SnakeSense's Snake Transport Bin

Who said it first: never work with children and animals?  Well, he or she can’t have worked with baby snakes: because this particular snake catch – our first captured on film – obeyed the script to the letter!

Education is key to changing attitudes towards snakes: and there’s nothing like the personal touch.  Unfortunately, however, we can’t bring cute and cuddly snakes around to each and every home… so we’re trying the next best thing: television!  Well, “monitorvision”, in this web-savvy age.

So here’s our first attempt, folks!  See what you think! 

In the warm Autumn sunshine, we were called out to a popular caravan park in Marysville to capture a tiny, one year old Tiger Snake, cowering fearfully under a rock by the park’s amenities block.  This dear little bub, just 40cm long, was far more petrified of her human audience than vice versa… but luckily, we were able to whisk her out of harm’s way and off to a wonderful patch of wilderness where we hope she’ll have the peace and good fortune to grow into a big, happy snake.

Little does she know, she’s about to world famous!   Share her video with your friends, and subscribe to our new channel on Vimeo to see each new video as it comes online!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Georgina with T-Bone the Coastal Carpet Python

SnakeSense has been making the most of the Autumn sunshine and getting out, about and enthusiastic with fellow snake fans!

Last weekend, we worked with Black Snake Productions, operators of the Lost Reptiles Home, assisting with a huge reptile display at the annual Eastern Regional Pet Expo in Ferntree Gully.  Georgina spent the day doing what she loves best: standing draped in snakes and educating the public about their biology, behaviour and vital importance to the environment.  Despite ominous cloud cover, the rain held off all day - save for a few drops here and there - allowing for a sizeable crowd, and hopefully, a few changed attitudes. 

Mike Alexander conducting a Venomous Snake display

Mike Alexander, Black Snake Productions director, thrilled onlookers with regular venomous snake demonstrations, whilst his adorable two-year old, Sandy, showed everyone why goannas were simply made to be cuddled!

A few days later, herpers from around the state gathered for the thrice annual Victorian Herpetological Society get-together, held this time in Prahran.  Always an entertaining evening out, this meeting’s speakers presented a fascinating range of photographs of their various travels and herpetological antics around Australia, whilst the Lost Reptiles Home auctioned a selection of particularly hardly done-by critters in dire need of kind and experienced new homes.  Georgina was praised for sitting on her hands during this part of evening, and not coming home with the whole lot!

Eastern Brown Snake

Recently, news services have been making hay about a spate of venomous snakebites in New South Wales.  However, they have neglected to tell the stories behind the bites.  Research conducted on humans and snakes in that state (using Eastern Brown and Red-Bellied Black Snakes) has demonstrated people are 20 times more likely to approach and 100 times more likely to attack a snake than vice versa. 

In fact, researchers observed only 0.38% of snakes attempted to ‘attack’ people (self-defence, in the eyes of the snake), whilst public questionnaires revealed 38% of people attacked snakes!  A startling contrast.  

And yet, people think it’s the snakes who are dangerous?

Not much to show for a life...

In March 2008, a baby Tiger Snake was born.  Just 18cm long, this tiny, shy little girl knew her mother only a few moments before she and her siblings were left to fend for themselves.  Within days, her brothers and sisters had gone their separate ways in their own quests for survival: and she was alone.

An easy meal for even a pint-sized predator, she moved only in darkness, eating when and what she could, before hurriedly seeking a hiding place warm enough to withstand the winter months.

Winter claims many a young snake, with less than half likely to see their first Spring.  But she made it.  October 2008: the sun was warm… and her tiny body ached with hunger after its long hibernation.  Four more months of hard-won growth and she was so proud of herself for coming so far.

Then it happened.  The sun turned red and the air thickened with smoke.  The ground shuddered as trees exploded, and all too fast, the flames were upon her.  She fled.

Quaking with fear, she coiled in the deepest, darkest hole she could find.  Her lungs hurt for lack of oxygen; her eyes stung.  In the nearby forest, the red sun of Black Saturday was the last her mother would ever see.

On Sunday morning, she was amazed – and elated – to be still alive.  But her relief was short-lived.  Back on the surface, there were no frogs, no lizards – nothing to eat.  2009 was going to be a long, hard winter, with no fat stores to help her through.

Somehow, Summer 2009/2010 brought a miracle: she was okay!  Frogs were returning, and soon, it would be her second birthday.  Next spring, she would be old enough to start thinking about a family of her own.    

But next Spring will never come for this little snake.  On March 7th, she took a risk – the lush garden in which she had lived so long had been cold and wet for 24 hours, and that sudden patch of sun was too tempting to resist.  She lay there, for but a moment: but a moment too long.  A shriek and a flurry of movement: she hid amidst the pot plants. 

She hesitated, terrified: she had to reach a better hiding place.  She made a dash for it … and suddenly, a pain beyond imagination flooded her fragile body.  Again and again, until, she couldn’t move: no matter how she strained her upper body, she couldn’t seem to get the rest to follow.  There was so much noise: people moving and talking.  A car was coming.

She slipped in and out of consciousness, until, half-dreaming, she gazed up into a pair of friendly eyes.  For a second, she dared to hope: but those eyes held only tears, and at that, her world went dark forever.

……………………………………

On Sunday afternoon, we received a call from a couple in Buxton, with a snake in their garden.  On our way home from Healesville at the time, we assured them we would be at the door within forty minutes.

Thirty-five minutes later, we arrived, only to find, moments earlier, the couple had changed their minds and attempted to batter the young snake to death with a garden hoe.  We estimate at least five blows were delivered, directed at the mid to lower body.  At first glance, I saw no scales, only blood and torn flesh.

Well and truly alive, this little girl gazed up at me with the same look I have seen in a wealth of species fatally wounded at the hands of a human.  I am not being subjective … nor ‘anthropomorphizing’ … when I say that the look in those eyes can only be interpreted one way: “Please, help me.”

Her wounds were so horrific, we had no choice but to euthanase her immediately.  Snakes are protected under Victorian law, and any attempt to harm them is a criminal offence: never mind the cruelty involved in the methods employed.  We will be reporting these people for their acts.

In Australia, ‘anti-snake’ is embedded in human culture, and I realize events like these are taking place every day.  Nonetheless, just because something has ‘always been done’ is no justification for doing it. 

Steve Irwin once said, “One day… we’ll look back on [such] things the same way we look back on slavery…”

I will work every day of my life to make that happen.  Please help.

Tiger Snake removed from hand-bag

In this material age, the modern male has much to carry: wallet, mobile phone, car keys, ipod… Surely, it’s time the man-bag lost its attached stigma and was praised for its practicality. All those important items handily contained, and even better: at the end of a long day, your man-bag is there for you to curl up inside for a nice, comfy snooze…

Hang on … back up a step.

Yes! That’s what startled shoppers discovered in the decorative interior of newly-built Marysville gift shop, when a fashion-conscious male Tiger Snake was found napping inside an elegant, cotton hand-bag, hanging on a clothes rack more than a metre off the shop-floor!

A Tiger Snake was found in this hand-bag

I have to say, I was rather taken aback when the phone rang at 10am Sunday morning: “It’s in where?”

Quick thinkers on the scene had tied the bag tightly closed and moved it outside the shop, standing guard until we arrived. The one metre long snake was exceedingly peeved to be tipped from his choice of fashion accessory into our comparatively vulgar snake-bin; and I imagine was even more put out when said hand-bag was purchased by an equally style-savvy customer who had been waiting patiently nearby until it became “available”.

A gap under the door was clearly to blame, combined with a hot day on Saturday and a general lack of ground cover in Marysville. Seeking a place to hide, this boy would have found the cool concrete floor of the shop interior very appealing.

Georgina releasing a male Tiger Snake

Why, however, he chose to climb the clothes rack and spend the night in a hand-bag may never be fully understood…….

SnakeSense met with shopping centre management and recommended all such doors be fitted with a stout seal to prevent future entry by non-human customers … and recommended they take advantage of our Safety Consulting service to check on other aspects of the new building.

He was, mind you, an extremely handsome man, with a brilliant yellow belly; bright, broad stripes and impressively manly arrow-shaped head. Man enough to wear a man-bag with pride … or sleep in it, as the case may be.

Huge female Eastern Brown Snake

It never rains but it pours … and after a snake-catching drought over the past week or two, two frantic calls came in within an hour of each other, for the biggest girls we’ve seen in a long time!

First, near Marysville, lolling about in the ladies room of a country cafe (not making herself popular, I might add), was a heavily pregnant Highland Copperhead, enormous for her species.  Normally delicate, slender little snakes of under 1m, this wonderwoman made up for her inevitable short-length with a fuller figure to rival a sumo wrestler.  Even excluding her state of imminent maternity, she was a very big girl!

Enormous and pregnant Highland Copperhead

Naturally, the owners of the cafe were pleased to have us remove her before her special day arrived.  Highland Copperheads give birth to live young, producing anywhere between 6 and 30 offspring at a time, anywhere between February and May (although in this girl’s case, it was clearly going to be sooner rather than later). 

That would have made the ladies room somewhat crowded, it’s true.

Just as I walked back in the door at home, the second call came in, this time near Buxton, with an apparently large Eastern Brown Snake being harassed by a dog on a woman’s verandah. 

Huge Eastern Brown Snake

Now, as the saying goes, snakes look bigger from 30 feet up, so we don’t necessarily take a caller’s word for it when it comes to size.  In this instance, however, there was no exaggeration involved!

This girl was huge!  Over five feet long, and as thick as my arm, she was exceedingly displeased to be removed from her cosy hole in the side of the couple’s nice new garden bed, built up with suitably gappy railway sleepers – a snake’s dream.

Both lovely ladies were of course relocated to more appropriate habitats, where they could rest assured their new families would be undisturbed by humankind. 

We wish them all the best!

Eastern Brown Snake Skin

There’s always a rush of anticipation when the telephone rings with a snake-call … will we get it?  What will it be?  How big will it be?  Will we get some fabulous photos? 

Well, sadly the rush died upon arrival this time around, as we were pointed towards the offending “snake”, only to see that it was, in fact, only a snake-skin.  “Yes,” we told the disturbed landholder, “you have a snake here.  But this is no longer him.”

The skin belongs to an Eastern Brown Snake, just over 1 metre long, and was shed within the last 24 hours.  Snakes grow continuously throughout their lives, developing new skin under the old as they outgrow it.   The regularity of this occurence varies between species, and even between individuals, depending on how well they’re eating and thus, how fast they’re growing. 

Dangerous snake you've got there!

Usually, Australian elapids shed their skins every two months or so. Two or three weeks beforehand, the old skin grows dull and the snake’s eyes become opaque, as a milky substance is secreted between the new and old skins to help the latter separate.  Snakes do not have moveable eyelids, and instead, have a transparent scale – part of their skin – covering the eye.  Hence, when the skin is shed, this includes the scale of each eye.  This means the snake is almost blind leading up to shedding, making them particularly edgy. 

Just before shedding, the eyes clear, and the snake seeks out rough stones or similar in order to work the old skin loose from around its head.  It then slides along the rough surface, peeling the old skin off inside out (like a stocking!), to reveal the glossy new scales underneath.

So, somewhere in Taggerty is a very handsome Brown Snake feeling very snazzy in his brand new outfit - maybe we’ll get to meet him personally sometime soon!

Wilfred the Eastern Brown takes his first look outside

The time has come, and Wilfred the Brown Snake is back in the wild!   Wilfred was rescued from a mass of netting under a kitchen sink (read the full story here), and suffered several wounds from his ordeal. 

But, after some tender loving care and a few days rest and relaxation in the lap of luxury at our shelter, Kingbilli Wildlife Refuge, Wilfred was as good as new. 

So, as soon as the temperatures climbed high enough to suit an Eastern Brown, Wilfred was taken to a secret location in the depths of the wilderness, where he could start a new life with new friends, and not meet any more nasty kitchen sinks!

And he's off! Good luck Wilfred!

Slipping away swiftly into the tall grass, he gaves us barely a moment to say goodbye. 

Good luck Wilfred!

Eastern Brown Snake trapped in netting under a kitchen sink

What is it lately about catching snakes in the dark?  Yesterday evening at 9pm we received a frantic call from a gentleman in Taggerty, who had just discovered a 1.2m Eastern Brown Snake (2nd most venomous in the world) coiled in the cupboard under his kitchen sink.  Considering our recent cold-snap, we were startled – Browns like it hot hot hot.

Upon arrival, however, we discovered the true story.  A hole in the floor of the cupboard had been covered with bird netting, stapled randomly around the edges.  The snake had become horribly entangled in this nasty black mess, with the monofilament strands tying his coils together and cutting into his body as they did so. 

Monofilament netting can do nasty things to a snake

Since we were informed that particular cupboard had not been opened for several days – we deduced he had been hanging there, suspended in knots, for over 24 hours since our last hot day.

In the narrow beam of a torchlight, we threw everything out of the cupboard (except the kitchen sink!) and managed to snip the netting away from its staples and take it and the snake somewhere more suitable.

Cutting a Brown Snake free from netting is a delicate task

Once home and better lit, the disentanglement began.  With the snake’s head held gently inside a purpose-made plastic tube, the netting was carefully cut away from his scales, and his wounds treated.

Since the weather is too cold and wet for him to be released immediately, he is currently coiled quietly in the lap of luxury on a comfy heatpad at our shelter, Kingbilli Wildlife Refuge, until temperatures rise again.

SnakeSense's Snake Transport Bin

After a month of near-silence, the phone is ringing again with snake-calls!  Theories abound regarding why the calls come and go when they do … maybe December provided plenty of ideal temperatures for snakes to adjust their behaviour to avoid humans, but now the weather is pushing 40 degrees C, they are back to grabbing windows of 28-30 degree opportunity whenever they can.  Whatever the true cause behind the pattern: SnakeSense is happy to be back on the road!   

We just caught two very lovely ladies … first: a huge, glossy Red-Bellied Black Snake at Taggerty, tucked quietly under the frame of a less-than-pleased farmer’s front door.  As is the character of her species, she lay there patiently whilst Georgina prodded and poked to obtain a tail hold – without the slightest complaint – but once her body was in the air and her head in the bag, that was it… she was ANGRY! 

That’s what we love about Red-Bellies.  They’re such calm, gentle, docile creatures … but you can almost hear them say it … “Alright, now look, I’ve been patient with you; I think I’ve been very, very understanding … but that’s it, I’m sorry, that does it, YOU’VE CROSSED THE LINE!”

She thrashed and growled and hissed and complained continuously until once again, the bag was opened … and she was released into a pleasant patch of wilderness any snake would be proud to call her own.  But was she grateful?  No!  She high-tailed it so fast there wasn’t even time to push the button on the ever-poised camera.  Better luck next time…

And second, an exceedingly upset Tiger Snake made our acquintance just after 9pm on Saturday.  Having spent the entire 40 degree day hidden in a mound of rubble in Buxton, she had just appeared to enjoy a clear, balmy evening, when a dreadfully impertinent dog ruined her entire day by barking it’s head off, right in her face.  To make matters worse, in her estimation, the dog’s owner rushed immediately indoors to telephone us, and within minutes, she had us on her doorstep as well!

Catching snakes in the dark is FUN, and she certainly generated some wild entertainment.  After such a rude canine disturbance, she was not going to take capture likely, and thrashed, struck and screamed like a madwoman. 

Feeling more than a little guilty for upsetting her so, we went to extra special trouble to find (in the dark!) the loveliest of ponds for her out in the bush where a wealth of tasty Eastern Banjo Frogs could be heard just waiting to provide her next meal.  If her prompt quietening down upon release was gratitude, then that’s great … but what the frogs thought of her arrival, I hate to imagine…….

(Sorry froggies).