Snake Stories?

As a young fellow where I grew up was still partially rural and still a fair bit of bush around. Dad was a tree feller and fire wood merchant. Our house block was about a acre. There was at any given time over 1500 tonnes of logs in our yard. Those logs where like a housing commission block of flats for snakes. In summer before we where allowed out to play mum used to have to check for snakes. They liked the concrete path to the front gate. So mum used to sweep them away. They where red belly black snakes, so not overly aggressive. Blue tongues moved in which curbed the snake population.
Out from Thornton along the banks of the Gouldborn river where large deep pits. Can`t remember why they where dug. Was a long time a go now, I was about ten or twelve. But they where a good source of frogs for live bait. I remember dad and a Eildon local that we knew lowering me down on a rope to catch the frogs and learning real quick that frogs are also on the menu for snakes.
Cheers Hall

Home is a place between coastal swamp and small river. Copper heads out front and tigers out back. 2013 the year of the snake i dispatched 27 tigers, they started big and got smaller as the summer wore out. That new years eve the wife and i were down the river camp and out of the paddock and in to the camp slithers this big tiger bitch . This snakes got history and has avoided getting wacked long before we owned the place. Any way i see her moving through the short grass, slow like and i spear the shovel at her. I miss , it rears barks then back of towards the reeds, so i dash in retrive the shovel and finish the job . Then the wife shouts that there is another snake in the grass, right at my feet. In the dying light we discover that the older mtr plus tiger had recently injested a 600 odd long tiger. That was the end of the year of the snake.

I've got a few, probably 20 or so years ago I was in rental in central vic and come home one evening and there was Brown in snake in kitchen (Caused a bit of panic) anyway this bloody snake ended up slithering in to electric stove. So I turned the whole lot on and waited. About 40min (seemed like ever) later this snake came out fully charged and angry, it's sad say there where a few shovel marks in vinyl floor after that.

Another one when I was about grade 4 or 5 age in Carnarvon (my parents where missionaries for a while) a snake slide across my foot while getting ready to go into the above ground pool. I tell you, I've never jumped so high in my life. Don't recall or probably don't even know the type of snake but **** it shocked me.

A few stories.

1. Shortly after the war, my mother spotted a snake in the shrubbery just off the front verandah. She summoned the woman next door, and when my dad arrived home the two women had the .22 out and were trying to build up courage to use it. Dad investigated more closely, and determined that the snake had not been using that skin for probably half a day. (This was at North Rocks, then rural)

2. Round about the same time, I was in the car shed with my brother, occupied at that time by the Ford T (laid up because of petrol rationing) and assorted junk. We heard a noise and turned towards it to see about six feet of black snake exiting via the crack left on the hinge side by the open door. Never did find it.

3. Also about the same time - my older sister (about 12) was leaving for school, fairly early, as she had to walk a quarter mile to catch the bus into Parramatta and then train to Homebush. She had a habit of calling out for the time from Mum. This day she kept screaming out. When Mum eventually came out the front door, she sobbed "There was a snake and you wouldn't come!". We never did find it, but the front gate was in a thick hedge.

4. In 1962 I was working on a geophysical crew north of Aramac. We were camped in shearer's quarters at a homestead, using one of the rooms as an office. The cooks offsider killed a small snake (red belly from memory) round the place, and someone thought it was a good idea to coil it up on the chair belonging to my fellow office worker. He was an American, and definitely not at home with snakes. On pulling his chair out from the desk after lunch he spotted it, and, letting out a yell that shook the mud wasp nests loose from the roof, exited the room - without bothering to open the door first, tearing it off its hinges. Everyone else (all in on it) burst out laughing.

John

This is one I posted a few years ago.....

We were down the back of our property, trying to clear some more space for the kids to ride their quadbikes when we could hear the dog barking like mad. Climbed down the 4m embankment to the creek that forms the property line at the back of our place, to find where the dog was (the creek is effectively roofed over with trees and shrubs), and could see the surface of one of the muddy pools had been disturbed - there was a line where something had moved through the scum on the top of the stagnant water

My first thought was CROCODILE!! Then reality kicked back in, with the thought that no self respecting croc would migrate this far south to live out the rest of it's days in 12 inches of muddy water

However, as I glanced upwards, two large carpet pythons (both about 2m long) were engaged in what can only be described as (keeping the PG rating) "giving each other a polite cuddle", in the undergrowth about half a meter from my head, and both giving me the "would you mind? We're busy here" kind of look.

"Oh, my word" said I, "That startled me somewhat. Could someone kindly provide me with some less soiled undergarments?"

Daughter number 1's friend who was with me helping find the dog was insistent that they were Taipans, but drawing on my experience from having seen Taipans a couple of times at Australia Zoo, I was a bit sceptical, mainly because he is a total cockwomble. :angel:

No. 1...I remember one day as an apprentice mechanic (about 16) I was servicing a cockys 1 tonner and he asked that the spare be swapped with one of the fronts. As I lowered the spare a nest of baby snakes and their mother started moving everywhere. I cleared the workshop floor in about .05 of a second hardly touching the floor. Local snake catcher took away 27 babies and 1 irate mother snake. He said the little ones were not even a day old.
No.2... as a kid about 9yrs old, living in the sticks out north of esperance, younger sis and I had to walk down the long driveway, about a mile or so, in the morning to catch the school bus. Sis started screaming "snake!!!". I looked back and saw a greyish snake crossing the track. I ran back to the house and grabbed the shovel and seperated the snake from his head. Snake and a few inches of its body slithered around and started biting the rest of its body till I crushed its head with the shovel. Was a Dugite I was told by dad later that day. We missed the bus so it was a great day....no school.

No. 3... we had just arrived from Vic to Wa i was 5 yrs old, dad was working on "E.L.D. STATION" out past Condinup, every day dad chopped the wood for the stove and the fire place. Mum lit the stove that morning to do the cooking. As she lifted one of the round stove top plates to see how the fire was going, a frilly jumped out of the stove and scared the living hell out of her. Ive never seen my mum move so fast in my life, before or since. Not a snake but still a funny story.

Cheers Rod.
Ps my sis in Mackay has a pet snake shes had for a few yrs now. It started off the size of a biro and is now over 2 mtrs long and very round.

I dont like snakes but I give them the respect they deserve and plenty of distance.😆

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One from a mate of mine. He was born & bred in Stanthorpe, joined the Army Reserve up there. For their annual camps they were dropped off in the bush, did the usual training, and slept in the open . I don't have to tell anyone how cold it gets up there. He said it was nothing to find a couple of carpet snakes cuddled up for warmth, in the morning.

When I was about 14 yrs old I went with my uncle and his mates down to property near Eagle Hawk Neck in Tassie on a fishing trip, when we got to the location where the boats were to be launched the sea was very rough and it was decided that I should not go out on the water . I agreed I hated getting wet so I grabbed a 12 auto gauge shot gun and went shooting instead, I was following a narrow track through some knee high ferns, a big black snake crossed my path just in front of me, and stopped . I poked round with the barrel of the gun until I found him and instantly fired a shot into him, on recovering my control of the gun I gave him one more blast. I then dragged it back to where the 2 Landrovers were parked on the side of a slight slope just above the beach, while waiting for the men to return I got the bright idea to coil the snake up and place it next to the left hand rear wheel under the landi . I had left the gun next to a 308 semi auto rifle lower down towards the beach area. Fred my uncle's mate was the first to spot it and being a few feet from the guns pumped 3 shots from the 308 into it including the tyre,
I got my back side kicked at the time but its always been a good family laugh

I can remember many "interesting" experiences with snakes over the years. Without doubt, the place where most of them occurred was when I was working up on Cockatoo Island not that long back.

We used to get a lot of these in the houses ............

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/690.jpg

And it was not unusual to see them being taken for a meal.

[url=https://postimg.org/image/a2wskg0tj/]https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/691.jpg

It was also not uncommon to find snakes in the vehicles (they used to get in through the rust holes in the floors of the Toyotas). ;)

I believe this one was a "vindscreen viper".

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/692.jpg https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/693.jpg

There were plenty of funny stories of people getting the fright of their lives up there - especially when the large Olive Pythons got into the houses / bedrooms. Some of the snakes up there were quite aggressive - I remember once a Taipan attacking the grouser plates on a D9 Dozer that was pushing firebreaks when we had a small bushfire on the island - snake came off second best in that competition. :o

Snake and hare.
Snake and wallaby.
After eating a hare.