Snakes

We have those. Spain is said to have some 13 species, 5 of which are venomous: the Asp and the Baskian Viper, the Hooded Snake, the Montpellier Snake and the Lataste’s Viper.

Rule of thumb should you encounter one: if the snake moves away from you, you’re safe; if it sits still or even starts to move towards you, swiftly get out of its way because it is prone to bite you. Should that happen, firmly bind off the affected limb to avoid the poison spreading through the bloodstream and, if possible, make a photo of the snake so that a doctor can determine what kind it is in order to give you the proper treatment.

Having said that, snakes prefer to stay away from people as much as we like to stay away from them; any encounter is an unintentional coincidence. There’s no reason to be overly cautious. Times we’ve been bitten in 1 year: zero; times we saw a snake at all: less than five, and only from a distance. Statistically the chances of being bitten by a snake are about 15 million to one.