Snakes out and about

[casstony]

I saw the first snakes for the season in my area this week at a local walking track. I passed a black snake then ran into a Tiger a couple hundred metres down the track; I had to kill it since it had my dog cornered.

I wasn't sure if the dog had been bitten so I asked the vet on the way home and she said the dog would be dead in 10 minutes from a Tiger snake bite.

More tragically I heard about a death from Tiger snake bite in my home town of Orbost - a young man on the river bank bitten on the arm.

I might restrict my spring bush walks to cold days.

Watch where your walking and wear long pants!

[cometcatcher]

Haven't seen many around these parts for a while. It's been too dry. I'm sure they will be out after we get some rain.

[Ric]

We've had a few in the last month.

The last was a four foot Brown down by the dam, on a frog hunt no doubt.

Our area (Bungendore and surrounds) has the reputation for being the snake capitol of Australia. We're full of Tigers and Brown's. everywhere I go around the farm I always carry the snake bite kit and the mobile.

[chiaroscuro]

We're lucky - we've got a 2m Red-bellied black snake. I'm told they're very territorial and will keep the browns and tigers away.

I was given a tip for walking around snaky areas: don't just wear long trousers, but baggy trousers. The snake will clamp down on the material rather than your leg.

[casstony]

I always carry a bandage and the mobile. I looked up a list of world's most dangerous snakes: Tiger was #6 and Brown was #2.

IIRC the Black snakes diet includes other snakes and they're especially timid around humans so they're probably good to have around.

Baggy trousers are good; a relative at a BBQ Felt some tapping on the back of his leg while standing still - when he looked a small snake was striking his leg but it didn't get through the pants to his skin.

[scagman]

Had a 4' black on path 2' from the front door about 2 weeks ago as I opened the door to let the dog out. It disappeared into the shrubs next to the door, but was gone/hiding before I could get the shovel.

[pgc hunter]

In Jan 2014, some friends of ours from Hungary were visiting. My parents took them down to Portland, Vic for a holiday and to do some fishing. Well one day, the family and their 8 yr old daughter decided to take a hike along on of the walking trails there.... and came face to face with a massive Eastern Brown Snake. They took pics of it... then ran back down the hill to alert my parents (who stayed back) to what they just saw. They literally just cheated death IMO.

I remember as a kid on a family holiday to Kangaroo Island in 1998, my dad ran over a snake in our old XF Falcon wagon, the bloody snake just slid back into the bushes like nothing had happened.

Speaking of deadly creatures... last few years we were getting dozens of Redback spiders nesting around our pool, and black widows near our outside fish pond and last summer I fished out of our pool what could only be the remains of a Funnel Web or Mouse Spider.

[Steffen]

You forgot the deadliest of them all. European honey bees kill twice as many people in Australia as snakes plus all of the above. Not kidding. Even more dangerous: horses. Horse riding related accidents claim more lives than bees.

And then there's cars...

Cheers
Steffen.

[speach]

Last summer had a Tiger (snake) in the bedroom. Wasn't a happy chappie as it went under the bed, had a fair amount of trouble getting it out of there.

[N1]

+1

I had a 1000ft train crawl past me the other day. It was no more than 6 feet away. Lucky escape :P