Snakes, and other biting or stinging creatures in Bulgaria

I have a problem with wasps here if stung l have a reaction and pass out ,never had this problem with British wasps !!!

Thanks Truetomyself

that sounds quite concerning really. I think a man on youtube (crazybulgarianadventure) said the wasps are more powerful in Bulgaria than Britain.

Also during the summer time in Bulgaria -
Are there a lot of blow flies (AKA bluebottle or greenbottle flies)?
Are there many mosquitos?
Are there many midges?

There are plenty of snakes in Bulgaria but the vast majority of them are not poisonous to humans. The two to be aware of are the horned viper and the common european viper. The numbers of these are NOT very high in Bulgaria, but they are around. Seriously, 90% of the time if you see a snake (if not more) it will be a garden snake.

Even these, as the "most poisonous" in the Balkans are not terrible for most adults if you know basic snake first aid (keep the limb still, below heart level, and apply compression above the bite while calling for antivenom). The real risk in these is for children and elderly people who have weaker respiratory and pulmonary systems. Still, it is a good idea to keep away from snakes.

How common? I went on a hour hike round trip with my son the other day and saw two snakes. (both garden snakes)

Wasps and hornets are a pain in the butt and are often on the seaside and in the woods. I've had a couple of summer bungalows that had nearby hornet nests.

Ticks are super common and you should get in the habit of doing tick checks and know how to remove them. Many here carry lymes disease, so take them seriously.

Something to be aware of- the mosquitos are particularly nasty here. I never got swelling in the US when bit, or it was just a minor bump. Here my entire arm swells up from mosquito bites and the itch is terrible.

Thanks kojidae

when you say "garden snake" what species are you referring to?
Grass snake?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_snake

It is not known exactly how many different species of snakes reside in Bulgaria because there are some vipers that have not been seen in the country for such a long time that it is now thought that they are probably extinct from Bulgaria. There are however at least 10 breeds which are still in abundance. These are the Worm Snake, Cat Snake, Smooth Snake, Horn Nosed Viper, Common Viper (Adder), Grass Snake, Dice Snake, Four Lined Snake, Caspian Whip Snake, and the Aesculapian Snake.

Bulgaria has only 2 venomous snakes, the Common Viper, or as it's known in the UK; the ‘Adder'. This snake carries venom and will bite if it is picked up and maybe if it's stood on by accident. The Adder's venom, however, is quite a week and can be compared with that of a Bee sting so there is usually no cause for alarm if bitten by an adder, but any snake bite should be checked out by a medical professional to confirm this.
The Nose Horned Viper is closely related to the adder and can be similar in appearance. The venom of this beast is far more potent than that of the adder and an untreated bite from it will cause extreme pain and fever, in some cases death. Saying that it's been a number of years since there has been a fatality.
The snakes you are most likely to see in your garden are dependent on which part of the country your home is. As a general rule the common visitors will be; the smooth snake, Caspian whip snake, European grass snake, the Aesculapian and the dice snake. All of these are harmless but apart from the grass and dice snakes, they may bite if threatened. The grass and dice snakes love water, they love to swim and their diet consists mainly of fish, small frogs, and tadpoles, and some may eat lizards and earthworms. If handled these snakes will not bite but they do have a unique defense. They will sometimes release a foul smelling liquid from glands in their abdomen. The second defense of these snakes is to play dead by turning themselves upside down and hanging their mouths open with the tongue out.
Although they are not a common sight in the garden, the two venomous snakes of Bulgaria may be seen passing through.

Read more: http://www.questbg.com/index.php/lifest … z5o2MGLgXY

Bulgaria sounds like a place where people need to be tough, able, resilient and resourceful, in ways different to England, especially none natives who don't speak the language.

A hostile environment with winter-summer weather, wildlife and terrain - extremes.

I dislike blow/bluebottle/greenbottle flies( Calliphoridae), which there tends to be a lot of in England when the summers are hot. I imagine there may be a lot of these flies in Bulgaria in the hot summers, around bins, dog poop, trying to find food in houses etc??

@Lee4:

i find hostile environment very exaggerated. i really i don't think you have to worry that much.

@koyidae:

i'm surprised you've seen so many.

i've been living in china and thailalnd for almost 5 years and i have never seen a snake. even though i guess there have been some close at times, i just didn't see them.

generally snakes have no interest in human contact and rather take off.

Hey Lee4,

I really like reading your totally wrong suggestions, but've always wondered whether you're trying to convince yourself what an awful place Bulgaria is or just to inform the locals ??? Anyway, I enjoy all this. Really!!!



And back to the topic:

"Bulgaria sounds like a place where people need to be tough, able, resilient and resourceful, in ways different to England, especially none natives who don't speak the language.
A hostile environment with winter-summer weather, wildlife and terrain - extremes."

You're damn right!  We're all carrying knight like armour all day! Even sometimes at night. Life insurance is a must, at the very minute you enter the border!!! And snakes here will bite everyone not speaking Bulgarian!!!
A really hostile environment!! I wonder how people live here for the past .... 20 000 yrs ?!

And DIFFERENT from England?! Oh My God!!! How can this be ?? Even The water molecule has 4 Hydrogen atoms instead of two...... UNBELIEVABLE

"I dislike blow/bluebottle/greenbottle flies( Calliphoridae), which there tends to be a lot of in England when the summers are hot. I imagine there may be a lot of these flies in Bulgaria in the hot summers, around bins, dog poop, trying to find food in houses etc?? "

In Bulgaria they are HUGE !!! In additon, all the flies here have long shapr teeth and some of them even shoot at foreigners with lazer guns !!!



And have you seen our cars ? They all look like this:



Unbelievable!!! And in addition there are rules to register your car at the Traffic police office, and Laws...Jesus!!!!!!!

s.o. is trying to trick you to come here. Don't !!!!

Hi everyone,

I just found this thread and was shocked by what I read here about Bulgaria. Really I never knew that this is so dangerous country. Last summer my wife and I spent two weeks of our vacation in Bulgaria and I never met any of those creatures that you described here. Maybe you're talking about another Bulgaria.

It's not any more dangerous than other countries (wildlife wise) and much less dangerous than many (I come from Arizona, filled with over 18 kinds of poisonous-to-human snakes, scorpians, lizards that can take off a limb flesh decaying spiders etc).

It's good to know about the wildlife... good to be informed. If you don't like flies in one place, you probably won't like them anywhere.

As far as the snakes I've seen, it's all been flashes of tail as they slither away from me.

Thank you so much Kristiann,  My wife and I have split our sides laughing,  my wife is Bulgarian and we have lived here for exactly 1 year now

It was fun writing this too .... so I appreciate you did enjoy it. Anyway, those people just need to be assured their fears were not in vain.

You can read the topic with the business venture ... it had an unexpected turn ) though quite similar to this one.

kojidae wrote:

It's not any more dangerous than other countries (wildlife wise) and much less dangerous than many (I come from Arizona, filled with over 18 kinds of poisonous-to-human snakes, scorpians, lizards that can take off a limb flesh decaying spiders etc).

It's good to know about the wildlife... good to be informed. If you don't like flies in one place, you probably won't like them anywhere.

As far as the snakes I've seen, it's all been flashes of tail as they slither away from me.

Thanks again koji 

you seem like a good expat.com forum member with good info to contribute, who is also quite active in nature in bulgaria.

Since youve been in bulgaria how many wild snakes have you seen per year?
how many of these were adders (european viper)?
how many of these were nose horned vipers?

Lee4 wrote:

kojidae wrote:

It's not any more dangerous than other countries (wildlife wise) and much less dangerous than many (I come from Arizona, filled with over 18 kinds of poisonous-to-human snakes, scorpians, lizards that can take off a limb flesh decaying spiders etc).

It's good to know about the wildlife... good to be informed. If you don't like flies in one place, you probably won't like them anywhere.

As far as the snakes I've seen, it's all been flashes of tail as they slither away from me.

Thanks again koji 

you seem like a good expat.com forum member with good info to contribute, who is also quite active in nature in bulgaria.

Since youve been in bulgaria how many wild snakes have you seen per year?
how many of these were adders (european viper)?
how many of these were nose horned vipers?

Lee are you trolling?

Do you think people go around writing down each animal they see each day and add them up at end of the year?

You have been given advice. So unless you have any other questions I considered this topic ended.

I'll say I've never seen either of the poisonous variety. Only the harmless ones.

SimCityAT wrote:

Lee4 wrote:

kojidae wrote:

It's not any more dangerous than other countries (wildlife wise) and much less dangerous than many (I come from Arizona, filled with over 18 kinds of poisonous-to-human snakes, scorpians, lizards that can take off a limb flesh decaying spiders etc).

It's good to know about the wildlife... good to be informed. If you don't like flies in one place, you probably won't like them anywhere.

As far as the snakes I've seen, it's all been flashes of tail as they slither away from me.

Thanks again koji 

you seem like a good expat.com forum member with good info to contribute, who is also quite active in nature in bulgaria.

Since youve been in bulgaria how many wild snakes have you seen per year?
how many of these were adders (european viper)?
how many of these were nose horned vipers?

Lee are you trolling?

Do you think people go around writing down each animal they see each day and add them up at end of the year?

You have been given advice. So unless you have any other questions I considered this topic ended.

harsh.
are you even a moderator?
if so, fine.
if not, stay inside your realms.

malone99 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

Lee4 wrote:

Thanks again koji 

you seem like a good expat.com forum member with good info to contribute, who is also quite active in nature in bulgaria.

Since youve been in bulgaria how many wild snakes have you seen per year?
how many of these were adders (european viper)?
how many of these were nose horned vipers?

Lee are you trolling?

Do you think people go around writing down each animal they see each day and add them up at end of the year?

You have been given advice. So unless you have any other questions I considered this topic ended.

harsh.
are you even a moderator?
if so, fine.
if not, stay inside your realms.

Not at harsh

But when advise has been given its pointless to carry on. I would not call myself a moderator but I am a member of the Expat Team.

malone99 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

Lee4 wrote:

Thanks again koji 

you seem like a good expat.com forum member with good info to contribute, who is also quite active in nature in bulgaria.

Since youve been in bulgaria how many wild snakes have you seen per year?
how many of these were adders (european viper)?
how many of these were nose horned vipers?

Lee are you trolling?

Do you think people go around writing down each animal they see each day and add them up at end of the year?

You have been given advice. So unless you have any other questions I considered this topic ended.

harsh.
are you even a moderator?
if so, fine.
if not, stay inside your realms.

Hi malone i completely agree. And about half the posters to this valid discussion of a thread have contributed nothing to the topic. Disappointing really.

SimCityAT wrote:

malone99 wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

Lee are you trolling?

Do you think people go around writing down each animal they see each day and add them up at end of the year?

You have been given advice. So unless you have any other questions I considered this topic ended.

harsh.
are you even a moderator?
if so, fine.
if not, stay inside your realms.

Not at harsh

But when advise has been given its pointless to carry on. I would not call myself a moderator but I am a member of the Expat Team.

What a bad attitude.

Come on mate stop with this senseless asking about snakes. Yes they live in Bulgaria deal with it.

I'm trying to get a feel for just how I might cope with the bulgarian wildlife, before i actually go and live there. its call research everyone, and its a wise thing to do to avoid costly avoidable and potentially dangerous mistakes.

Look up the phrase "due diligence".

If you havent got anything valid to add to the actual intended topics for discussion in this thread please dont post on this thread.

Lee4 wrote:

I'm trying to get a feel for just how I might cope with the bulgarian wildlife, before i actually go and live there. its call research everyone, and its a wise thing to do to avoid costly avoidable and potentially dangerous mistakes.

Look up the phrase "due diligence".

If you havent got anything valid to add to the actual intended topics for discussion in this thread please dont post on this thread.

There are snakes like there are much across the world some more venomous than others. The chances that you will see one are very slim. Snakes rather eat things they can swollow. Humans are not in their food chain.

I would be more concerned about ticks and BREXIT than snakes.

Anyway are you retiring or will you be working?

It's funny ... you don't get tired ... answering this type of questions ))

but in this case, one should probably start explaining in which areas do snakes live, which seasons, what types .. etc.



Ooooops, you do not know where the man is going to live ??? O.k. then a thorough explanation for the entire territory of Bulgaria is necessary

kristiann wrote:

And have you seen our cars ? They all look like this:

https://i.postimg.cc/Y9FHk89C/1000w-q95-1539802993.jpg

Unbelievable!!! And in addition there are rules to register your car at the Traffic police office, and Laws...Jesus!!!!!!!

s.o. is trying to trick you to come here. Don't !!!!

I'd like to make you an honorary Englishman for your excellent use of sarcasm. You speak it like any of the best we have in Yorkshire. 

Ramses K. wrote:

Come on mate stop with this senseless asking about snakes. Yes they live in Bulgaria deal with it.

I suppose the best way to answer this is to find out who died of what in Bulgaria.
The top killers are:

Ischemic heart disease
Cerebrovascular disease
Hypertensive heart disease
Alzheimer disease
Lung cancer
COPD
Colorectal cancer
Other cardiovascular
Cardiomyopathy
Diabetes

Keep fit, eat a good diet, and avoid excess sugar including coca cola and other soft drinks.
You might also want to avoid smoking and inserting any carcinogens into your anus.

Snakes are doing very poorly as a cause of death in that country (they really must try to kill people if they ever want to become a notable cause of death), but paranoia could put extra strain on someone's heart, thus adding to the heart disease numbers in years to come.

Scorpion Invasion in Plovdiv



Don't poke them with a stick

Awww <3

Fun things to do for the kids

Tree climbing snakes

Snake at the beach

Most dangerous snake in England

This thread is about peoples experiences with all potential biting stinging creatures that live in Bulgaria / south east europe.

We're not just talking snakes.

So far we have also learned about -
(powerful) wasps that make truetomyself pass out when bitten by one.
(powerful) mosquitos that make kojidae's whole arm swell up when bitten by one, with this not happening in the USA.
Lyme disease carrying ticks.

These are big inconveniences, and dangers. Some people are very sensitive to bites and stings and can end up with a whole host of health complications. Such people would want to know about such dangers before visiting or moving to a location where they exist.

If you find such issues a laughing matter, shame on you.

Logic seems useful, more so than paranoid delusions.
How many people have serious problems due to these less than lovely creatures, and how much of your concern is pointless worry?
If locals and expats generally survive to their expected three score and ten, the concerns are to be considered, but not obsessed over.
However, if these creations of the almighty are the Peter Sutcliffes of the animal kingdom, stay in England where knife crime will at least kill you cleanly and quickly.
Life expectancy over there is shorter, but that could well be locals that smoke far too much.

Actually, it is pretty funny.

Actually, I really should say why I find it so funny. I live in a country with tigers, rhino, spiders, scorpions, snakes, ruddy big volcanos, and even terrorists, but a lot more people die of smoking than any of those things.
If you read up on all the possible dangers you'd never set foot in any country, but all the rubbish you read is not a lot because, at the end of the day, communities don't hire men with carts that shout, "Bring out your dead" because of the massive death rate.

Reality is all that you need to care about .. that and not poking snakes with sticks.

For christ's sake don't go to England. There's a gun and knife crime epidemic out there with people dropping dead every two minutes, and traffic wardens ticket cars even when the driver is dead because a gangster stuck a knife in his neck before he could feed another coin into the meter.
I might have exaggerated the bit about the knife, but not the ticket
BBC News - Traffic warden issues ticket to dead driver in Belfast
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23582311

Once I had a boss who was a claustrophobic. Because of his issue he couldn't go on board a plane or a ship etc. so he had never been anywhere outside Sweden, only had driven to Norway (this was before the Öresund Bridge). Since he was such a tough guy in viking size we thought that claustrophobic thing didn't fit him well so we used to bug him with all the stories and experiences that we had from rest of the world that he was going missing but we didn't know that we really bothered him.

Maybe Lee4 has some kind of phobia like Ophidiophobia or Arachnophobia or both of them to a certain level without knowing it clearly. The funny thing about phobias is only the one who suffer from it understand it while it very easily becomes a joke to others who don't suffer from it.

Lee4 my advice for you is travel to Bulgaria and feel it by yourself. And maybe there is a designated website for reptile related information in Bulgaria which maybe someone in Bulgarian forum will find it for you. And poisonings related accident information center to find out statistics among other things. And zoology department of the main university in Bulgaria to find out further more info and so on. Good luck!

deadliest creatures

and this one includes humans:

finnbo wrote:

Once I had a boss who was a claustrophobic. Because of his issue he couldn't go on board a plane or a ship etc. so he had never been anywhere outside Sweden, only had driven to Norway (this was before the Öresund Bridge). Since he was such a tough guy in viking size we thought that claustrophobic thing didn't fit him well so we used to bug him with all the stories and experiences that we had from rest of the world that he was going missing but we didn't know that we really bothered him.

Maybe Lee4 has some kind of phobia like Ophidiophobia or Arachnophobia or both of them to a certain level without knowing it clearly. The funny thing about phobias is only the one who suffer from it understand it while it very easily becomes a joke to others who don't suffer from it.

Lee4 my advice for you is travel to Bulgaria and feel it by yourself. And maybe there is a designated website for reptile related information in Bulgaria which maybe someone in Bulgarian forum will find it for you. And poisonings related accident information center to find out statistics among other things. And zoology department of the main university in Bulgaria to find out further more info and so on. Good luck!

Already posted a link.

I was reluctant to move to Bulgaria, but not anymore since I read the comments about the thriving wildlife there, I love insects, they are our free oil-gauge to the ecosystem we live in. if someday you woke up with no flies or bugs around, chances are, you live in a toxic environment. Consider an insect or a snake bite that doesn't kill you as free vaccine. Smile:)
Live and let Live

Hi Lee4, we’ve been in our house for three months and before that we were in rented accommodation on the outskirts of Sofia. Our house is typically rural, on the outskirts of a village, about an hour south of the Danube. So far, I’ve had a nasty sting/bite on my hand, in March, I’ve no idea what caused it, I just put my gardening gloves back on after a short period and it must have crawled in. It felt pretty bad - I could feel the poison going to my fingertips. I put on lavender essential oil straight away (it’s magic!) and that soothed it, though I had to keep reapplying for a couple of hours. My hand was itchy and a bit swollen for a couple of days. Apart from that, just mosquito-type bites, although I think some of them are caused by some other creature(s). I always have lavender essential oil on hand, because it really is incredible, and will sort out most stings/bites (and burns!). Luckily, Bulgaria is a major producer of lavender 😁

"I was reluctant to move to Bulgaria, but not anymore since I read the comments about the thriving wildlife there, I love insects, they are our free oil-gauge to the ecosystem we live in. if someday you woke up with no flies or bugs around, chances are, you live in a toxic environment. "

I largely agree with what you say.

But its a shame we can't chose our creatures and insects.

For example, at least parts of the wild rugged West Highlands of Scotland have a lot of ticks, so i have heard, which may be a sign of not much interference by man, but I can live without ticks TYVM.
But I also read that some of the outskirts of Sydney Australia have ticks, so maybe ticks can live anywhere with suitable vegetation.

Lee, I wonder, did you ever go to Bulgaria? I've visited six times, a variety of areas from city to rural, and had no more problem with insects bites or snakes than I've had here in the UK. I doubt there's any place in the world that's completely free from biting, stinging, or in some way venomous critters. And yes, as Kristiann's chart showed, of all creatures humans are by far a bigger danger than snakes and spiders.

The Sydney ticks are quite a different thing - AFAIK they don't carry Lyme disease as the ticks in the UK, Europe, and USA can. But they are paralysis ticks that can kill a dog or cat, and make an adult human sick. There are far more poisonous snakes and spiders there than Bulgaria. There are small octopus and sea creatures that can sting a person to death. And that's before we discuss sharks! Even so, there are very few fatalities a year due to these creatures. If you do have a genuine phobia about snakes, insects, or spider, don't go to Sydney.