|
|
Post by Mike Harding on Jan 4, 2024 13:18:50 GMT 10
So there I am, sitting outside on the mat in front of the caravan reading, HF Amateur radio chortling in the background, glass of red wine on the table when left eye peripheral vision picks up movement. As the motor functions demand I turn my head to investigate and observe a brown snake emerging from under the caravan and about 12" from my unshod bare legs. Like a cat out of a bag I'm gone, never mind nigh on seven decades my sitting start would have challenged an Olympic sprinter! Trouble was by the time I had covered, say, five metres and turned around there was no sign of the bloody snake and despite 30 minutes wandering around with the LED torch and lever action I still could not find it. Suffice it to say... I finished reading my novel inside the caravan  ... but I'll be outside again this evening... probably |
|
|
|
Post by magnarc on Jan 4, 2024 14:37:40 GMT 10
Suffice it to say... I finished reading my novel inside the caravan.
I'd say that you gave yourself some sound advice there Mike. Having lived in the bush around Healesville where these critturs are often seen, I have given myself that same advice on quite a few occasions!!
|
|
|
|
Post by arewelost on Jan 5, 2024 18:42:46 GMT 10
Mike, you should be used to such visitors, spending so much time in the bush. I had my own close encounter today. Maybe a tad more heart pounding. I was at home and carried 3 heavy pot plants from upstairs deck to downstairs deck. Part of the time this was holding them by the stem but mostly hugging them with my face brushing the foliage as I struggled down the stairs. When I had done all 3 I started stripping some dead leaves. Around the back, one leaf felt soft and squishy.
 Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by arewelost on Jan 5, 2024 18:46:26 GMT 10
And here is back home again. Can you spot it? Just visible in two places.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mike Harding on Jan 5, 2024 20:37:42 GMT 10
I'm not sure where you live AWL but that looks to me like a pygmy python? A WA snake I think. I'm not fond of snakes, only very strange people are, but they don't trouble me, they are part of the ecology and have their place... I just prefer that something as venomous as a brown has a place a couple of miles away from me!? |
|
|
|
Post by arewelost on Jan 7, 2024 12:04:21 GMT 10
I am in Central Coast NSW. Searching for ID I could not find an exact match. With the fatter body than head area I could believe a python. I thought the closest was a brown tree snake (slightly venemous) or possibly a death adder (highly venemous). My guess is it would be around 1.5m long. It was not a nice feeling to realise my face had been brushing against the plant foliage only 5cm from it, and then grabbing it by the tail/body before realising what it was. Next morning it had moved on, no doubt planning another episode some time in the future.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mike Harding on Jan 8, 2024 8:05:16 GMT 10
Definately not a death adder.
Incidentally: they are called death adders not because they are highly venomous, although they are, but because unlike most snakes they do not retreat when they sense a human but rather remain totally still presumably in the hope they can catch and eat you. Fortunately their distribution is quite limited.
|
|
