`PC' OOZING ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

On any soap opera, you're bound to trip over a few slimy characters. But for the past few months, Lynn Herring, who plays glamorous cosmetics queen Lucy Coe on ABC's ``Port Charles,'' has been facing more than her share of creepy castmates.

First there was the bear - yes, a real, live black bear - Lucy fended off in the soap woods.

Now, after a plane crash into the wilds of the Florida Everglades, Lucy and attorney Scott Baldwin (played by Kin Shriner) are confronted by a tangle of snakes and a gaggle of baby alligators while trying to find their way back to civilization. The scenes are scheduled to air Sept. 28-Oct. 2 on ``PC,'' which is seen at 11:30 a.m. weekdays.

For Herring, who's more comfortable in boots and jeans than glam gowns, the adventure scenes - which all take place on the ABC lot in Hollywood - have been a welcome change from ballrooms and boardrooms.

``I love animals of any kind, and I'm not afraid of most of them,'' Herring said. ``And I learned a lot about them from the shoots.''

For instance, snakes and alligators become more active the warmer they get. So their handlers kept them in special coolers until right before their big scenes.

``When one got hot under all the lights, they'd replace it with a cool one,'' Herring said. ``They don't move too fast when they're cool. When they get hot, they're really hard to catch.''

Actually, the alligators aren't really alligators. Seems that because they're on the endangered species list, they're nearly impossible to transport legally across state lines. So baby monitor lizards - which look almost exactly like alligators, except they have forked tongues - were used instead.

``They had to be very careful how they shot, not to let them flick their tongues,'' Herring said.

Herring, who has caught three rattlesnakes in her own Topanga Canyon garden this summer and released them unhurt in remote areas, was fascinated by all the critters. She tried to convince Shriner that their creepier-than-usual castmates not only wouldn't hurt him but were interesting to watch.

But Shriner wasn't buying it.

``It wasn't much fun,'' he complained. ``I don't like those things. I don't take to critters the way Lynn does. She was having a ball. But I couldn't wait till it was over.''

``He's such a macho dude, but he didn't want to be around the snakes at all,'' Herring said. ``He kept saying, `Why can't we use rubber snakes?' But he finally did pick one up - with a stick.''

Both actors were glad, though, that the mama alligator - who charges to the rescue of her babies when Lucy and Scott think they've found bird eggs and hungrily decide on a prehatching egg feast - was just a prerecorded alligator roar played off-set.

Not so the big black bear who a few weeks ago menaced Lucy as she hiked through the woods to get help for an injured friend. He was real - and he was real big, Herring said.

``I was very respectful of him,'' she said. ``No petting, like the snakes. The handlers told us beforehand the big no-nos: No perfume, no food on the set, because he's really sensitive to smells. But they had him under great control. They'd just kind of point him in a direction, and he would go where they wanted him to.''

Ditsy Lucy tossed the bear marshmallows to keep him at bay, then crooned a lullaby until the big creature curled up for a nap, enabling her to escape.

``He really ate the marshmallows, too,'' Herring said. ``He was really sweet.''

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Photo: At times plagued by snakes and alligators, Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring) and Scott Baldwin (Kin Shriner) find themselves handcuffed together in the Florida Everglades in this scene from ``Port Charles.''