Cats also have this stigma. They are rumored to steal the breath of newborn babies.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/catsuck.asp

I had a praying mantis! She was awesome. She was quiet and required little care and Hell, any creature that rips the heads off of its mate is kind of cool in my book, not that I recommend that for us humans.

:blink:

http://blog.liveattheorchard.com/fil...ustin-bats.jpg

It's a baby gargoyle! Okay, not really but it does kind of look like it.

this was my most feared creature as a child

http://www.suttonmass.org/animals/sp...ing/audax8.jpg

Somehow I always managed to have a stare off or a show down with one. They could sense the fear in me. I was frozen with fear. And it always, always ended with them JUMPIN. I never saw them land. I just assumed they were in full on attack mode and jumped on me to start their physical assault. My reaction was to run screaming to my mom and have her do a full body search.

Love these. They make me smile every time I seem them, especially if they jump.

Ah yes, gnats, the bane of my existence from preschool through adolescence. Thanks for the reminder. :)

The rabies thing is a deal with them, but I've had my rabies shots. :) I had a job for a while catching and releasing wildlife that had gotten into buildings on campus. Bat exposures were the most stressful because you often cannot tell if you've been exposed. If they brush against you, it's considered exposure. If you wake up and there's one in your room it's considered exposure. Their tiny teeth don't make much of a mark. All but one of the bats I caught were released back into the wild. But one bat I had to take down to animal control to have tested - which means killing the poor little guy. He'd crawled into a trash can, and one of the custodial staff reached into the bag and received what could have been a scratch or a bite. I'm sure it was quite a surprise to her! But the bat's little life was sacrificed to reveal no rabies. It's really sucky to drive an animal down to his own death. But rabies is serious. Once you have symptoms, you're already a goner.

I do love the cute little guys. The kind we had were the Mexican Free-tails.

I do love rodents.

Capybara

The world's largest rodent.

It's like a giant hamster.

Interesting side note for catholics - papal dispensation has made the capybara a fish. So this lent don't forget the capybara burgers.

http://www.rebsig.com/capybara/capy1.jpg

In the spirit of living entities feeding on living things that feed on other living things I thought this article was interesting.

Bugs and Krill, the Other White Meats: Time to Start Eating at the Bottom of the Food Chain

http://www.alternet.org/food/153359/...he_food_chain/

Omg I luved luved luved my rat Peebo, he was a Black Hooded Rat and was so sweet and curled up on my shoulder every night for tv time... they are terrific little friends. =)

I've had snakes, rats etc. for buds and never been biten... I have however pulled my truck over to help a teeny tiny kitten on a remote highway and had my hand savagely attacked (I literally had to shake it off, lol) and ended up getting rabies shots... who knew kittens did crack? Not me apparently...

o.@

Well that must've sucked. You don't expect to be attacked by a kitten. It's not the same thing I know but this reminded me of the day when I was bitten by first a dolphin and then an emu. I felt like a bizarro world Dr Doolittle where all the animals hate me.

I like king snakes, well I like most all snakes but king's have a special place in my heart. In the culture I grew up in, when someone gets a new house, it is traditional to give them a king snake to put under their house. King snakes eat other snakes, even venomous ones. So they are a snaky friend. They are also quite docile and easy to feed and handle in captivity. As an added bonus they look like coral snakes so other predators leave them alone.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uWaTzyk64K...Kingsnake1.jpg

You can make your own home-made, low-fat, powdered protein drink if your hungry by cutting off the wings, arms, legs, and heads of insects, roast them over fire until crunchy, rub them between your palms, then stir your insect powder in water, etc. Or you can drypress them in a coffee filter and make cowboy coffee. Yum!

Ahh! Snake! Could be poisonous, but maybe not. How does that saying go....Let's see, red next to yellow, kill a fellow, red next to black, friend of Jack. Hmm, okay, be still, snake, lemme see... check! Friend of Jack! This one's okay!

But who the heck has time to do that?? If I see a snake with red, yellow and black stripes, I'm running either way!! :|

I gotta ask. I get the wings, but why don't I want to include the arms, legs and heads? I mean protein is protein no?

Hammerhead sharks attack humans on an average of once every 11 years.

Dogs bite more than 4.7 million people a year.

http://dsc.discovery.com/sharks/shar...head-shark.jpg

Still I'd rather be bitten by a dog.
Once a year.
For 11 years.

And he rocks. Who knew bats self stim. I had a few in my life but none that did.

That might be the cutest bat ever.

Yes he rocks after he gets his little belly full :D (and good to see you my friend, now that I know who you are... heh =)

This is one of the most amazing and frankly hopeful things I have seen in a while. Thank you.

Javelina
 

The collared peccary, or javelina, evolved in South America and migrated north, only recently arriving in Arizona. Javelina bones are not found in Arizona archaeological sites and early settlers made infrequent references to their occurrence. It's possible that the peccary spread simultaneously with the replacement of Arizona's native grasslands by scrub and cactus. The collared peccary has one of the greatest latitudinal ranges of any New World game animal, occurring from Arizona to Argentina. The range of the peccary is still expanding, primarily northwestward. In the United States, the collared peccary only occurs in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.


http://www.roadtec.com/images/roadte...ruction_lg.jpg

I tried to help a stray cat a few years back...it was October, turning cold..I started to fed the tom cat and after a few days he would sit with me on the back porch. I was able to bring him inside an quarantine him in the bathroom. The next day took him to the shelter....we made it all the way to the shelter and when i took him out of the box to turn him over, he attacked....

Got on antibiotics right away and still ended up three days in the hospital with an infection in the knuckle of my pointer finger...they wanted to do rabies shots (the cat got away) and surgery...I passed on both...there hadn't been a case of feline rabies in this state in over 10 years.

Still love cats but damn will think twice about helping a stray again. Or at least how stupid I act around said cute poor cold skinny cat (from hell).

I love bats, they make me happy! Sosososoo cute!

I even have a bat crossing sign in my kitchen. :)

I want a piglet

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/imageBa...glets-crop.jpg

http://www.californiaherps.com/lizar...biisdrc310.jpg
i used to catch these when i was a young' un. *smiles... that brings back memories.

more creepy crawlies from childhood
 

silkworms
http://chenected.aiche.org/wp-conten...6ca58b6645.jpg

Get in line. ;)

Pigs are actually phenomenal - smart, protective, loyal. We probably do need to form a line.

http://pedalsandpencils.files.wordpr...0/some-pig.jpg

My neighbors used to have a teeny pig. So cute, it would hear my van every day and greet me when I came home from work!

Love them!

There is a lady at my job that has a pet rat AND a pet pig. She has brought both to our company events and both are well behaved.

The rat wears a vest and will walk on a tiny leash and the pig wears a dog collar and doesnt need a leash because it stays by her whereever she goes.

I dont have an aversion to many living thigs but am not a fan of those jumping spider things (only because Im afraid one is going to jump on my face!)

The girls and I watched this video 4 times in a row and now we all want a baby bat to hang on our finger and rock himself to sleep. That video melts me!

Meee tooo. Its so sweet. LD's teeny feet and wings. :)

Ive never thuought much about bats but after watching LD,I want one.My son is puting up bat houses cause we have seen the flying round at ight.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...uly_2008-1.jpg

i had one of these

she was named penelope but i called her bubba
she slept in my pantry, was afraid of mice, liked creamed corn and tried to save my life once

if they are unpopular or maligned they shouldn't be

we didn't have a roaches in my country while I was growing up , but my mom used to tell us stories about roaches during the war ll . well, when I arrived in America first week we stayed in the officer housing . I went to commissary and bought the food to cook since we had been traveling and living on fast food which was foreign to me .

Day later I opened kitchen cabinets and there were this bugs all over , I screamed and I was told it was roaches . I looked in my dictionary and called my mom . Hi mom I have roaches . She said to me you sound like you are proud of it . we were laughing , but I never cook anything there and we moved out ASAP .

I was scare first , but I don't care what they called Palmetto bugs it's still roach to me . After all these years , I have a bug guy to spray on regular bases , but I am more brave , when I keep my windows open sometimes this huge thing slip into house and I am determined to kill it . Sorry guy this is not your house .

as I said I used to be petrified , but now I am after them for kill .

What was her top weight?

Look, what is that over there.

*deirdre is distracted*

*kannon cuts in line*

*narrows her eyes*

:furious: