Spiders and Snakes; Was Re: Classic Computer Spider

From: Doc Shipley <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
Date: Fri Jun 28 11:04:11 2002

On Fri, 28 Jun 2002, Sellam Ismail wrote:

> On Fri, 28 Jun 2002, David Barnes wrote:

> Now if I could only have trained her to go after ants I would have kept
> her around :)

  Amen. Here in Texas, the fire ant invasion is killing off all manner
of native life. When I was a kid in West Texas, horned toads were
literally as common as cockroaches. Unfortunately, their primary
delicacy is ants, and they'll sit by a mound or an ant trail and pick
the ants off. You can imagine what happens when a horny toad does that
on a fire ant mound. Fire ants will swarm an intruder, and are venomous
enough to make even a human adult ill, if there are enough bites. A
horned toad is easy pickings.
  Horned toads are on the endangered species list now, and nobody I know
has even seen one in ten years. As far as I know or have been able to
find out, there aren't any "civilization" related factors in their
impending extinction. Just those blasted ants.

        Doc
Received on Fri Jun 28 2002 - 11:04:11 BST