Living in a cave

I've never had the need of surviving in a cave before but I feel like in some situations where building a shelter is impossible finding a cave or something along those lines would be a pretty good idea.
If you've ever had to use a cave as shelter, what did you do first? I imagine setting up a fire and your belongings would be the first step, but you also need a way of covering up the entrance with something in case of wild animals, you can't play with them.

 

Setting up fire must be the first thing to do to scare any animals hiding in the cave. Since there might be wild animals living in the cave, you will make sure that there are no parasites before sleeping. You will not need to cover the entrance but set up fire at the entrance before sleeping. This will be to ensure that you scare away any wild animals that may want to sleep in the cave. You will then look for water and some wild fruits and leaves for your food.

 

Well I think that a fire will attract attention from anything in the wild as it is a source of warmth for anything that seeks it. I would start a fire, but use it to go threw the cave to see what I'm about to deal with, there may be other things in the cave that I don't want to be there.

I would also make sure that there is big enough boulders, rocks, or whatever that I can place in front of the entrance because I don't want any company when I'm trying to sleep.

 

Not gonna lie--as much as setting up camp in a cave seems like a good idea, you never know what's lurking deeper inside. I've seen too many horror films and heard too many stories to ever want to step foot into a cave alone. Of course, with the proper gear and a handy-dandy escape rope, I'd might attempt dwelling in one for a short awhile.

But I don't know. Caves just seem incredibly dangerous to me. Aside from wild animals prowling them, you might not be the only person seeking solace there.

 

I have posted in another thread that I wouldn't dare live in a cave. But on second thought, maybe I would if I would be with someone who is a veteran adventurer and one who knows that particular cave very well. There are so many dangers inside the cave beginning with the bats. Next are the rodents that could bite you. And how about the reptiles like the snake, gecko or iguana? Maybe you are scared of the insects like deadly spiders and scorpions. There are so many possibilities for you to be injured inside the cave. However, if there is no other choice, the most I can stay in a cave is just in the mouth or entrance. At least there is fresh air and a space to run if I needed to escape from a predator.

 

A cave would be so convenient and durable, I would definitely try it out. My primary fear, as others have mentioned, would be wild animals of all sizes trying to come into the cave. I would have to sleep with a weapon or noise-maker near me to scare off the potential animals, and of course store any food a considerable distance away from the cave/sleeping area.

If the cave was very very deep, I would stay near the entrance and maybe try to block off the deeper part of it with rocks. I wouldn't want to stay too far back in the cave in case the entrance/mouth was ever going to collapse and trap me.

 

Definitely, it's a thing to be considered if you plan on living in a cave. Romania has the most amount of bears in the European Union and you never know if one of them is lurking in a dark cave, that would be scary. I'm not too scared of insects or deadly spiders, snakes etc. because we don't have them here in Romania, but if you live somewhere like Australia it's a valid concern.