I did, but not by choice. First, let me say I'm not a fan of either spiders or snakes - the only good ones are dead ones in my book. Now about Louisiana...I was sent to Ft. Polk in January '71 for Basic Training. I picked up a post newspaper my third day on the base and right on the front page is a photo of a soldier who'd killed a copperhead while out on bivouac. He was holding it out at arms length and the snake's tail was dragging on the ground. Turned out there were four different types of snakes on base: copperheads, rattlers, water moccasins, and coral snakes - each one just a bit deadlier than the next. The good thing was there was antivenom available for all of them back then. I recently read where all of the coral snake antivenom expired in 2010 and production of new ceased because it was unprofitable due to the relatively small number of coral snake bites recorded annually in the U.S. Tell that to someone who's been bitten!
