# Saw my first snake ..summer is on the way(Australia)



## pops1 (Nov 12, 2009)

Saw my first snake today,only a copperhead they are a nice quiet snake, venomous but you have to step on them for them to react.We live in the country but in this area we are lucky because we don't see any Tiger or Brown snakes which are the nasty ones a lot more aggressive .Mostly just copperheads and black snakes which are another non aggressive type.
Summer has arrived in Victoria its been well over 30 degrees all week,not the best weather for M & P lucky l am using "Low Sweat Base" .


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## tamarajane (Nov 12, 2009)

Mother Earth is truely amazing huh?  All the leaves are gone here and the temps are dropping. We've already had frost-winter is on the way.  Have been using the heater for over a month now at nights.  It's about 40 F here this morning.  I DREAD winter!


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## Manda (Nov 12, 2009)

Here in Perth it's been so hot and humid the last few days it feels like Queensland! My M&P hardly sweats at all but I had one unwrapped today and it was glistening all over!  :roll: 

We have lots of tiger snakes and dugites around here as we're quite close to a lake, but touch wood, I've not seen any out and about as yet.  We do have quite a lot of Western Green Tree Frogs (Motorbike Frogs) around our fish ponds so no doubt when the snakes, monitors and other lizards start getting hungry (for frogs) we will likely see some snakes etc about the place.

Christmas Eve last year we caught our cat Tessa playing with a juvenile dugite and promptly locked her indoors. The same day my sister's cat was caught having the most fun of his life playing with a little snake. It was nipping at him numerous times but they couldn't catch the cat as he kept darting back into the bushes chasing the snake. Later on that day he became very wobbly and sick and was taken to the vets where he stayed for a few days. We expected the worst as he had so many bites all over his legs, but somehow he pulled through! Ah cats...!  :?

'No snakes' is on my list of "Moving to New Zealand - Pros"  :wink:


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## artisan soaps (Nov 12, 2009)

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## Galavanting Gifts (Nov 12, 2009)

pops, you can have our snakes if you like our property is riddled in them at the moment. We had a friend come and take a 7 foot carpet snake away that was hanging around our chooks, we believed it was the one responsible for consuming our young guinea fowl we were raising to keep our heavy tick overload down. That was until we found a freshly shedded skin of another carpet snake about 5 foot long a couple of weeks back.
 Just recently our 3 legged cat Solomon got struck by an Eastern brown adolecent, it sneaked in between the bricks of our house and my husband grabed its tail not realising what kind of snake it was (not thinking how deadly those things are or knowing what kind of snake it was at the time :? ). We raced the cat and the snake next door to the vet and they did a clotting test on the cat, thankfully the teeth were too small to penetrate into the cats skin.
 Yep, those snakes are a common occurance around us, thankfully we have our guardian dogs to warn us if the things get to close to our milking goats, unfortunately one of the guardins has been struck on two seperate occasiions but not by a deadly snake.


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## Lynnz (Nov 12, 2009)

Oh my goodness we are moving back to NZ in Sep of next year and I am not too happy about it, but reading about all the snake activity has just made it a little bit easier LOL


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## pops1 (Nov 13, 2009)

We are lucky here Copperheads and the occasional black snake out visiting the dam for a drink in the evening but we have lost one cat to a snake bite which the vet said was unusual because the cats fur protects them to a certain degree and old Mother Goose was another victim but she decided to take on the snake instead of running the other way.I don't think l would like to live with all your snakes at all .My now deceased Jack Russell(natural causes) would hunt the darn snakes and would drag them out of the pampas grass by their tails grab them by the middle and shake hell out of them breaking their back .Some of his prey was 6-8 ft long and one summer he killed 11 of them and that was only the ones we found its probably why our snake population is so small now.How he ever survived to live to 17 l will never know,he was also a champion rat and mouse catcher
and would spend hours searching through the old sheds for them.I never had to worry about snakes at all when he was alive.


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## Jody (Nov 13, 2009)

HUGE shivers all through my body.  I love animals to pieces but draw the line at snakes.  In the area where I live there are no venemous snakes at all.  Harmless little Garter Snakes and I can't handle even hearing one in the grass.  I don't even have to see one (just hear it) to run screaming for safety.  LOL


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## gekko62 (Nov 13, 2009)

Galavanting Gifts said:
			
		

> pops, you can have our snakes if you like our property is riddled in them at the moment. We had a friend come and take a 7 foot carpet snake away that was hanging around our chooks, we believed it was the one responsible for consuming our young guinea fowl we were raising to keep our heavy tick overload down. That was until we found a freshly shedded skin of another carpet snake about 5 foot long a couple of weeks back.



GG,did you know Caboolture means carpet snake place(sic) in the original local lingo? I lived on the outskirts,near a creek(which meant tigers & browns)but our biggest problem was carpet snakes .There was one 7 footer sniffing its way along the front of the house one day,standing 1/2 upright almost,flicking it's tongue around the edge of the windows & doors.I think that's how they smell,or sense moisture or something.And whilst it was amazing to see it up so close(from the safety of our by that time_ very_ well closed up house!) it was also one of the most creepy experiences of my life..
We also had a big fatso take a duckling from the house behind one night,a chook from 4 houses down the next,& came back for a second duckling the night after that!One fat snake couldn't get out the way it came in! They called the wildlife service to come get it & the guy wouldn't _touch_ it(usually they just pick them up & bag them).Waited for another dude to come & they used a hooked stick thing & got it in the bag.Almost 9 foot,with 3 bulges down it's body.BIG snake. And I learned they're territorial-they have to be moved 60km away or they'll make their way back.
Also,dyu know they reckon the ticks in the area are immune to frontline etc because it's an ingredient used in the pesticides used on strawberry crops? :shock:


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## Bubbles Galore (Nov 14, 2009)

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/



> Also,dyu know they reckon the ticks in the area are immune to frontline etc because it's an ingredient used in the pesticides used on strawberry crops?



And so it goes on. The more chemicals we use, the more chemicals we have to use.


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## ewepootoo (Nov 15, 2009)

I am about 20 k's from Pops and all the friendly Wriggle Sticks must like her place as I only find the nasty Brown snakes over my way. I dont go out of my way to kill them and if I could do it safely I would bag them up and relocate them like I do with the Possums  that keep me awake at night. Probably in the same bag to save time. Steve.


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## gekko62 (Nov 15, 2009)

ewepootoo said:
			
		

> I am about 20 k's from Pops and all the friendly Wriggle Sticks must like her place as I only find the nasty Brown snakes over my way. I dont go out of my way to kill them and if I could do it safely I would bag them up and relocate them like I do with the Possums  that keep me awake at night. Probably in the same bag to save time. Steve.



aahh possums.Cute furry little critters.Yeah,that sound like BURLY BLOKES in HOBNAIL BOOTS tromping around on the roof! I swear they have footie matches some nights.Thankfully,Im spared that particular pleasure,having taken up residence in a downstairs flat.  I _do_ love possums,so long as they're dancing in someone elses ceiling! :roll:


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## pops1 (Nov 16, 2009)

The worst are Koala's, when they run along a verandah you think its at least a large herd of goats and when they are in the amorous mood the noise they make beats the possums hands down sounds similar to a pig squealing but worse.


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## Zenobiah (Nov 16, 2009)

Right now the snakes have all gone to ground here in the New Mexican desert, but we have flocks of coyotes howling right outside our doors instead (mostly when there is a full moon, of course).


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## Deda (Nov 16, 2009)

I live right outside of Washington DC, not many snakes, but lots of Politicians.  Can't get ride of those with a shovel.


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## dagmar88 (Nov 16, 2009)

Suppose you could... but they're just like ants; kill one and 10 new ones will making yor life hell the next day.


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## pops1 (Nov 16, 2009)

Love it


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## Galavanting Gifts (Nov 16, 2009)

gekko62 said:
			
		

> Galavanting Gifts said:
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Gekko, I forgot all about the meaning of Caboolture until you mentioned it. We just spoke to a friend of ours yesterday and he just lost his dog (fox terrier x) to a massive snake, the back end of the dog was in the snakes mouth so he managed to pull the dog loose but by the time he raced it into the vet (within 2 minutes travel) she passed away, he is so broken up over losing her he can't even speak her name.

Thankfully we don't use Frontline on our girls although that is really interesting about being used on strawberry crops, we have a couple of small strawberry croppers up the road from us.

 Speaking of those vile ticks, I pulled another one off Ammaline this morning, she and Hannah are on Proban atm but even that's not working, $90 for a hundred tablets @ 3 tablets per dog every 2nd day, they don't last long, even the Advantix isn't working, we have shaven Ammaline when last at the vets the 3rd time we almost lost her) and we are considering doing Hannah but we have been very hesitant as their coats are what help them in their defence if a predator should come onto the property especially their lions mane, atm poor Ammaline looks like a shaven oversized poodle lol.


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## gekko62 (Nov 16, 2009)

Deda said:
			
		

> I live right outside of Washington DC, not many snakes, but lots of Politicians.  Can't get ride of those with a shovel.



Yep,shame that...Ian? Where's your evil laugh???


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## gekko62 (Nov 16, 2009)

GG I know bandicoots carry ticks(they're immune) but how you'd keep bandi's off a property is anyone's guess. I eventually opted for the proban with my cat,but at 1/2 tab every 2 days the cost was spread over a far greater period.It did work,but I think it's that the ticks drop off after a time,they'll still latch on. Had to check every day,& in one tick season puss cat had 3,I had FIVE! I'd assumed I'd build an immunity but apparently it's the opposite-humans build sensitivity.The last one was only there a couple hrs but omg.Crook for days.
Hey a friend of mine has a place in Kyogle,people there collect ticks & sell em to the antiserum lab.Praps they should establish a Caboolture outpost eh? :wink:


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## ChrissyB (Nov 16, 2009)

My teenage son keeps pet snakes, in his bedroom
He has two of them, used to have 4.
They are very tame, but we treat them with the utmost respect because at the end of the day they are still wild animals.
 Gekko that was one huge snake, that must have been a scrub python. They get really really big and it's not unusual for them to eat a wallaby or kangaroo. They scare the &^%$ out of me. Their heads are huge, so that means their teeth are too.

Oh I just wanted to add that DS's snakes are all on a reptile licence and were bought from reputable breeders, they were not caught in the wild.


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