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[yaklin]

i just downloaded 40d14 and my first fort i settled on a cave and it has a hydra in it
how hard are they to kill and will it bother me

[Niyazov]

Hydras are usually regarded as the wimpiest of the megabeasts. Because of a programming oversight, a hydra never uses its poison attack and will die if any of its seven heads are cut off. In practice, this means that sword- or axedwarves are very effective against a hydra with some training.

Alternately, you could try flooding the cave complex with magma, digging a pit beneath it and collapsing the the floor out under it. Another possibility is to trap the corridor out of sight of the hydra and put a bait dwarf or animal within its line of sight so that it pursues it through the traps. If you use a cage trap, you can catch the hydra and tame it once your dungeon master noble arrives. Be warned that if the hydra is caught after it has killed one of your dwarves, it will never be truly tame and will attack without provocation even after it is "tamed".

[Vester]

In other words, keep away from that thing unless you're ready for it.

[yaklin]

slight hitch in that plan...
the hydra is outside the cave and i started out between it and the cave

[EvilTwin]

only one thing thats left to say then: ahahahahaha 

[Phantom]

You have three options, run away from the rabbit hydra, use the holy hand grenade, or zerg rush it.

[Rowanas]

7 dwarves. Seven heads. Fair match.

[Vester]

Dig straight down and try get away from it. If it's not chasing you then you don't have to worry.

[Rakonas]

Psh, just draft all your dwarves and you'll only lose 3 max.

[Vester]

Weaksauce though it may be, it is still a megabeast.

It should be captured and tamed for great justice.

[ManaUser]

slight hitch in that plan...
the hydra is outside the cave and i started out between it and the cave

What's the problem then? Go in the cave and blockade the entrance until you're prepared.

[Stargrasper]

slight hitch in that plan...
the hydra is outside the cave and i started out between it and the cave

What's the problem then? Go in the cave and blockade the entrance until you're prepared.

The problem there is that it involves sacrificing all supplies brought along for the fortress.  It'd be near impossible to gather the supplies before the hydra decided to go home to it's cave and sealing the dwarves in without supplies is a condemnation.

I'm going to suggest you pick one of the following three options.
1) Grab your axe and pick, run perpendicular to the line between the cave and hydra, if it doesn't chase you, you'll probably manage to survive.
2) Zerg rush it.
3) Abandon and Reclaim.

[UristMcGunsmith]

Recruit your miners as wrestlers and your woodcutter as an axedwarf and have at it. It'll be a mighty set back but remember how FUN(tm) Dwarf Fortress is?

[Ubiq]

Just dig a trench completely around the wagon and your dwarves that leaves at least one or two spaces to dig a downwards stairways with; all the hydra can do then is give you dirty looks from across the channel.

After you dig down and have enough room to build a carpentry workshop, build three cages out of wood and put a row of cage traps on whatever side is closest to the hydra. After that, build a floor directly in front of the center trap.

Then wait until the Dungeon Master shows up and then tame your new pet hydra.

[Peewee]

Small problem... aren't local animals still immune to traps? IIRC they've been around long enough they recognize changes to the environment