It's funny you know, here we have been for the last week or so, lazily (although always alert) plodding around in the spring/summer garden. Playing under the sprinkler, just slipping the Crocs on to go the herbs we need for dinner, letting our little girl walk from the front of the house to the back in bare feet. You know how it is in the carefree utopian garden? right. And then your wife sees a whopping big snake slithering across under the steps as she is halfway down with the baby in her arms. I hear the scream, you know, the scream of this-is-serious-mum kinda scream. She drops the baby (don't worry folks it is only a small fall) the baby cries, mum sort of makes that terrified oh-no-what-have-I-done wail. The 4 year old is standing there trying to comprehend the fear her mother is showing, while dad comes to see what's happened. I think the kids are mostly worried by mums panic rather than the fall and the snake. So now I have to carry my daughter everywhere, especially done those stairs I guess. Just as they are getting in the car to go the thing sticks it's head out from under the house over near the carport. I guess it is just as surprised as we are to see it again. lol So I feel it is my duty to go get the shovel to make a show of things (although I'm pretty sure by the time I get back old slithery would have high-tailed it out of there). Of course all the time I'm thinking - this is how most people get bitten by the things! I don't even know if I could chop him up, but when I see the fear on my girls faces, well, you know!? Anyway regardless of the kill or no-kill debate, there is no doubt now that the carefree days are once again gone from the garden, shitty hot gumboots, worrying about the kids, all that jazz. I know it is really just a psychological shift, but I don't feel like being on edge for the whole summer that seems to have started in earnest 2 months too soon. And the worst thing now is that I look around and see all those weeds and long grass that I have successfully put to the back of my mind until I no longer saw them. I look at the job and think, "Why didn't I clean that up last month?!" lol To me these summer months are a bit of a drag to be honest. Hot, dry, flies, snakes. Is there a list of things that are good about the summer months in the garden? Is there a way I can feel good about having my kids outside when the slitheries are out there lurking, always appearing in that moment when you are lost in thought and not paying attention like usual? I'm pretty careful really but mostly I just feel for my girls, and not because of their safety, but mostly because now there is a fear in the backs of their minds. And lets face it, fear is a pretty big reason for people shopping in supermarkets and not growing their own. Thanks for listening
Re: One snake siting changes everything The expression on my face while reading that must have been worse than my wifes look half way through an episode of Days of our lives... i was totally fixated. What will tomorrows edition deliver... Glad it all worked out.
Re: One snake siting changes everything Yes - I know exactly what you mean. Saw my first snake for the season on the weekend - a real biggie. Now my husband has also had to mow the winter grasses any tidy up the woodpile left over from winter etc. I am the gardener of the family so I experience 95% of the snake sightings and had to run towards and very close to a tiger snake that was heading past my oblivious toddler last year. No more letting the kids play in the yard without hovering over them and seeing snakes in every objuct - sticks, stringy bark and hoses. sigh!
Re: One snake siting changes everything We were almost to the top of Mt Warning a cupple of weekends ago when my fiance who admits to being nervous around snakes, nearly stepped on one. The poor thing already lookd like it had in fact been trampled and he even thought it may have been dead. I wasn't so sure so I told him to just go around it, at which point as he is moving past it, it moves its head a bit, so I tell him he better do it quickly, at which point he runs into another snake! It was a bit of convincing to get him to keep going to the sumit! Poor guy he rekons it was just like a nightmare he has, snakes everywhere he wants to put his feet! But we made it to the top. A bit of research later and i reckon they were green tree snakes, not the pythons but the smaller slender green tree snakes.
Re: One snake siting changes everything Ah Folks we must also remember not all snakes are nasty monsters lurking in wait to eat children, recently had infestation of bush rats in the shed a nice friendly olive python was asked to move in - free rent all you can eat - funnily the bush rats moved out, and i still have afriend in the shed Bird
Re: One snake siting changes everything Sweet corn, capsicum, tomatoes, watermelon, eggplant, cucumber, butternuts, (chokos)? Be safe Grahame regards
Re: One snake siting changes everything guess grahame, we need to know what sort of joe-blake it was? then yes keep the yard clear and clean of long grass and dissordily piles of wood or other usefull material. they are part of life in some areas especaily close to rural or bush setting. as always in most cases if you see one go take a sit down someplace have a drink of something enjoyable and when you come back it is likely to be elsewhere. snakes get attracted by food source so if you have mice that is always a good draw card, frogs re good as well and for the tree or grass snakes as well. chooks also attract many of them snakes do like the odd feed of eggs. also i reckon for every snake you actually see there are maybe 20 others that have seen you and exited stage left or right which ever way. usually the bloke who weilds the shovel never gets bit well that's my experience, if they do then i got no answer for that one. len
Re: One snake siting changes everything Yeah, thanks folks. I was a bit excited when I wrote that and it was a good opportunity to do a bit of creative writing. I agree with everything that purple and len have said, although I don't know about chokos :wink: I've never been able to find one around here to have a go at growing. Never eaten them either. I actually quite like snakes, except when my family nearly stands on them, and I agree that there are probably more than 20 others floating around somewhere here - we are only a hundred meters or so from the creek, so they are very much a part of life here. And it is hot and dry too. So what are you gonna do!? Also we do have mice, so if they clean up a few of them and just stay out from under our feet they are welcome. Perhaps I was more cranky that I have to clean up. hehe. The positive is, I've cleaned up some areas that I had been putting off. Anyway, it was a brown snake and there has been no more sign of him. And actually I realised I don't have to be any more alert than I already was. Probably I just got a bit of an adrenalin rush when the missus screamed in horror! It's all good
Re: One snake siting changes everything I reckon I see one a month at least - black, green, carpet, etc. We've seen carpet pythons 8' long and a black snake that was 5'. Black snakes, although venomous are not at all aggressive and very timid, they take off at the first opportunity. I prefer them to those damned rats and mice that chew through every darned thing they can. I hate those meeces to peeces. I've never seen a brown, copperhead or tiger so I'm not at all worried. They reckon if you have big pythons and black snakes you won't have the others, so it's all good.
Re: One snake siting changes everything I live in a mice-based ecosystem = ) Hawks, owls, coyotes, ravens, weasels, snakes all live off of the mice and voles. I've got two cats mainly to keep the mice out of the buildings and garden/orchard areas. When I first moved here there were mice EVERYWHERE. Now I receive an occasional mouse gift from the cats. Although not poisonous, the king snakes get fairly large (5 feet or so), and they too have found more welcoming grounds away from the compound. Although the cats rule supreme on the ground, they still must beware of the larger owls and hawks and don't venture out too far from quick cover. Excuse my ignorance, but how would a cat fare against your world renowned snakes? Could a cat or two help keep snakes away or would some python dine on kitty one fine afternoon? Bill
Re: One snake siting changes everything Cats do pretty well, ours caught a small one earlier in the season. Cats are pretty quick and seem to have an instinct for staying clear of fangs. Small snakes are apparently good sport! When we lived in Canberra our neighbours cat was trying to get into our good books and bought a little brown into our lounge-room for us, he had a play with it for us, to get it all riled up. They are such sweet and thoughtful creatures aren't they!? But really the dog is next to useless with snakes - there was one sheltering under his kennel a couple of years ago! He just sort of looked at the one the other day, and that is actually what made it turn around and head toward the girls I think. Having said that we didn't see a single snake last year.
Re: One snake siting changes everything Snakes stand little chance against cats.... sadly so do most other small animals. More and more people who care about the native animals [including snakes] won't have a cat on their place. My Jack Russell and working Collie also remove any nearby snakes. Sadly when a cat deposits a mouse on your doorstep, it means that there are an awful lot of mice. Cats can't cat mice very well because they hide in very small spaces. You don't see the mice with cats around.... because they are in their very small holes! They are still there though!
