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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Snakes...too close for comfort!!

Tiger Snake

Two weeks prior to Christmas, I was home alone, walked in to the kitchen to give the dog his dinner and stopped, in shock.  There, slithering away from the door, was a fat, black snake!  A friend down the road came up with his rifle and a mate, armed with a shovel but couldn't find it.

After that incident, we've been very protective of our little dog and accompany him outside.  On Christmas Eve, in the morning, Michael was outside with him and watching him as he chewed on some couch grass in the garden.  All of a sudden he twisted his head to the left, which Michael saw and told him to get inside.  He grabbed the shovel at the door and proceeded to hack away at the garden, then lifted a tiger snake out, threw it on the lawn and whacked it.  It was a very tense few moments; he said that the snake was hissing and having a go at the shovel.

Snake was just behind the lady
(I was standing at the kitchen door)

Michael raced Tajie to the vet and they held him there for four hours, testing his urine three times.  Because the garden is quite thick there, the snake probably had a problem aiming or had just knocked him on the face. So we didn't have to pay the $2000 for the anti-venom, only $130 for the tests!

Just last week, Michael was outside at the BBQ cooking our steaks, when he looked over at the garden and saw the Japanese Windflower move....there was no wind.  The next thing I know he's hacking at the garden again!  This time he pulled out a red-bellied black from exactly the same spot the tiger was in!

Red-bellied Black

We've had a lot of rain lately and we think that the snakes have been flushed out of the 16 acres of ponds next door and are seeking higher ground.  In the eleven years we've been here, we've only seen 3 snakes, until now. Added to these three lately, Michael came across a dead Brown Snake with no head down near our front fence.  He thinks he may have chopped it with the mower the day before.  

Tajie keeping an eye on a little Skink;
he didn't even bother getting up,
just watched it slither over the carpet!

20 comments:

Betsy Brock said...

Yikes! That is scary! Glad everyone was ok.

alaine@éclectique said...

Betsy....thanks, yes, the tiger bite can kill a human, let alone a dog. The red-belly's venom is not as toxic.

Mason Canyon said...

Glad Tajie is okay and didn't have to have the anti-venom. That's way to close. Hopefully you have seen the last of the snakes for a long while.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

steven said...

alaine - i'm not a snake fan but i leave them alone just as they leave me alone. steven

Elisabeth said...

Snakes are fine in theory but not so close to home. Scary.

Teri said...

I have never been a fan of snakes. It seems that they are just "there" all of a sudden; no warning. I think that is what is the most scary. I don't know how I'd react if I met one in my garden. We have only seen maybe 2 here in the 37 years we have lived here.

alaine@éclectique said...

Steven...I respect what you're saying...Michael has fished this area for fifty years and has always given right of way to snakes. He was so remorseful for days after each episode but it was the snakes or us!

alaine@éclectique said...

Mason...thank you but it's going to get hotter and it's the season for them!

alaine@éclectique said...

Elisabeth...thanks for visiting and, yes, it is really scary! We on the lookout constantly.

alaine@éclectique said...

Teri...you're lucky!

quintessence said...

Wow - scary!! I have a snake phobia to begin with - this would have put me right over the edge!

alaine@éclectique said...

quintessence....lovely to see you here! I have also lived with a snake and shark phobia all my life and I'm very uncomfortable this year. My garden is suffering, as I won't put my hand in to pull weeds!

Maureen Walsh said...

Oh deae! I live in Ireland and according to legend St. Patrick rid the island of all its snake inhabitants. (Thank God, I have an awful dread of them) We are all animal lovers in our family. Mice, however have moved in and as much as I love them outside the house, the thought of them running around here there and everywhere,is a big NO/NO.My husband brought home some mousetraps, which were left on a kitchen chair for about a week. I think he thought that the mice would notice them and say, 'Hey, we're outta here!' and just pack their bags and their cheese and leave. So eventually, I was the one to set the traps with cheese and chocolate.(I'm soft, but hubbie is a 'softee') Some mice are more adept at balancing on the edge of traps than others obviously. I've caught two so far, but the cheese and choc keeps on disappearing, so there are still more of the poor things lurking in the shadows. Would still prefer mice to snakes though every time. Thanks
Maureen X
http://wwworphanstones.blogspot.com

alaine@éclectique said...

Maureen...eeew! When mice move in, you eventually smell them. When I walk into our barn, the odor is always there. Try some peanut butter on the traps...smear it on so that they have to get into it.

Yep, hope the snakes don't get in; it's said that they can squeeze into a space a mouse can go through!

Paul C said...

These huge snakes remind me of D.H. Lawrence's poem on "The Snake." He explores the deep mixed feelings we have about them.

La Petite Gallery said...

Oh I truly hate snakes, I was a kid in Texas and an Adder spread his head all coiled up with thar head swinging back and forth, we killed him and had to call the zoo to find out what it was, we had copper heads, mocasans,coral and rattlers, all bad boys..
You live in Aussy country never heard of a tiger snake. Is it deadly? yvonne

alaine@éclectique said...

Yvonne...the tiger snake is one of the deadliest in the world. I've had two fears since a little girl; snakes and sharks! I should go and live in New Zealand where there are no snakes!

alaine@éclectique said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ruthie Redden said...

Alaine, what a horrible experience for you all! A few years back when i first moved to scotland, i was out cutting the grass and came across a huge adder, in a patch where a few moments before my children had been playing, a bit of a shock as i hadn't considered they would be about before. As you say too close for comfort x

alaine@éclectique said...

Ruthie...gosh, I didn't know you had Adders over there!!