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jammer
Dec 16, 2004, 3:15 PM
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The animal that kicks dogs!
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outdoorsie
Dec 16, 2004, 3:15 PM
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Yeah, I've come across tons of wildlife while climbing, I think it's one of the best reasons to climb outside! In So. Illinois, we've come across black widows and red widows. At Garden of the Gods there was something living in a crack that would maniacly "eep!" everytime you stuck your hand in, but we could never see what it was. In the Red, there's wasps, lizards and spiders in most of the pockets. I've seen many little bats hanging out along climbs. The craziest was this one:
http://www.pbase.com/image/27029620.jpg
This was a nest of five copperheads in the crack for the Turret at Fortress. My husband was just about to put his hand in there when something in his brain said "Wait, why is the rock moving?" And then he screamed like a little boy ran down the hill, grabbed his pack on the way yelling "We have to get out of here!!" I was laughing soooo hard. By the time I calmed him down and climbed up to get this shot, one of them was already board and had gone back in the hole.
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angelaa
Dec 16, 2004, 3:51 PM
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the Pigeons at Devils Tower!
Honestly! They will come flying out of a crack, hit you in the chest and your OFF!
also they poop all over the tower. . . last trip one friend said the most poignant thing I had heard in a long time.
"I have 2 works for the Park Service. . . RAPTOR RECOVERY"
:lol:
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onsight_endorphines
Dec 16, 2004, 3:52 PM
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Niiiiiiicce copperheads!!!!!
In reply to: I think it's one of the best reasons to climb outside!
Damn straight.
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micon
Dec 16, 2004, 5:00 PM
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We were crawling into a cave one time and we saw a spider, then another then aanother then we realized they werre brown recluse and then they were everywhere, so we decided to get the hell out of there. it was a slow escape though because there were eight of us that had to climb out. I was waiting for some giant shelob-like spider to come from the blackness of the back of the cave as I was waiting my turn to get out.
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killer_crag_move
Dec 17, 2004, 6:22 AM
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that was a great read! nice pics, picture posters!
-s
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flash5twelve
Dec 17, 2004, 8:17 AM
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The two black "structures" are actually harmless. Centipedes have a pair of legs for each segment of their body, so what look like dangerous stingers off the tail end are just another pair of legs. They are not used for locomotion like the other yellow legs, so I think that they hold them out behind so they can feel if anyone is sneaking up on them--but that's just my guess.
The business end is at the head of this critter. The legs of the first segment of the body behind the head are modified into a set of poison jaws that the centipede uses to capture and subdue prey. They are also used to let a human know not to mess with them.
Yep, I'm a biology geek.:oops:
-Greg
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far_east_climber
Dec 17, 2004, 12:10 PM
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By "business end", do you mean the end in which it excretes? :shock: if so, that's definately a messy job.
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pinnaclechick
Dec 17, 2004, 1:03 PM
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The mystical Footworm of the Cohuttas.
Crag dogs.
And... lions and tigers and bears. Oh my.
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onsight_endorphines
Dec 17, 2004, 2:40 PM
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Flash5Twelve wrote:
In reply to: The two black "structures" are actually harmless. Centipedes have a pair of legs for each segment of their body, so what look like dangerous stingers off the tail end are just another pair of legs.
I stand corrected! What made me say that is, I actually looked very closely at the two black end "legs", and they were tipped with distinctly-different, 1/8" long super-sharp tips that looked just like spider fangs.
After hitting up Google, it seems that all the legs have these! OW!!! Apparently they can puncture skin it runs across you, and there may or may not be venom secretions near the base of each leg. But the mandibles definately wield some form of venom injection apparatus.
Nice catch, thanks for letting us know.
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climbersoze
Dec 17, 2004, 4:55 PM
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The closest spot to go climbin where I live has cottonmouths. But most of my trips take me to West VA, and recently to TN/KY area which equates to copperheads and timber rattlers. Apparently TN/KY is overrun with copperheads. Saw this litte guy out there....
http://www.rockclimbing.com/...p.cgi?Detailed=44190
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flash5twelve
Dec 18, 2004, 2:03 AM
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In reply to: By "business end", do you mean the end in which it excretes? :shock: if so, that's definately a messy job.
No, no. By the business end I mean the end that can do you harm if you mess with the guy. In this case it's the head of the centipede that has the fangs---not the tail.
-Greg
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flash5twelve
Dec 18, 2004, 3:55 AM
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In reply to: I stand corrected! What made me say that is, I actually looked very closely at the two black end "legs", and they were tipped with distinctly-different, 1/8" long super-sharp tips that looked just like spider fangs.
I wrongly thought the same thing about the ass end of the centipede. It looks scary, but it's harmless.
My housemate and I were having a conversation in the kitchen one night. He reached up to the cupboard for a glass, went to the fridge, and poured himself a drink. Just as he was bringing the glass up to his lips, he looked down and found a live centipede taking a swim in his drink! He screamed, and I laughed. Can you imagine if he hadn't noticed it? How about a mouthfull of centipede?
In reply to: After hitting up Google, it seems that all the legs have these! OW!!! Apparently they can puncture skin it runs across you, and there may or may not be venom secretions near the base of each leg. But the mandibles definately wield some form of venom injection apparatus.
I don't know how effective that the other legs would be for piercing skin, but I did read that some excrete toxins from their body to deter predators.
In reply to: Nice catch, thanks for letting us know.
No prob.
-Greg
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crimpstrength
Dec 18, 2004, 4:14 AM
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Round where i from, you gots to be specially carfull of them critters who have a sister and a wife as the same person, they nuts.
also the man eatin deeer
dont forget them groundhogs, make a good steak though
this one time i came across a real fire breathin dragon, now theres a critter you gotta steeeer clear from
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sherpajames
Dec 18, 2004, 6:04 AM
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A couple of years ago I was climbing the Leisure route in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. When I reached a Ledge about tree pitches up. I started to set up a belay. In the corner of my eye I noticed something coming toward me, I looked over and it was a snake(King snake I believe) heading straight for me. Even though my last piece of pro was along way below me I quickly climbed higher a lot higher.
I'm still amazed that a snake could or would be so high up from the ground.
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sherpa79
Dec 20, 2004, 2:04 PM
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I love reading posts about critters. Especially when biology makes it in there! I'll echo the sentiments of finding copperheads in KY. And I mean everywhere. Also Black Widows and Brown Recluse. I once crawled through a bunch of brown recluse while surveying the entrance to a small cave. I thought they were primarily solitary. I'd never seen so many of them in one place before. I've also run into rattlers in Arizona, which I much prefer because they let you know EXACTLY where they are most of the time. Also Gila monsters, but they are very docile. Also shitty in the southeast....ticks. They won't kill you but are definitely a 9 on the annoying-as-crap-o-meter. Oh, and I also got some sort of intestinal parasite in Mexico. That counts an animal right? God, I wanted to die.
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gretchino
Dec 20, 2004, 3:15 PM
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In reply to: Ya gotta watch out for kangaroos on the roads around here. Not so much a problem when one has a bull bar on the front of ones truck but they can make a mess of you if you catch them mid hop and they come through the windscreen. I`ve heard of people being disembowelled through a roos kicking in panic inside a moving car. Don`t run over Echidnas (Spiny Anteaters), their quills are hollow and you may as well chuck your tyres away after that. There is a story of a climber at Frog which is home to crack climbing in Oz. He stuck his hand in the crack and there was a brown snake in there, he lobbed off the climb post haste. We`ve come across death adders and red belly black snakes on more than one occasion. Then there are the giant stinging trees but then they aren`t animals so they don`t count for this thread. I`ve had encounters with little tiny bats in pockets on cliffs. We have gotten swooped by Perigrine Falcons and Wedge Tailed Eagles. At the beach one has to watch out for Stone Fish and Blue Ringed Octopus, Cone Shells and not to mention sharks. But those aren`t really climbing related so they don`t really count for this thread either.
Good god! Everything does want to eat you there! ACK! :shock:
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orangekyak
Dec 20, 2004, 3:22 PM
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Brrrr ... that picture of the nest of copperheads had me clickin over to ebay to sell my rack and take up ballet.
Some T-Wall beta that I apply to everywhere I climb suggests that you place a piece of pro just before you top out. That way if something is napping or waiting to defend its turf atop the climb, you get a nice easy fall instead of a potential anklebreaker.
The way I figure, it's tough to find nice folk to carry your ankle-breaking ass back to the car since you soiled yourself at first sight of the snake.
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defygravity
Dec 20, 2004, 4:35 PM
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Marmots, This past summer while at the base camp of Wind River peak WY, some marmot stole my partners shoes.
The critter probably wanted the salt from his sweating feet.
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onsight_endorphines
Dec 20, 2004, 5:28 PM
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orangekyak wrote:
In reply to: Brrrr ... that picture of the nest of copperheads had me clickin over to ebay to sell my rack and take up ballet.
LOL.........
Someone mentioned that they once saw daddy longlegs spiders so thick that they looked fuzzy? Here's a pic I took at Mineral Wells State Park, West of Ft. Worth, TX, USA.
http://dave.golfbuddys.com/...p/daddy_longlegs.jpg
These spiders are really fun to (gently) play with. Get your hand near, and they all bob up and down so the whole pile just kind of shimmers.
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itakealot
Dec 20, 2004, 5:32 PM
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I watch for cougars in the evenings while at the ski lodge.
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ecocliffchick
Dec 20, 2004, 6:09 PM
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In Ontario
Big critters = Massasauga Rattlesnakes
Little critters = black flies
On the other side of the globe - while on a trip to Kalymnos, Greece - we had to look out for the goats who would eat your shoes and packs while on multi-pitch climbs.
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matttracyg
Dec 20, 2004, 7:13 PM
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I've got a few stories to share here:
FROGS: While at Jackson Falls I was on Disco Fever and had something wet land on top of my head. I thought it was a bunch of wet leaves. Not being able to let go with one hand to knock it off, I just shook my head really hard and a tree frog fell to the ground and survived. Tree frogs can really climb hard stuff. I've run into those frogs numerous times and just try to leave them be in their little cracks. I don't want them to jump on me again.
WASPS: I was leading a trad route one time and wasn't very far from the ground and a when I stuck my fingers in a crack, a wasp stung my finger tip, almost right under my finger nail. Talk about pain! I down climbed and then stuck my finger in the fridgid river nearby. It felt like my finger was smashed with a hammer. Situations like this are reasons why soloists fall on easy routes.
BATS: A buddy of mine was leading a really hard and sketchy trad route and got to a critical section where one small crack was one of the only holds, but discovered a bat in there. He had just chalked up and pulled his hand out fast when it freaked out on him. When he looked into the crack, he saw that his finger went right on it's mouth and had chalk on it now. He finished the route and then I realized that I was going to have to second him!
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arsenalcrater
Dec 20, 2004, 7:40 PM
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hippies
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blakester
Dec 20, 2004, 7:43 PM
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This thread makes me feel lucky tobe living in the northwest, we don't really have to worry about all these horrible critters living in cracks and whatnot.
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