OT: the Crocodile Hunter (Steve Irwin) is dead

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

geoschmo said:
But personally I'll stick to the tried and true method of walking away instead.

On a side note, one thing you should NOT do when facing a snake is walk away. Stand stock still, don't move a muscle, and they'll go away. IIRC, stamping on the ground may help too, but I'm not sure about that. If you stand still, the snake certainly won't perceive you as a threat (if there are snakes that see us as food, they're bound to be limited to oversized anacondas and those of the Hollywoodius genus) and they'll slither their merry way away. Walking away might prompt the snake to attack you, even though it was merely being cautiously threatening before.

[geoschmo]

Strategia_In_Ultima said:

On a side note, one thing you should NOT do when facing a snake is walk away. Stand stock still, don't move a muscle, and they'll go away.

Do you have something to back that up? Snakes aren't usually out in the open and most strikes happen because people are tromping about in places where snakes like to hide. Knowing your suroundings and walking away from those areas is the best way to avoid getting bit I'm sure we can agree. Usually the person is hit before they even know the snake is there.

But everything I've read says if you are faced with the classic "stare-down" situation the best thing to do is calmly and slowly move directly away from the snake. It will most likely want to avoid you anyway so the key is to give it the room it needs to go where it wants as quickly as possible. Of course you don't want to turn on your heels and start running away and screaming, but standing still doesn't sound like a very good idea. The snake may be feeling cornered and if you don't move they are going to make you move.

[dogscoff]

Best course of action in any snake-threat situation is to call up Growltigga and ask to borrow a killer mongoose or two...