My friend got bitten by a rattlesnake

[smokeythecat]

My cat Dusty the Terrible (he doesn't like two of the other cats here, hence the name), well, he has his own personal 5' tall cat tree. He is a spoiled rotten thing. One day I see him and there is a stink bug walking over towards him. He sniffs it, and rears back his head and violently gags! It was priceless! Better yet, I didn't have to clean up the carpets.

 

[MetalArchSC]

View attachment 1737661 Is this what your bug looked like? This is a giant water bug. I caught one at the shop a few years ago and cast it into clear resin and made a paper weight.

Yeah looks very similar.

 

[Megalodon]

My cat Dusty the Terrible (he doesn't like two of the other cats here, hence the name), well, he has his own personal 5' tall cat tree. He is a spoiled rotten thing. One day I see him and there is a stink bug walking over towards him. He sniffs it, and rears back his head and violently gags! It was priceless! Better yet, I didn't have to clean up the carpets.

Cats don't like stinkbugs! Maybe Dusty remembered a previous unpleasant encounter. Mine back off.

That cat who was bitten by the copperhead had the best language skills I have seen in a cat. Squint could caw like a crow when he saw one from the window. If I cawed, he would come running and would get all fluffed out for battle against the crows. He could also mimic chirping and chipping sounds of other birds. Most of his life he lived as an only cat. But he enjoyed seeing a neighbor's cat who would visit me on the porch the same time every day for a treat. Eventually that little cat cautiously came inside and Squint was such a host. He was genuinely happy to have the company and really didn't care that he was being used for his food. So when the owner went away for trips, that little black cat would stay with us. When Shadow had a seizure at our house and died later that night, our Squint mourned the loss of his friend. He also passed away within 4 months and I always wondered if it was related to being bitten 10 years earlier.

 

[MetalArchSC]

Yeah looks very similar.

But not close enough.

Google ... SC giant stag beetle image

Prepare for your jaw to drop

 

[smokeythecat]

Yup! Nasty looking creature!

 

[Megalodon]

But not close enough.

Google ... SC giant stag beetle image

Prepare for your jaw to drop

Your description was very good. That stag beetle is exactly what I thought you saw.

imagine riding a motorcycle and getting hit by one of those in the face!

 

[randywa]

But not close enough.

Google ... SC giant stag beetle image

Prepare for your jaw to drop

I don't think I need one of those.

 

[Megalodon]

But not close enough.

Google ... SC giant stag beetle image

Prepare for your jaw to drop

Last ones I saw were in a huge rotting oak stump that I removed as we cleaned up a yard of a house we sold.

 

[MetalArchSC]

Sucker was big. Body wide as my thumb. Pincher reared up for a fight and all. I ran off the porch. No lie.

 

[MetalArchSC]

Your description was very good. That stag beetle is exactly what I thought you saw.

imagine riding a motorcycle and getting hit by one of those in the face!

First year I lived here, was riding my motorcycle on summer night ....something hit my temple hard. Wonder if it was one of those. Anyway, next day I bought a full helmet.

 

[trdking]

uuug we don't have those in Cali and I for one am very glad

 

[smokeythecat]

Trdking you have plenty of other monsters, numerous species of rattlers, coyotes, bears, cougars, killer bees, and other assorted monsters, not including the politicians.

 

[Megalodon]

uuug we don't have those in Cali and I for one am very glad

Giant stag beetles occur in the eastern half of the US.

 

[smokeythecat]

They must have been named after deer.

 

[MetalArchSC]

They must have been named after deer.

If you saw one you would know why they are called stag beetles.

 

[trdking]

Trdking you have plenty of other monsters, numerous species of rattlers, coyotes, bears, cougars, killer bees, and other assorted monsters, not including the politicians.

...and I have shot all but one species mentioned

 

[Billieg]

My cat Dusty the Terrible (he doesn't like two of the other cats here, hence the name), well, he has his own personal 5' tall cat tree. He is a spoiled rotten thing. One day I see him and there is a stink bug walking over towards him. He sniffs it, and rears back his head and violently gags! It was priceless! Better yet, I didn't have to clean up the carpets.

In S.W. Florida on Pine Island there is a lizard that if a cat eats it, it goes insane. My cat ate one. Eyes spinning, throwing up, crapping all over for days. In about a week it was over but that stupid cat was never right again. The vet said there was a study done and the lizards are only on the island. The cat acted insane until the day it died.

 

[Bodkin]

But not close enough.

Google ... SC giant stag beetle image

Prepare for your jaw to drop

What's cool about that beast is that it flies too! Even cooler than that is there's things out there that eat it for dinner!

 

[A2coins]

Hate snakes gators spiders bats tics squeeeters scorpians ect this post was great to read

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

2 days before I spent a week in Kiawah SC (Charleston) this year an old dude was eaten by a gator. The authorities say he died by natural causes before he was dinner, but that sounds a bit like cover up to not scare off the tourists. An 8 ft gator swam by our condo every morning and we would hear it munching in the reeds, don’t mess with big gators... or tiny ticks, Lyme disease sucks...