Here at Ft Bragg we used to have to conduct a class to try and keep some Yankee city boy from petting the cute little things when we got to Florida for the Annual FTX.
One who didn'y listen picked one up which was in protective mode and put it into his sleeping bag.
That night when he came off shift he opened the bag and reached in and surprised the little dude.
The screams woke me and when I got there his hand was inside an the creature had rolled up again and was chewing.
We hit it with a hammer to stop the chewing and then the Fire extinguisher blasts for a while till it opened and dropped and ran.
The lad lost two fingers and most of the meat and tendons in his hand.
Next class was a simple film of his ordeal taped by another soldier.
Then to add insulting pain to dumb pain he had to get the 21 shots to the gut for Rabbis.
The Seminoles don't eat them, there is no place I have ever seen a family way to cook them.
Their highest use seems to be to keep sleepy drivers awake in North Florida.