• Phone Number520-689-2723
  • E-Mailinfo@ag.arizona.edu
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

The Blog Cache

  • Natural History
  • Musings, Yarns, Rants
  • Field Trips
  • Edibles
  • Interviews
  • Tech
  • About us
    • BTA website
    • eNewsletter
    • Events
    • Contact

Centipede bites with a wallop

July 22, 2016 By Kim Stone 819 Comments

wild man phil and centipedeWho will blink first?

“Wild Man” Phil Rakoci is one of the long-time tour leaders at the Arboretum. He handles critter of all kinds (like the centipede above), but specializes in snakes and lizards, and usually hauls a small menagerie of creatures along with him for his tours and other demonstrations. During the early morning Learn your Lizards tours at the Arboretum, he catches lizards and snakes that the group is lucky enough to find in the 1.25 mile walk around the Main Trail.

He is a consummate professional, and funny, too, bringing these creatures to life (as if they need any assistance) to school kids and adults alike. He might demonstrate how to properly handle a whiptail lizard without harming him, If he catches a bull snake, he’ll hold it firmly but gently, allowing people in the group to rub their fingers across its smooth scales. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittertumblr

Filed Under: Featured posts, Natural History, Summer, The Arboretum Tagged With: bite, centipede, desert, giant, infection, lizards, oxycodone, pain, painful, painkillers, poisonous, rattlesnake, scorpion, snakes, sting, swelling, venom, venomous bite

Superior
72°
clear sky
humidity: 18%
wind: 11mph NW
H 75 • L 46
Weather from OpenWeatherMap

Recent Posts

  • An Interview with Laurence Garvie
  • Introducing Our New Director – Dr. Sy Sohmer
  • Mark Siegwarth
  • Aloes
  • Incredible Edibles of the Arboretum
Facebooktwitterrssyoutubetumblrinstagram

Most popular posts

Sorry. No data so far.

Copyright © 2018 · Boyce Thompson Arboretum