if you need a theory for conspiratorialists, just tell them you think it’s Godzilla. That hole in the middle of the gulf was caused by a large meteorite or baby asteroid and killed just about everything on the earth. Thats the truth.
🌉 In-fart-Sructure
🔘 Since
our state has adapted the low bid policy, and our corrupt Givenor. (
Give-nor is a corrupt Governor who gives the best contracts to
friends without bids)
The I-4 corridor from Tampa to Daytona and the I-75 highway from say Sarasota to the Georgia border might get completed one day. Maybe, 2028 —
In forty years I have never been able to go from one place to another using those highways without numerous construction delays to improve the job botched previously.
🔘 Fellows,
please consider another inch thicker asphalt and it might last a year
longer. Low bids? Nah, good lobbyists.
Both
the Leroy Selmon Expressway and the Clearwater Beach Bridge had
construction failures costing a lot before the first car crossed over.
🔘 And just today 3-16-2018 as I was updating this page with new twists a 950 ton pedestrian bridge in Miami collapse killing six and five more not recovered as yet but the worst presumed.
🔘 And as usual our politicians will offer their thoughts and
prayers and still take graft money and fix nothing. This is
true of the State of Florida and The Congress of the United States.
It’s
time the people woke up and realized the real problem in this country is
the scumbags we elect. You’ll never have a more perfect union when
you elect imperfect, not even close to good people.
I’m declaring one day before elections National Hanging Day and
with one trip to Home Depot solve a few problems that have festered
too long. Rope is cheap, politicians are expensive.
⚡🌩 Lightning And Tampa Bay
🔘 We get so much, we named our one-time Stanley Cup Hockey Team after it, unfortunately they kind of short circuited and grounded out the next year.
Lightning is as much a part of the Tampa canvas as manatees and strip clubs. It tears through sky on an average of 100 days a year. It singes and burns, injures and even kills. Florida is a contender for the Lightning Capitol of the world and Tampa Bay is the Capitol of the Capitol.
🔘 We average more lightning strikes per hour than anywhere else in the world. Enough that we have a Lightning Research Lab at the University of Florida. The last class reported shocking information about the intensity of strikes and as soon as they get out of the hospital, we'll hear more about it.
🔘 And it leads us to a bold assertion: "Tampa is known, as all of you know, as the lightning capital of the country," It's an association ingrained into the soul of the city. But, the claim of national storm superiority might be a little overzealous,as the state leads the nation in lightning-related fatalities. But calling Tampa the lightning capital of the United States, or North America, or, as some have said, the world, just isn't true.
🔘 Houston is a hot spot, and so is the arc from North Carolina to New Orleans. New England. The Rocky Mountains. The amount of lightning activity a region or city sees changes every year, depending on a whole host of factors. One defining term would be the most cloud-to-ground lightning strikes another is thunderstorm days.
🔘 Some strikes pack more of a punch, or multiple punches known as strokes — the parts of the bolt that fragment off, documented in iconic photos. A single strike could carry as many as 15 strokes, adding one more layer to the comparison process.
🌊 Sinkholes
🔘 What's a
sinkhole? well it's NOT the hole in the middle of your sink that the water
goes down. It’s an underground cavern that during the dry and wet spells
in the state tend to collapse on occasion.
🔘 Totally unpredictable and ranging in size from a Ford 150 pickup to a 3200 square foot house. Sinkholes add an aura of concern around the purchase of a new home as it might NOT be covered in your homeowners policy.
🔘 In that case your bank account might be a stink hole from the sinkhole. In 2017 three houses fell into the holes and four more condemned in Pasco County from one sinkhole which has reduced the home values in that area to a notch above zero.
SNAILS, SPIDERS, MOSQUITOS, KILLER BEES,
WASPS, AMOEBAS AND PLANTS
An Invasive Snail Species —
(CNN)A pair of beagles discovered two Giant African Snails in the luggage of a passenger arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
🔘 Canine comrades Candie and Chipper, members of CBP's "Beagle Brigade," alerted customs officials Sunday to a checked bag from Nigeria at the international baggage claim. Inside were two Giant African Snails -- a particularly invasive species -- and prohibited fruits and vegetables, according to a news release from the CBP.
🔘 What's so bad about a couple of snails? This snail species is "one of the most damaging" in the world, according to the US Department of Agriculture, because they reproduce quickly -- about 1,200 eggs in one year -- and eat at least 500 types of plants, including peanuts and melons. They can also cause damage to the structure of plaster and stucco buildings.
🔘 And once they are in, it's hard to get them out. When Giant African Snails were first found in southern Florida in the 1960s, it took a decade and $1 million to eradicate them, the USDA said. Eradication efforts are ongoing after the snails were reintroduced in 2011.
🔘 "CBP is on the frontline 24/7, searching for anything entering our country that could potentially harm our citizens," Lee Deloatch, the acting area port director for the Atlanta CBP in a statement. "Our beagles sniffing out these snails highlights how valuable our canine members are to protecting the U.S."
The snails were turned over to the USDA for evaluation, and the traveler was not penalized, but was warned about properly declaring pests and agriculture, according to the release.
New 🐌 Snails Not Welcome In Los Angeles Already In Florida
🔘 Los Angeles International Airport
inspectors seized an unusually slimy package. 67 live giant African
snails that are a popular delicacy across West Africa and used in some
Religious ceremonies in Florida. The snails which are prohibited in
the U.S. arrived from Nigeria. The snails were confiscated July 1, a
sample sent to a specialist in Washington, DC, who identified them, as a
prohibited species, and the USDA incinerated the snails after they were
inspected. Thats
incinerated, not cooked, no wine was used in the process.
🔘 The animals are prohibited in the US because they can carry parasites that are harmful to humans, including one that can lead to meningitis. The confirmation that a small portion of the giant African land snails infesting Miami-Dade County contain rat lung worm.
🔘 Rat lungworm parasite can be found in snails or their “slime” (mucus), and if ingested may cause a form of meningitis. To prevent infection the public is recommended to avoid handling the snails, instead, to call the Division of Plant Industry toll-free helpline at 888-397-1517 to report snail sightings. The good part is that they do not move very fast and are easily caught but make sure your cat or dog doesn’t find them first.
🔘 An inspector will be sent to collect the snails. If you do come in contact, like in your house, wear gloves, thoroughly wash their hands after handling the snails, and avoid touching their hands to their mouths, noses or eyes after handling snails. In addition, it is recommended to carefully wash all produce that may have been in contact with snails before eating. Follow the same recommendations for Ebola.
🔘 These snails are seriously harmful to local plants because they will eat any kind of crop over 500 species, they can get to and in Florida it is more serious. There is already a snail problem in Miami-Dade County, and FDA leaders fear the snails could make their way into Central Florida. Florida first saw a problem in the 1960s.
🔘 They can also threaten your home. “The first six months of their lives, they primarily eat stucco off the sides of house to build calcium to build their shells stronger. In the last year and a half, they’ve collected, frozen and killed 150,000 snails from suburban yards scattered around the eastern side of Miami-Dade County and recently fielded its first reported infestation in Broward County. They reproduce quickly and one snail can hatch 1,200 eggs in a lifetime because they’re hermaphrodites they don’t need a mate. So telling them to go Frack themselves is a bad idea. They will, they do, and now have 1200 children.
🔘 And they eat hundreds of different types of plants. The snails have the ability to grow to be 8 inches in length. The snails are also used in religious ceremonies to predict the future. I can see it now, you eat one and die. Prophesy fulfilled.
🔘 At a little-known government laboratory in South Florida, they keep the snails under lock and key. But giant African land snails are such a threat to humans that the rules say they have to be kept locked away, just in case. But they are pretty sure the giant African land snails that the state has spent more than $6 million to capture and kill were smuggled in by a religious cult that used the snails' mucus in healing rituals.
🔘 Miami's most prominent practitioner of Santeria the government needs to check Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach and Tallahassee for snails. “ The potential is higher in those areas," said Oba Ernesto Pichardo, of the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye in Hialeah. "All those areas have sufficiently active religious populations with a snail culture.
🔘 Charles Stewart, of Hialeah, sometimes known as "El Africano" or "Oloye Ifatoku." Stewart practices a traditional African religion called Ifa Orisha, which is often confused with the Cuban Santeria.
🐕 Dogs To The Rescue
If conditions are too dry, they burrow into the soil and hide. When the rainy season returns, they emerge, like zombies clawing their way out of a grave. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam touted his agency's acquisition of a pair of Labrador retrievers trained to sniff out the pungent scent of the snails' excrement. Cong keeps live snails locked in her lab at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Subtropical Horticulture Research Station in Miami so the dogs can become familiar with the smell.
🕷 Florida Spiders - Serious And Poisonous
The Black Widow Spider and the Brown Recluse Spider (aka the tissue eating spider) are just two of our very poisonous and very common species. They can make garden work exciting. Not to say some Caterpillars, Swarming Hornets, and the African or South American Killer bees won’t make you a mess either.
Brown Recluse Information — The Brown Recluse is also known as the Flesh or Tissue Eating Spider and requires immediate professional help. No immediate care and you’ll be singing that song with the line, “ Part of me, why not take all of me” — extensive surgery might be needed if not taken care of immediately. My friend was bitten and even with care she has a large nasty scar.
🔘 “Brown Recluse spiders are the Navy seals, the Green Berets and the Top Guns of the spider world." The name "Brown Recluse" describes the color and the habits of this increasingly infamous spider.
🔘 Brown Recluse spiders are one of the few spiders in the United States that are known to be very harmful to humans. They are regarded by some as more dangerous than the Black Widow spider because it is considered a house spider and isn't as simple to identify. Brown Recluse bite wounds can cause severe tissue damage very quickly (see bite wound photos off-site), so it is essential to learn how to identify this spider and learn how to eradicate Brown Recluses and prevent bite wounds.
How To Catch And Identify The Brown Recluse — Brown Recluse spiders are both reclusive and nocturnal so they lurk around at night when most people are in bed. For this reason, populations of these spiders often go unnoticed. If a Brown Recluse is seen, they scurry around so quickly that it is difficult to get close enough to identify them. And if you do, you might well be tempted to squash it with your shoe.
🔘 For this reason, spider traps are immensely helpful and highly recommended by universities. With spider traps, the spider will be caught as it scurries around at night. Adult Brown Recluse spiders are yellowish-tan to dark brown. They have long, thin gray to dark brown legs covered with very short, dark hairs. Both male and female spiders are similar in appearance and are equally venomous.
🔘 Young Brown Recluse spiders are smaller and somewhat lighter in color. The most distinguishing mark on a brown recluse spider is the presence of a dark brown or black violin or fiddle on its back with the violin's "neck" pointing toward the rear of its body. For this reason, they are sometimes called “violin spiders" or "fiddleback spiders".
🔘 See the pictures and this website, it has a temporary field use kit , this is the latest information, treatment by a qualified entomologist physician so you do not lose arms fingers or legs or possibly your life. Get to a hospital and bring the spider with you if possible for correct identification.
🔘 Don’t pet him — http://www.brown-recluse.com/spiderinfo.html
The Black Widow Spider
🔘 Black widow spiders are shiny black in color and their bodies are round in shape; they have a unique red mark located on the underside of the abdomen that is often described as being “hourglass” in shape.
🔘 Black widow spiders may also have lighter red or white spots on their abdomen and back. Adults grow to between 1 ½ - 1 3/8 inches in length; females are larger than males. Black widow spiders also have a comb foot- a row of strong, curved bristles located on the hind pair of legs; they use the comb foot to cover their prey in silk.
🔘 DO BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS BITE? — Black widow spiders do have the ability to bite people, however they are not super aggressive and tend to only bite when they are accidentally trapped, threatened, or handled. A bite from a black widow spider can lead to serious health consequences and medical attention should be sought.
🔘 ARE BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS VENOMOUS? — Yes and no; only the female black widow spiders are venomous, males are not and pose no health risks to people. The female’s venom is strong enough to compromise the nervous system of a person; symptoms can have a quick on-set and may include vomiting, difficulty breathing, chills, perspiration, stomach cramps, and other pains. A bite from a black widow spider is serious but usually doesn’t cause death;
🔘 The symptoms can be managed by health professionals until they eventually resolved themselves. Persons with known conditions such as heart or lung ailments, get to a doctor immediately. Get to a hospital and bring the spider with you if possible for correct identification.
New! 🐝 Mosquitos - Ticks - Killer Bees
🔘 Our world class mosquitoes and ticks can carry Lyme Disease, and it's variants. No longer is the Lyme virus strictly from a DEER tick. Other ticks can carry it. No longer is it found north of here, cases now found in the South and Florida. Also they carry the strain that causes Meningitis. Which is a sometimes fatal swelling of the brain. You'll need good repellant and a new brain if left untreated. It's characterized by flu-like symptoms.
🔘 One of the major problems with Lyme disease is that it, just like Ebola can effect different folks based on age or physical condition. LD can show up in the body almost in any organ, highly undetectable, can lie dormant for up to three years and the symptoms may mimic or be similar to other disorders. I have two friends with the Lyme Disease and both have been on an ongoing battle for close to five years now. More in an article I am putting together.
🔘 And we are faced with the disease carried by mosquitos, the ZIKA virus. Also the African Killer Bee, COVID in Five morphs, Asian Flu, Monkey Pox and Ebola fro Uganda (2022 version)
🌿🌾 Don’t Touch Plants —
🔘 Plants and some botanicals should be avoided in our state. The usual culprits such as Poison Ivy, Poison Oak live alongside others with names such as (Latin) Abrus Precatorius, Alamanda Cathartica, Nerium Oleandor, Philodendron Selloum.
🔘 While some require ingesting to do harm, the contact sports type like the IVY and OAK, do come in contact with pets that we don't control at all times. Dogs cannot read "POISON IVY" signs. The most dangerous plant of all is POTUS AMERICANUS, or the "five fingered feel good plant" in conjunction with a heavy and fast automobile. NOTE: More than a few ounces and you’re a dealer and get to share bed-e-by stories with some of the local farmers like Bubba and Jethro.
💐 Oleander Plants —
Strong
Warning: About the Oleander Plant - And Stupid
People Like T-RUMP
Nerium oleander is a highly toxic plant from the Apocynaceae family. Though renowned for its beauty and use in landscaping, this Mediterranean shrub is responsible for many cases of accidental and fatal poisoning across the globe. Many states have removed it. Too common now and accessible, easily made into something dangerous by accident or intentional.
If eaten or ingested, ANY PART OF THE PLANT, leafs, roots, branches, any part — it causes cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heart rates, and can be lethal to both humans and animals. How this plant was used by states as foliage out in the open is beyond me. Oh and do not plant Oleander next to your house — it attracts TERMITES — More FOUR GRAMS WILL KILL YOU
🐟🦈 DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM (JAWS)
The Sharks did a fair job on the East coast this year, though Tampa Bay is known for its variety and density of sharks who like to bear young in the surf at night along the beaches.
Add some excitement to your sundown leisurely swim. This year might set a record on the East Coast for attacks. Share the water fellows, share! Want to swim as fast as Phelps, make friends with a shark!
World-renowned shark expert George Burgess, keeper of the International Shark Attack File, is used to getting silly questions about the ocean's most fearsome predator. "Are sharks out to get you?" is among the most common, he said. "The short answer is 'No.' “
🔘 The 64-year-old University of Florida professor is co-author of a new book, Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide, which contains a trove of great information for sharkophiles. "There are more than 400 species of shark but only a select few have been implicated in attacks," he said.
🔘 "But another way you can look at it is this: Any shark that can get to be 6 feet or longer can be considered dangerous." Burgess said he receives many inquiries about great white sharks. "They are identified in many shark attacks because they occur in areas where they are the only species," he said. "But if you are looking for the most common ‘ grabber' in Florida, that would be the Black-tip shark.''
🔘 The species most often implicated in attacks are the bull and Black-tip sharks (each with 20 percent) and the spinner (with 16 percent). If you were to pick a "Shark Attack Central" for Florida, it would be Volusia County on the east coast, for one reason: It has the best surf breaks. Spots such as New Smyrna and Ponce Inlets are revered by the state's wave riders.
🔘 "People also want to know if there are more sharks now than there were before," he said. "The fact of the matter is there are a lot more people going in the water and that means there is more of a chance for an encounter, more of a chance to see a shark.
🔘 The BLACKTIP shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a species of requiem
shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical
and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats.
The black-tip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed
snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins.
Most individuals have
black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal
fins. It is a Carnivore, and can grow to 8 ft (2.4 m) and weigh
66 to 220 lbs (30 to 100 kg). They school and Black-tip sharks are
so common in Florida that scientists suspect most bites in the state can be
pinned on the shark, but there has never been a single fatality in the region
due to black-tip shark attack.
Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish. Their demeanor has been described as “ timid" compared to other large requiem sharks. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size. Like other members of its family, the black-tip shark is viviparous; females bear 1–10 pups every other year.
Young black-tip sharks spend the first months of their lives in shallow nurseries, and grown females will return to the nurseries where they were born to give birth themselves. In the absence of males, females are also capable of asexual reproduction. Normally wary of humans, black-tip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people.
This species is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used. It has been assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on the basis of its low reproductive rate and high value to fishers.
🏍 JET-SKIS - The Harley Davidson’s of the Water Clan
More dangerous than the Sharks were some of the two-legged knuckle
dragging anthropoids who drove high powered speed boats (basically not
good for anything else) at 60-70 MPH in congested areas while partying
with spirit.
Actually, too much spirits were at the party. And people died when a 24 footer smashed drove over a smaller boat. Coast Guard reported, minor driving, adult drinking and the owner was a doctor know in the sports rehab business whom it ruined professionally.
Then the other kind of leisure water craft, namely those water borne Evil Knievel machines; the Jet-ski’s. You probably weren't aware some of those water-borne motorcycles may have as much as or more than 215HP for power as in the RXT by Sea Doo. That's more power than a Honda, Saturn or PT Cruiser automobile—
Water safety is important in Florida as shown in this wonderful shot of the Sea World professional skiers doing their copyrighted version of the Michael Jackson Moon Walk on water. And we thought they were trying to replace the JB COOL methane walk in the ozone layer.
Needless to say we are proud to announce the Jet Ski group has propelled Florida into the top three states for Marine Accidents and Fatalities. Well done fellow’s!
Yet the license law looking for 18 or over to operate a vessel, an operators license for marine use, a qualification marine test, written or other has never passed in this state. And voted down though marine accidents are more common.
Lobbyists again — you see good accidents make work for good attorneys. The lobbyists are just protecting their “ surf-en-turf ” work for lawyers. This must drive the United States Coast Guard and the various Sheriffs Departments bonkers. Lots of tickets and fines are the answer and testing. And property seizure as actions can cause injury as well as with a gun or knife.
🆘 Last Year Was Bad for Red Tide — Another treat in Florida’s West Coast is RED TIDE. No, not a new name for the Russian Navies latest sub. No, not a football team, that was the Crimson tide.
👺 It's a water borne blossom of Red Algae that kills fish, turtles, and other water species resulting in an odiferous STENCH on the beaches. It took bulldozers to haul the dead fish landfill fodder away. Even employees at the counties landfill thought the fish smell was too much! The only thing it did well was clear sinuses.
👺 Red tides in the Gulf of Mexico are a result of high concentrations of Karenia brevis, a microscopic marine algae that occurs naturally but normally in lower concentrations. In high concentrations, its toxin paralyzes the central nervous system of fish so they cannot breathe. Dense concentrations appear as discolored water, often reddish in color. It is a natural phenomenon, but the exact cause or combination of factors that result in a Red Tide outbreak are unknown. (They should check fertilizer runoff)
👺 Red tide is also potentially harmful to human health. Humans can become seriously ill from eating oysters and other shellfish contaminated with red tide toxin. Karenia brevis blooms can potentially cause eye and respiratory irritation (coughing, sneezing, tearing, and itching) to beachgoers, boaters and coastal residents.
👺 People with severe or persistent respiratory conditions (such as chronic lung disease or asthma) may experience stronger adverse reactions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Ocean Service provides a public conditions report identifying possible respiratory irritation impacts in areas affected by red tides.
🚢 Cruising Titanic Adventures — Both coasts feature cruises to the Bahamas, Mexico, and other parts of the Caribbean and South America. Even Clearwater has a short cruise aboard a totally fake pirate ship followed by one of our attack subs. Lots of Tecate Beer and Rum Capitan General on board.
🔘 The SS Yohoho and a beer. Pirates are big in Tampa Bay. Jose Gasparilla parties and Krewes are a Holiday in Tampa. Literally the city shuts down, mainly because the parades lock up the traffic and a bunch of drunk pirates invade the town. Recently, well more than just once so recently the city is cracking down.
🔘 The problem was not the Pirates, raping, pillaging, and burning, not in the script, but the problems were spectators who drank too much, drunk offenses prevailed, and used any location as a bathroom, all in all the pirates (actors and local citizens) were under control. And feel protected that out Navy has these pirates wannabes under control and keeps an eye on them. (see classified photo)
DRIVER EDUCATION IN FLORIDA
🚔 S.C.U.D.S. (Florida
Drivers) 🚑 —
Our Senior Citizen Unrestricted Driving School (S.C.U.D.S.) just
graduated another class. Florida roads and highways are the largest demolition
derby in the world. You don't go to see crashes, they come to you. You
think Gators got poor eyesight, some of our citizens lost their sight years ago
and drive by sound.
🛫 Couple Thinks Car Can Fly —
🔘 Several years back an older tourist couple from
Eastern Europe left Tampa in a rental car trying to get to Sarasota.
They missed the exit to I-75 south, which goes direct to Sarasota.
Instead they drove on the I-275 south highway to St. Petersburg for the
Skyway Bridge to Sarasota and missed that exit. They got off at the
last downtown exit.
This exit ramp becomes
the road which enters the Coast Guard Dock and Air Station, St. Petersburg.
They thought the Coastguardsman in the booth was a toll gate
attendant. He thought they were looking for the commissary. He
waved them through. They thought the taxiway was the entry ramp to get back on
the highway.
🔘 They did access the main
runway at Albert Whitted Airport where the tower guys were frantically trying
to radio the Red Chevy Cavalier to “ get the hell" off the
runway.
🔘 Unfortunately, the Chevy comes with FM and music and the tower was on another frequency band yelling some explicative.
🔘 Alas, our brave couple accelerated to 65 miles per hour, about the rotational speed of a Cessna 150 and proudly flew off the end of the runway into Tampa Bay and started to sink.
🚒 🚔 There Is A God? Yes, He Was On Duty —
This proves it. No coincidence. That day, of all of the 365 days in the year, the St. Petersburg Fire Department - Marine division was conducting rescue exercises off Albert Whitted Airport in case an aircraft didn’t quite make the runway.
These are the two luckiest visitors in the whole world, I could just see the guys in the Zodiacs and larger Fireboat commenting, “ Wow, how realistic these exercises get year after year!” The folks survived the ordeal probably thinking maybe they should have taken a cab or paid the toll. Then as if that's not enough! SCUD ATTACKS
“Elderly Woman Crashes Into DMV Building” — Deerfield Beach, Florida (AP)- Officials say an 80-year-old woman crashed into the DMV building in Deerfield Beach when she went to take a state-ordered driver's license retest.
The Florida Highway
Patrol says Therese Smith accidentally drove her car into through the
Department of Motor Vehicles building literal “ stopping at window
six", Wednesday, injuring several people.
An FHP spokesman says she apparently stepped on the gas too hard. The car went over a concrete parking block, onto the sidewalk, through a metal parking sign and through the windows of the office.
Fire rescue officials say seven people in the waiting room were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Four others also were hurt but did not need to be taken to the hospital.
They were injured from flying glass and from falling on other people, but no one was actually hit by the car. Smith was cited for careless driving. Her test was postponed. (Hopefully till her 100 birthday)
🇨🇦 Canadian Driver Disclaimer — We Welcome our Canadian Friends: I love our snowbirds and many are friends of mine BUT the once a year migration of the slightly dyslexic Canadian drivers who love to make right turns from the left lanes, left turns from the right lanes and think signals are a waste of battery power in their cars keeps me on the alert. They add a certain challenge to the driving here in the winter months. Just a simple reminder about turn lanes —
RIGHT TURN LANE = RIGHT TURN ➡️
⬅️ LEFT TURN LANE = LEFT TURN
It's OK though, they help our community, give new meaning to the off-neglected letter "A" in our vocabulary and still try to convince our Senior Professional Shuffleboard Players (S.P.S.P.) that Curling is a far more physically enduring and intriguing sport. (Yawn) Try Curling downtown St.Petersburg — on sand — We call it shuffle board —
Next time I hear how Cribbage is more exciting than Mahjong, I'll scream. And they don't tip! SOLUTION: Some restaurants now offer American and Canadian menus, with the Canadian one higher by 15%.
🏛 New ! Wrong Way On Tampa Highway = Dui-Court
🔘 In February, four University of South Florida fraternity brothers died after a wrong-way driver slammed into their car on Interstate 275. Two weeks later, a man driving the wrong way in the same area killed himself when he smashed into a box truck. In August, another man died in a wrong-way crash on the same highway. Four more people died in two crashes the following month.
🔘 The deadly collisions on Tampa Bay area interstates, six so far claimed 11 lives. It drew national attention and much speculation as to causes. Experts weighed in with theories. Law enforcement stepped up patrols in an effort to prevent them. But the wrong-way drivers keep coming four more were stopped since October. And that shouldn't be surprising wrong way driving is an astonishingly common phenomenon in the Tampa Bay area.
🔘 In the past seven years, troopers have responded to at least 70 incidents of wrong-way drivers on limited-access highways around Tampa Bay. That tally does not include nearly 700 wrong-way incidents that occurred on local streets in 2014 alone. But among the data the Times collected, one pattern stands out: drunken driving. In almost all of the wrong-way driving cases that resulted in a crash, and in all six of this year's fatal wrecks, the drivers were legally impaired. That, law enforcement officials say, is the real issue. And that's what makes it difficult to stop.
🐍 FLORIDA SNAKE GUIDE — HOSPITAL IDENTIFIER
WARNING
While Tip Toeing Thru The Tulips, Be Aware We Share The Soil With Those Who Can’t Tiptoe… They Only Have One Tip And Most Likely It Isn’t A Toe, On Some Species It’s A Rattle — Snakes Can Swim TooNamely, We Have The Following Groups In Residence — And If Bitten Your Next Quick Residence Should Be At A Trauma Level Two Minimum Hospital Clinic Who Have Many Of The Common Antidotes On Hand —
🐍 CORAL SNAKES — Coral snakes (poisonous) which look like a King-snake which is a great rat catcher. Nature colors the King-snake and friends similar as a protective warning to birds and other predators. There is also the Scarlet and the King Scarlet. There are many varieties of coral snakes throughout the Americas, but we will address the southern USA snakes. The most common species in the United States have a universal red-yellow-black-yellow pattern.
Not all coral snakes have the same color scheme, so it is important to be familiar with the snakes specific to your region. This snake is small in comparison to other venomous snakes in the United States. At its longest, an adult can measure around thirty inches. The colorful body is slender and lacks real variance in width. The head blends seamlessly into the body with no distinctive neck. The head of this species of coral snake is always black.
The most obvious feature of an eastern coral snake is the bright body pattern of red, yellow, and black rings in which the red and yellow rings touch each other. The nose is black. Scarlet kingsnakes, (Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides) and scarlet snakes (Cemophora coccinea) are superficially similar but the red only touches the black rings. The coral snake is the only eastern species of snake with a pair of fixed fangs in the front of the mouth.
It is from the Mamba and Cobra family of friends, small but has a nasty venom. If red is bordered by yellow, he’s a bad fellow. The good guy is on the right.
🐍 THE EASTERN DIAMOND BACKS — Crotalus adamanteus is a pit viper species found in the southeastern United
States. It is the heaviest though not the longest venomous snake in the
Americas and the largest rattlesnake. No subspecies are currently recognized.
This is the largest rattlesnake species and is the heaviest known type of venomous snake, with one specimen shot in 1946 measuring 7.8 ft in length and weighing 34 lb.
However, other venomous snakes may rival this species in weight, the much longer but more slender king cobra is probably greater in average body mass if not maximum weight and the shorter but even bulkier gaboon viper could (but is not verified to) exceed the rattlesnake in both mean adult body mass and possibly even maximum body mass.
The color pattern consists of a brownish, brownish-yellow, brownish-gray or olive ground color, overlaid with a series of 24–35 dark brown to black diamonds with slightly lighter centers. Each of these diamond-shaped blotches is outlined with a row of cream or yellowish scales. Posteriorly, the diamond shapes become more like cross bands and are followed by 5–10 bands around the tail.
The belly is a yellowish or cream-colored, with diffused, dark mottling along the sides. The head has a dark post-ocular stripe that extends from behind the eye backwards and downwards to the lip; the back of the stripe touches the angle of the mouth. Anteriorly and posteriorly, the post-ocular stripe is bordered by distinct white or yellow stripes.
Common names include eastern diamondback rattlesnake, eastern diamondback, diamond rattlesnake, diamond-back rattlesnake, common rattlesnake, diamond-back, diamond(-patch) rattler, eastern diamond-back eastern diamond rattlesnake, Florida diamond-back (rattlesnake), Florida rattlesnake, lozenge-spotted rattlesnake, rattler, rattlesnake, southeastern diamond-backed rattlesnake and more.
🐍 THE COPPERHEADS —
Northern areas of Florida bordering closet states, and northern states. Agkistrodon
contortrix is a species of venomous snake endemic to Eastern North America, a
member of the subfamily Crotalinae (pit vipers). The common name for this
species is the copperhead. The behavior of Agkistrodon contortrix may lead to
accidental encounters with humans. Five subspecies are currently recognized,
including the dominent subspecies described here.
Adults grow to an average length (including tail) of 20–37 in. Some may exceed 3.3 ft, although that is exceptional for this species. Males are usually larger than females. Good-sized adult males usually do not exceed 29 to 30 in, and females typically do not exceed 24 to 26 in.
The body is relatively stout and the head is broad and distinct from the neck. Because the snout slopes down and back, it appears less blunt than that of the cottonmouth, A. piscivorus. Consequently, the top of the head extends further forward than the mouth. The color pattern consists of a pale tan to pinkish tan ground color that becomes darker towards the fore-line overlaid with a series of 10–18 (13.4) cross-bands.
Like all PIT VIPERS, A. contortrix is generally an ambush predator: it takes up a promising position and waits for suitable prey to arrive. One exception to ambush foraging occurs when copperheads feed on insects such as caterpillars and freshly molted cicadas. When hunting insects, copperheads actively pursue their prey. Juveniles use a brightly colored tail to attract frogs and perhaps lizards, a behavior termed caudal luring. In the Southern United States, they are nocturnal during the hot summer months, but are commonly active during the day during the spring and fall.
Like most North American viperids, these snakes prefer to avoid humans and, given the opportunity, will leave the area without biting. However, unlike other viperids they will often “freeze" instead of slithering away, and as a result, many bites occur from people unknowingly stepping on or near them.
This tendency to freeze most likely evolved because of the extreme effectiveness of their camouflage. When lying on dead leaves or red clay, they can be almost impossible to notice. They will frequently stay still even when approached closely, and will generally strike only if physical contact is made. Like most other New World vipers, copperheads exhibit defensive tail vibration behavior when closely approached. This species is capable of vibrating its tail in excess of 40 times per second— faster than almost any other non-rattlesnake snake species. Copperheads may release a cucumber-smelling musk if touched.
🐍 TIMBER RATTLESNAKES —
The timber rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake or banded
rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus),is a species of venomous pit viper endemic to
the eastern United States. This is the only rattlesnake species in most of the
populous northeastern United States and is second only to its cousins to the
west, the prairie rattlesnake, as the most northerly distributed venomous snake
in North America.No subspecies are currently recognized.
Adults usually grow to total length of (36–60 in). It was found in Pennsylvania that the smallest size females that could produce viable eggs was 28.4 in. Most adult timber rattlesnakes found measure less than 39 to 45 in total length and weigh on average between 1.1 and 3.3 lb often being towards the lower end of that weight range. The maximum reported total length is 74.5 in. mentions a large specimen caught in Montgomery County, Alabama, which had a total length of 62.5 in and weighed 5.5 lb. Large specimens can reportedly weigh as much as 9.9 lb.
🐍 DUSKY PYGMY RATTLESNAKE —
This is a very small rattlesnake averaging 15 to 22 inches long. Their rattle is so small it sounds like an insect buzzing. They are gray with colored blotches running down the back. Its bite is painful but typically not fatal. This snake is responsible for more snake bites in Florida than any other venomous snake. Children should definitely be educated about this animal; because of its small size, a child (or event adult) may believe this to be a “harmless" snake.
🐍 COTTONMOUTH —
Also called the water moccasin, it is a venomous water
snake. Their body coloration ranges from patterned to simply a dull black.
You can identify this species by the black "eye line" that runs from
the side of their eye back down the side of their head.
Juvenile cottonmouths have a different coloration than adults do, but will still have this "eye line". Water Moccasins all have poisonous bites that require immediate medical attention. And readily infect the victim. Immediate means immediate.
🐍 PYTHONS AND ANACONDAS -
Recently our most predatory additions of epidemic size and now a state program to try and bring under control, Pythons and Anacondas, some bigger than twenty feet long have taken on the Gators as top of the food chain in the Everglades. Not poisonous, but able to crush anything they get around, especially humans who don’t stand a chance, and yes they do have huge teeth to hold on to you while they choke the daylight out of your brain.
If you are not loose in three minutes, you are in trouble. They have gotten even bigger in the perfect unrestricted topographical growth and abundant food sources of the Everglades. They were dumped in the Everglades by really thoughtful citizens when they got big enough to eat small deer and children, theirs.
The South Florida Water Management District Governing Board is taking aggressive action to protect the Everglades and eliminate invasive pythons from its public lands. Starting in March 2017, the Python Elimination Program incentivizes a limited number of public-spirited individuals to humanely euthanize these destructive snakes, which have become an apex predator in the Everglades. The program provides access to python removal agents on designated SFWMD lands in Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier, Hendry and Palm Beach counties.
Check with them for the yearly roundups and you can win some money they pay for the skins.
Best bet is leave snakes to those who know what they are doing. Again and I repeat please just don't kill a snake because it crossed your path. Generally they retreat and quickly get out of your way. Smack the ground with the shovel, they pick it up the vibrations and they exit very quickly.
🐍 IF
BITTEN — SEEK PROMPT MEDICAL ATTENTION — Especially if you have any kind of heart, lung, immune problems — If at all possible, and the snake has been dispatched, bring it with
you to a trauma clinic, the responders will know where to go. Different
poisonous snakes have unique venoms and require specific anti-venoms.
Some of the venoms are neural-toxins, some breakdown blood, some
cause internal bleeding, dying tissue. Time is valuable and knowing the
snake is critical. There
is no one anti-venom saves all, thats a myth.
HARMLESS SNAKES — While our cottonmouths can inflict very nasty wounds, the similar looking ordinary water snake also black is harmless, but can bite if you mishandle them. The most common snake in Florida:
WE CALL IT THE BLACK RACER — Because it is a Black snake and the fastest thing on one foot. They are a protected specie, harmless to humans and have an enormous appetite for mice and rats. Thats why they are protected. If you find them in your yard, think, you probably have rats close by. I’d rather have the snake.
Last year one got into a friends garage, and armed with shovels and rakes they wanted to organize a hunt and dispatch about a four footer. I explained to my friend he’s here because you have a rat nest somewhere here. I gently picked him up, bare handed, no aggression, put him in a bag and dropped him at the park.
I told them get an exterminator. The rats had nested in their attic. Well, not nested it was the neighborhood rat condo. Ever wonder why cats look at ceilings, they hear the rats scurrying along. The cost of fiberglas removal, patching rat holes, and tunnels, some roof work at openings, replacing the insulation with new media and re-sealing the attic was 4700 dollars on a 2600 sq. foot house. Rats bring disease, in another article here you will not believe what they carry.
GOOD
SNAKES and PETS — Black Racers and Corn Snakes
REPEAT: There are some protected species in Florida. The Black Racer diet is based on the fact it actively eats mice. They and it is related to the more colorful CORN SNAKE and are considered good snakes. And if a snake is hanging out near your house, most likely you have rats and mice too. Think of the snake as your partner in rat and mouse control.
THE CORN SNAKE (Pantherophis guttatus) is a North American species of rat snake that subdues its small prey by constriction. It is found throughout the southeastern and central United States. Their docile nature, reluctance to bite, moderate adult size, attractive pattern, and comparatively simple care make them commonly kept pet snakes.
Though superficially resembling the venomous copperhead and often killed as a result of this mistaken identity, corn snakes are harmless and beneficial to humans.Corn snakes lack functional venom and help control populations of wild rodent pests that damage crops and spread disease.
The corn snake is named for the species' regular presence near grain stores, where it preys on mice and rats that eat harvested corn.The Oxford English Dictionary cites this usage as far back as 1675. Some sources maintain that the corn snake is so-named because the distinctive, nearly-checkered pattern of the snake's belly scales resembles the kernels of variegated corn.Regardless of the name’s origin, the corn reference can be a useful mnemonic for identifying corn snakes.
Corn snakes are one of the most popular types of snakes to keep in captivity or as pets. Their size, calm temperament and ease of care contribute to this popularity. Captive corn snakes tolerate being handled by their owners, even for extended periods. A corn snake's space requirements are low, since a 20 to 25-gallon vivarium provides enough room for a fully grown snake. Corn snakes enjoy hiding and burrowing, usually accommodated with a loose substrate (such as aspen wood shavings or newspaper) and one or more hide boxes. Captive corn snakes are generally fed pre-killed or stunned feeder mice, because captive-bred rodents reduce the risk of pathogens or live prey-induced injuries.
There are over 200 variants in color as the corn snake is very breed-able and has a mapped DNA ( see wikipedia with this link for the many variants) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_snake
06-07-2019 aljacobsladder.com