# Only in Australia?



## Susie (Mar 4, 2015)

Found this interesting story about a red back spider and a snake in this morning's Sunraysia Daily!
Any similar rattlesnake stories?
http://www.sunraysiadaily.com.au/st...-wins-snake-dies-from-likely-poisoning/?cs=31

:eeew:


----------



## SeaBreeze (Mar 4, 2015)

I'm in the US, so not nearly as many poisonous snakes and insects to deal with.  I do have rattlesnakes in the area, and once my dog was bitten on his back leg in my yard, I don't think he was even aware of the snake's presence, or he would have made a wide circle.

He came to the back door yelping, and holding up his leg.  I shaved the suspect area to see what I could see, it looked like a snake bite.  He started panting heavily and seemed very stressed.  I rushed him to the emergency vet, and they gave him anti-venom, IV fluids, and kept him overnight.  The next day when I picked him up he was fine.


----------



## Susie (Mar 4, 2015)

More about snakes in this particular region!
http://www.sunraysiadaily.com.au/story/2923450/snakes-still-on-the-slither/?cs=1511
What would you do if you met one of these creatures on your daily walk?
Stand still and stare at it? Run away? Throw a big rock at it? Bludgeon it to death with your walking stick? Let it bite you?


----------



## SeaBreeze (Mar 4, 2015)

I would do like I do here, try to avoid them, give them their room and leave them be.  If I was about to be bitten, I'd try to kill it.


----------



## Susie (Mar 4, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> I'm in the US, so not nearly as many poisonous snakes and insects to deal with.  I do have rattlesnakes in the area, and once my dog was bitten on his back leg in my yard, I don't think he was even aware of the snake's presence, or he would have made a wide circle.
> 
> He came to the back door yelping, and holding up his leg.  I shaved the suspect area to see what I could see, it looked like a snake bite.  He started panting heavily and seemed very stressed.  I rushed him to the emergency vet, and they gave him anti-venom, IV fluids, and kept him overnight.  The next day when I picked him up he was fine.


Thank you for your comment, Seabreeze. Poor dog, must have had a terrible fright!
Do you shoot rattlesnakes in your area, or do you let them be?
Do they actually rattle when moving so you are forewarned?


----------



## SeaBreeze (Mar 4, 2015)

We don't shoot snakes at all, but if there's a rattlesnake in our back yard, we will kill it to assure the safety of our pets.  There's a big open area behind our back fence, which is chain-link, so sometimes, not often, a poisonous snake will enter.  If it's just a bull snake or a garden snake, we leave them be.  They do actually rattle.


----------



## Susie (Mar 4, 2015)

SeaBreeze said:


> We don't shoot snakes at all, but if there's a rattlesnake in our back yard, we will kill it to assure the safety of our pets.  There's a big open area behind our back fence, which is chain-link, so sometimes, not often, a poisonous snake will enter.  If it's just a bull snake or a garden snake, we leave them be.  They do actually rattle.


Fantastic videos, Seebreeze! Did you take them?
Have never experienced a rattlesnake so close up, almost gave me the shivers, and could even hear the "rattle". 
I find the pattern and coloring of the rolled up snake attractive!
And the black bear with her 2 small cubs! (Have seen bears rummaging in the garbage cans at Yosemite, while sleeping in a little tent many years ago).
Don't think I would've had the courage to let an elk with long horns get so close to me!
Thank you, Seabreeze, for the wonderful videos.


----------



## SeaBreeze (Mar 4, 2015)

No Susie, I didn't take the video of the snake, you must have watched some others that may have shown when the snake video ended.  I have seen them close up, also bears a couple of times and other wildlife like moose, deer, elk, martins, coyotes, foxes, etc.  I'm not a reptile person, but they can be very beautiful.


----------



## Linda (Mar 5, 2015)

We have rattle snakes that have been run over on the roads near my house and also we know people who have had snakes bite their horses or dogs.   We keep lots of (neutered) cats here as activity will keep the snakes away.  (I hope) They also keep the alligator lizards away.   Rattle snakes like to lay on the highway where it's nice and warm as the sun starts to go down.  We also have mountain lions, wild pigs and coyotes but they stay on their side of the fence and I stay on my side.   I've seen a scorpion or two also.


----------



## Ameriscot (Mar 5, 2015)

I've seen the red back spider when visiting Australia.  Scary!  

In Scotland our only venomous snake is the adder which lives in the undergrowth and under heather.  The bite is rarely fatal - 12 deaths in the last 100 years. 

When I lived in TN we often hiked in the Smoky Mtns and did see snakes sometimes like the copperhead.  Quite a few hikers were bitten by them one year.


----------



## Pappy (Mar 5, 2015)

In the 16 years I've been in Florida, I have only seen one Coral snake and one pigmy rattler. The coral was dead in the road and the pigmy was alive and very aggressive. We do see an occasional black racer and various corn snakes. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a snake in 3 or 4 years.


----------



## drifter (Mar 5, 2015)

I've only seen one snake since I retired. I didn't know what it was. It turned out to be a black Rat snake. i have never seen a Coral snake, only pictures, and only pictures of Pigmy rattlers. I used to hunt rattlers in my younger, more foolish years and have had a number of encounters that might have turned out differently except for a little luck.


----------



## Ameriscot (Mar 5, 2015)

One of my biggest fears when we went to Uganda was snakes and other critters.  In the entire two years I only saw two snakes.


----------



## Warrigal (Mar 5, 2015)

I've only ever seen a snake while bushwalking many years ago. 
I've never seen one while bushwalking with teenagers. Too much noise.

Snakes avoid humans where they can and if they hear you coming they will slither away.
Tiger snakes are the exception.

Most people who are bitten by snakes have been interfering with them.


----------



## Susie (Mar 5, 2015)

Linda said:


> We have rattle snakes that have been run over on the roads near my house and also we know people who have had snakes bite their horses or dogs.   We keep lots of (neutered) cats here as activity will keep the snakes away.  (I hope) They also keep the alligator lizards away.   Rattle snakes like to lay on the highway where it's nice and warm as the sun starts to go down.  We also have mountain lions, wild pigs and coyotes but they stay on their side of the fence and I stay on my side.   I've seen a scorpion or two also.


Thanks for your interesting comment, Linda!
You seem to be surrounded by "wildlife".
But alligator lizards? How large do they get, and what do they eat?
Interesting about the fence--lots of those in Australia, I believe!
What is yours made of: Steel; electric wire, or?


----------



## Susie (Mar 5, 2015)

drifter said:


> I've only seen one snake since I retired. I didn't know what it was. It turned out to be a black Rat snake. i have never seen a Coral snake, only pictures, and only pictures of Pigmy rattlers. I used to hunt rattlers in my younger, more foolish years and have had a number of encounters that might have turned out differently except for a little luck.


A black Rat snake-ugh! You actually hunted for rattlers? Would love to read some of your stories about rattler hunts!
Did you then know about all the snake souvenirs, and were you able to sell the rattlers?
Found these images of snake souvenirs on Google:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=snake+skin+souvenirs&biw=1093&bih=482&tbm=isch&tbo=u&so


----------



## Susie (Mar 5, 2015)

Dame Warrigal said:


> I've only ever seen a snake while bushwalking many years ago.
> I've never seen one while bushwalking with teenagers. Too much noise.
> 
> Snakes avoid humans where they can and if they hear you coming they will slither away.
> ...


Thank you for your comment, Dame Warrigal.
I, on the other hand, have seen many snakes sunning themselves on the road from Myrtleford to Bright (tried my very best to avoid them as they get caught in the underpinnings of the car and then climb further!)
Also saw one brown snake lying across the footpath when I was staying in Kuranda (Cairns).
I waited respectfully and quietly until the brown snake slithered away.


----------



## Warrigal (Mar 5, 2015)

Agreed Susie. My bushwalking was never along country roads nor in Queensland.

The one time I did see a lot of them was when a group of us from Uni were retracing a geology excursion along a creek at Little Hartley just west of Mt Victoria in the Blue Mountains. We sighted 13 large red bellied black snakes in the reedy patches of the creek over a very short distance. They were no threat to us but the boys couldn't resist throwing rocks at them.  Males are very stupid at times.

My close encounter with a snake was when one of my students brought one to school when I was a science teacher. It was a diamond python that belonged to her brother. I was fascinated by it and took it out to show every class I had that day. I even walked around the corridors at lunch time causing many people to flee as I approached. Eventually the snake had had more than enough of this and struck at me when next I opened its box. Females can be very stupid too. I took the hint and left it alone after that.


----------



## drifter (Mar 5, 2015)

Hi Susie, 

Yes I knew about snake trophies and what they do with the various parts but was never never interested. However, my wife's uncle used to drive down annually from Colorado Springs, Colorado to sweeter, Texas where one of the largest rattlesnake hunts and shows took place. Often times he would buy all the snakes when it was all over. He had a buyer in Idaho for them. While I knew a lot of people involved in putting on the hunt and show, my interest was photography. For a number of years I belonged to what was called South Plains Photographic Society. That was just a long name for a camera club. We had forty or fifty members which four or five were retired professional photographers, A couple of photographers from Texas Tech University, and the restive us amateurs, some pretty advanced. We had a monthly photo con test. We all used slide film. I was getting so that i would win first place once in a while and almost every month got a first, or a second or a third place or an honorable mention which was pretty good with that many pretty good photographers.


My last snake photo came about one Saturday morning in route to a golf game with three of my customers. The golf course was situations in a canyon about forty miles from my house. I was way to early but had in mind driving into Floydada for breakfast before going out to the club. I was driving slow, my thoughts a thousand miles away, when i noticed a snake crawling across the highway. It looked like a rattler. I turned around and pulled and parked my car twenty-five feet or so from where the snake was crawling into the grass. The canyon walls were steep and i thought what a picture if I could capture a photo of a rattler striking at the camera or my hand with the canyon rim in the background. When I walked up in from of the snake he coiled. He was only about forty inches long but he had eight rattlers and the button. I found a small stick which was too short and too flimsy, and a small stone. I placed my camera on the stone and with the stick, I got the snake striking while I knelt beside him, ready to push off in case he struck at my knee instead of the stick. This is intense because you are juggling so many factors, trying to get the snake to strike down toward your camera, watching your left knee which is in pretty close proximity to the rattler, trying to balance your camera steady on this rock. Suddenly the snake struck, not at my stick my stick, he struck down below the stick at my hand which was holding the camera steady on a round rock, with one finger on the button to snap the picture when the moment was right. His strike caught me by surprise. I did press the button that takes the picture but either myself or the snake tumbled the camera. I had no idea if I had gotten a picture or not. 


Oh, well, I thought, that's it. I'm fifteen miles to the closest town and I really didn't want to fool around and get myself snake bit. Besides I concluded, this is a two man job, and I had golf game to get to. As it turns out I got a picture, a close up of a rattlers head, mouth open, fangs extended, with one drop of venom hanging on his right fang. The canyon wall was nowhere to be seen. The snakes head and along his neck fazed into a brownish oblivion.
I stood up and said okay, Mr. Snake, you're free to move about the country. A voice behind me said, "Can I help you with your work?" and almost scared the dickens out of me. I didn't know anyone was with in fifteen miles of me.
This rancher had pulled up behind me, gotten out of his pickup and leaning against his hood had been watching me. I had not heard him at all. He said to me, "I believe you've got more nerve than I have." I replied, "Or I'm a bigger fool". 


Back at the Tuesday night meeting of the Lubbock Camera Club, my photo of the Western Diamondback Rattler took first place. One judge asked if I had taken that photo at some zoo? When i told him where I had taken the picture, he said, Man, you are crazy. 

Maybe I didn't use good judgement is all.


----------



## Catraoine (Mar 5, 2015)

I ave been in Australia for over 4o years and have never seen a snake in the wild yet.

My son has fifteen of them as well as other critters. He did get me to hold a Boa Constrictor once, they are so heavy and you could feel it tightening around your arm. But it felt different to how I imagined snakes would.


----------



## Linda (Mar 6, 2015)

Susie said:


> Thanks for your interesting comment, Linda!
> You seem to be surrounded by "wildlife".
> But alligator lizards? How large do they get, and what do they eat?
> Interesting about the fence--lots of those in Australia, I believe!
> What is yours made of: Steel; electric wire, or?




Alligator lizards are usually 8 -12 inches long I think.  They bite (I've been told) but aren't poisonous.  The worse thing about them is they have a pattern on their backs that mimics local rattle snakes so they scare the heck out of you when you see one on your steps.  We have 6 outdoor cats (all nurtured) so the activity keeps them away for the most part.  I imagine the lizards eat bugs.  I should google them as they probably have another name.

Our fence is wire, and because my husband worked out of town a lot,  he put barbed wire around the top of every inch of it including a fence and gate that runs across the middle of our property. ( I was often here alone. )  Even the gate in front has barbed wire on it  and big circles of it looping on top of the corner posts.  It's actually embarrassing but he refuses to take it down.  We also have a locked gate and beware of dog signs so some people have referred to it as a "compound".  But we have close neighbors on all 4 sides and they also all have fences and gates it's not quite as bad as it sounds.  There are a fair amount of home break ins so I imagine that barbed wire has helped some.


----------



## Linda (Mar 6, 2015)

Susie said:


> Thanks for your interesting comment, Linda!
> You seem to be surrounded by "wildlife".
> But alligator lizards? How large do they get, and what do they eat?
> Interesting about the fence--lots of those in Australia, I believe!
> What is yours made of: Steel; electric wire, or?




I answered you Susie and then I guess I forgot to hit post so I lost it all.    So now I'm going to bed and I'll ans tomorrow or the next time I get on here.


----------

