A new snake...

[Gulfalan67]

Hi all

Not livestock -but animals around the house?

So yesterday evening at twilight my wife and The Boy are out behind the workshop sorting through surplus building materials for an ongoing project when The Boy draws her attention to an old black head snake in the grass nearby. She called me over to have a squiz....

Black heads are beautiful animals, completely harmless (unless of course you're a chook, then they're lethal!) They are common in the forests around our home.

But what was of interest was that this was a new snake. An individual we'd never seen before. Each snake has his own distinct markings and of course differ in size. A Herp mate of mine once told me most snakes never travel far from their spot, rarely more than a few metres...Just far enough to get their feed.

Consequently we know all the snakes around here. The individuals that live in the shed and workshop, the one up in the kitchen roof gutter the handful around the yard and (to my wifes disgust!), the python who now camps under the toilet.

There's a snake already nesting in that pile of building materials.. So old blackie is a newcomer. Will he fight the original occupant and try to muscle into that prime spot? Or maybe there's sufficient feed for both and they'll partner up.

Who knows? Snake politics...

Alan

 

[1 shot willie]

Lovely markings on it Alan looks to be about 6ft long?
It does not appear to be bothered with posing

Thanks for sharing

 

[Ystranc]

Its beautiful, maybe they're saving you from being overwhelmed by rodents and there is actually plenty enough food to go around.

 

[divebuddy]

I have a healthy respect for snakes. On my only trip to Australia I visited my niece in a place called Mitchell in Queensland. Saw a few brown snakes and a couple of other unknowns. Not keen on being near them but they are beautiful creatures at a distance.

 

[Ystranc]

I'm not so worried about the snakes, it's the drop bears that you need to watch out for, tricky little b******s

 

[Madriverrob]

Its nice to know that snake is not lethal to humans .... I'd still be giving it a wide berth

 

[Gulfalan67]

Its beautiful, maybe they're saving you from being overwhelmed by rodents and there is actually plenty enough food to go around.

Mike.

Quite right, they do their job. My wife and I always say 'they were here first', which is why we're happy to cohabit and show healthy respect for them and other critters...

Rodents? No pest rodents round here. We're far enough out they haven't reached us yet.

We have marsupial mice equivalents and a few native melomy mice...

Alan

 

[Ystranc]

Mike.

Quite right, they do their job. My wife and I always say 'they were here first', which is why we're happy to cohabit and show healthy respect for them and other critters...

Rodents? No pest rodents round here. We're far enough out they haven't reached us yet.

We have marsupial mice equivalents and a few native melomy mice...

Alan

You're lucky not to have the mouse problem. Cats, chickens and owls barely make a dent on the rodents here. We have to store all the animal feeds in steel bins.

 

[Ark79]

Cracking creatures, lovely markings on it Alan, am not the biggest fan of snakes, had a python crawl up my leg and onto my chest,,, was delivering it to my cousin from a friend of my dads ….. the bloody thing managed to get out the bag and slither up my leg, there’s me shooting at my dad Get it get it, my dad shouted back fk you son keep it over there old git

Am amazed your so calm about having them round you, good attitude to have tho

 

[Matt]

What did it taste like?

 

[1 shot willie]

What did it taste like?

What.....the snake or his leg

 

[Ystranc]

We only ever see adders around here, they're very shy so you usually only see them when they've eaten and they're basking or when they're still dopey in the morning. Another good reason to pack up your bivvi through the daytime though, you don't want to corner one in your sleeping bag.

 

[Ark79]

We only ever see adders around here

Do they go up in two’s or singles

 

[Ystranc]

Do they go up in two’s or singles

Well what can you say?

 

[Ystranc]

Actually even though they're endangered they're doing very well around here, you could say that the adders are multiplying

 

[Gulfalan67]

We have a very beautiful snake here which with typical Aussie understatement we call the 'tree snake'. Its got a blue head and gold shoulders- quite spectacular. Have yo find a pic...

Anyway, interesting thing about that snake is that (as Ark79 says) they hang out in pairs. I like to think of them as mated pairs but who knows? Who would thought of snakes as social animals?

Alan

 

[Joecole]

Hi all

Not livestock -but animals around the house?

So yesterday evening at twilight my wife and The Boy are out behind the workshop sorting through surplus building materials for an ongoing project when The Boy draws her attention to an old black head snake in the grass nearby. She called me over to have a squiz....

Black heads are beautiful animals, completely harmless (unless of course you're a chook, then they're lethal!) They are common in the forests around our home.

But what was of interest was that this was a new snake. An individual we'd never seen before. Each snake has his own distinct markings and of course differ in size. A Herp mate of mine once told me most snakes never travel far from their spot, rarely more than a few metres...Just far enough to get their feed.

Consequently we know all the snakes around here. The individuals that live in the shed and workshop, the one up in the kitchen roof gutter the handful around the yard and (to my wifes disgust!), the python who now camps under the toilet.

There's a snake already nesting in that pile of building materials.. So old blackie is a newcomer. Will he fight the original occupant and try to muscle into that prime spot? Or maybe there's sufficient feed for both and they'll partner up.

Who knows? Snake politics...

Alan View attachment 33830

Morning Alan I reckon it would be a fair bet to say that I don't think you'll ever have a rodent problem round your place

 

[Gulfalan67]

Lovely markings on it Alan looks to be about 6ft long?
It does not appear to be bothered with posing

Thanks for sharing

Willie

Wife saw old blackie again today round the back of the workshop so he's definitely moving into our locale. That's unusual. And especially because the weather is cool. Its not snake weather....

I guess you're right. He's about 2 metres -which by my reckoning makes him about ten years old. Lucky he lives on our block because he'd be bloody lucky to survive to that age with all the bushfires out in the surrounding country. Many of our blackies are now between 2 and 2.5 metres (because we've kept fire out for ten years).

Alan