I like this idea much better than one I read a long time ago. It said to use newspaper, but that would break the spines!

Sounds good to me! I've been on the wrong end of cactus spines WAY too many times!

One Like that I like to wrap with a couple thickness of newspapers. I bet I'd get stuck with a towel.
Or even a feed sack, so those treacherous spines don't grab me. Then put the towel on.....

I have always used an old beach towel (or sometimes two) and it has worked well for me.

Yes a beach towel would work but I am cowardly when it comes to thorns.....

I'd think maybe an initial wrap with a paper towel (to collect any tiny, nasty, sneaky threadlike thorns) and then use the towel. That way, you don't end up with little nasties in your towels. I swear that stuff does NOT wash out!

Maybe we'd better use an old rag of a towel just in case?

In my case the beach towels that get used are the ones used for drying the car etc....

Yes, that one does look vicious
Regards,
Arif.

And not just any old pair of gloves will do when handling cactus. Even if it's wrapped up in a towel, don't take any chances. When I go out hiking in the Texas brush, I prefer to wear bluejeans (when not TOO hot), as there lots of kinds of plants with thorns...not to mention the stinging type of plants, so easy for the legs to brush up against the wrong plant.

Don't forget snakes, I would prefer the jeans to soak up as much of the venom as possible and just inject me with a tiny dose.
Regards,
Arif.

Do you have venomous snakes in your area, Arif?

Cobra's but they don't hunt, coil and recoil. Vipers, these are very venomous. Snakes normally do not attack without reason but while walking around in the wild a person can inadvertently stray near or step on them. The thick cloth of jeans is a good protection because like blotting paper it absorbs the venom, well not all but a major part of it. Which gives us time to reach help but in my case I carry a blade or knife. I find out when I get a feeling of a red hot wire inserted but then time has passed by. So, slit and squeeze is the best option. Here, it is quite possible to reach the hospital in time but chances are very bright that they do not have anti-venom.
Regards,
Arif.

***faint***

Not to many roads, no transport, very few medical facilities and those, to help you to die not live. You go in for a DNS of the nose and come out with Hepatitis C. Old habits die hard and this is one of the accepted procedures. We cannot suck the venom out like you all, we eat to many chillies and spices so our mouths are not pristine and you cannot carry a bottle with apparatus to heat it up, invert and let it suck the poison. Apply tourniquet, slit, squeeze and then pray you got all of it out . So far it has worked just fine. Except, maybe for a black coloured limb for a few days.
This Russel Viper poison travels very fast, you just barely have time to think. Cobra is a larger snake and can be seen from far. Viper is small and blends in with the terrain.
Let me also add I love snakes on my farm, they keep the mice population under control. I don't bother them and they don't bother me. Rather have the ones who recognise me then let new ones move in who do not.
Regards,
Arif.

I'm glad I live where snakes are not such a danger! As a small child in East Texas, I feared snakes. I've lost most fear since then...where I live now all I see are rat snakes, very rarely anything poisonous. Never have been bitten by a snake.

Normally they are not aggressive but in Monsoons it is a different story. The soil gets super saturated and they are flooded out of their burrows. Now any thing ejected from the comfort of their homes wont be in a good mood will it? Maximum incidents happen in the Monsoons, rest of the year they are happy and just to lazy unless you step on them while they are sunning themselves in winters. Then I suppose they have a right to get aggressive.
Regards,
Arif.

Where we used to live, there were lots of rattlesnakes, but fortunately they stayed away from our house and yard. Probably because of the goats running around. One of our neighbors got bit and nearly died because it took so long to get him to medical care. We were sort of out in the middle of nowhere; one of the reasons we moved here (takes only about 10 minutes to get to the closest hospital ).

Wow!!! snake tips! We have copperheads but Thankfully not a lot so we just have to be careful. I used to see a large blacksnake but don't see him much any more. i don't like it when folks run over them just for meaness. But they do, not when I'm in car though.
Blacksnakes don't hurt anything....

I like living in an area where the only snakes are little non-venomous snakes! Snakes are cool, but the venomous ones leave me, er "cold."