Man, oh, man! We saw a 5 foot monitor lizard in our bamboo forest down at the farm in the province and the kin folk got excited! Good as barbecued iguana and it tastes just like chicken! Sadly, though, that is exactly why there are fewer monitor lizards in the Philippines! People eat them and it is free food!
The Tokay Gecko is very common in the Philippines and most every household has one. They are not officially pets but they actually are. It is considered bad luck to mess with them, so we just let them run wild in our house. The Tokay Gecko is one of the wild things in the Philippines, however, they keep down the mosquito count in the house, so they are welcome additions to our home! More Lizard Power!
Some Gecko can grow to almost 2 feet in length! The Tokay Gecko is protected in the Philippines and killing one or selling one can earn you up to 12 years in prison and up to P1 million fine! Leave them alone, as they are great, in my opinion, and great for your environment. Some Chinese-Filipinos kill geckos and use them in herbal medicine, so the are worth a lot of money! One large gecko can be sold on the black market for as much as P40,000, which is about one thousand bucks on the exchange!
Sneaky snakes? We have only seen a couple of small snakes in the past 5 years and none were poisonous. Beware! There are several poisonous snakes in our area of the Philippines but the cobra is not one of them, yet the cobra is found in other areas of the Philippines. In our area, we have to BOLO the green colored snakes, which are pit vipers. They hang from trees, are found in sugarcane fields and in rice paddies. I was also told there is a type of poisonous coral snake in the Philippines but we never saw one in our area. I hope I don’t! There are also several types of poisonous sea snakes in the Philippines and they are all ring striped. The black and white ringed stripe sea snake is bad news and you can kiss your butt goodbye if you are bitten by one while out in the Philippine Sea! I hate snakes and want to bruise their head whenever I see one! Sorry, but I kill snakes and take names later! I lived in Florida for 15 years and there are many poisonous snakes in the state. I worked in an adolescent wilderness psychiatric treatment center for 8 years, seeing many poisonous snakes!
There are crocodiles in the Philippines and the largest crocodile here in captivity was 20 feet 2 inches. Imagine running up on that big daddy on an outing! Before Big Daddy was captured, he had killed a number of villagers but they decided not to kill him. Big Daddy died of natural causes in the zoo in Mindanao.
Creepy Crawlies
The most poisonous spider on the island of Negros is the Ogto-Ogto. It has a smaller body but very long legs. Be careful! An American friend was bitten by one of these spiders in February and he is still in and out of the hospital, dealing with the serious infection from the bite!
Staging spider fights and gambling on the results is a very popular sport in the Philippines! However, the spiders are not poisonous. The Portia Spider is a very common spider in the Philippines, known for its jumping ability. It does not build a web to catch prey but uses deception to attract its victims. Believe it.. or not, I know a Filipina whose name is Portia! However, she is not a huntress!
Red Ants! If you are bitten by the famous red ant in the Philippines, be prepared for some major pain. It is like the ant is telling you, “Here comes the pain!” Tiger Balm is the best remedy to rub on a Red Ant bite.
There are more than 400 species of ants in the Philippines and they are a constant problem to deal with. I don’t know how they do it but I call them Houdini Ants! They can not only enter a package of food that is unopened but they can actually get inside of the individually wrapped food item within the package! Goodness gracious!
The Philippines is a fabulous place to live but like many tropical areas or sub-tropical areas, including Florida, USA, be careful. There is wildlife and Wild Things! Including some of the women! That is not always bad is it?
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