 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Other Stuff : Snake!
  Page 2 of 3   |
|||||
| Author | Message | ||||
Downwind Guru  Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Good feed back, but i will still stand by the proven method of a long handle shovel across the back of the ears to be a safe method to curb any snake. I worked in Turkmenistan on the Afghan border ( look up a place called "Mary" it had more Mig16 on the runway than i have ever seen in Russia) in the desert and every night we would get snakes in the court yard (if one can call it that) attracted by the fire the local staff would light. (i have many photos on 35mm but not digital) There was also camel spiders the size of a mans hand that would wander in, they would eat half your face away while you slept..........nasty buggers. Back to snakes... with limited resources in a desert i resorted to a old country method of a 6 foot length of heavy gauge wire, like number #8 up to 1/4 inch rod. You use it as a whip and snap it down across the snake, no real need for an accurate strike as the wire hits the ground and follows flat like a whip would, and killing the snake in the process. Its not that i am out to kill snakes, and i respect them in the wild. but should they cross the border of where i reside and the wide open space then a long wire or long handle shovel will greet them. We are a long time dead for not taking the control when we have the choice. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
||||
Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
That's an impressive setup your mates got there sPuDd. Welcome to the forum Ron I'm a little scared to take on these big Eastern Browns Pete, I've seen first hand how fast they move when aggravated, and in both times I've been in a place where I don't have the room to swing a whip. I'll stick with my green zone plan. Fine mesh around the boundary, and funnel traps at the ends of the fence lines. Apparently funnel traps are very effective against snakes, stick up a fence with a funnel trap at the ends and you'll catch any snake passing by. Any dangerous snake I catch in the traps will be "removed". I do wonder about the snakes protected status. I'm a very green person, and don't like harming any animals. I even take pity on most insects. But the way I see it, these dangerous snakes are just to dangerous to be protected. Many of my neighbours have has lost livestock or the family cat or dog to a Eastern Brown. I would rather a hundred pythons or other no-dangerous snakes living around my house in stead of one Eastern Brown. Harmless snakes are just as effective in controlling mice as the dangerous ones. But for some reason its illegal to kill a dangerous snake. The Eastern Brown may be a part of our natural environment, but so are disease caring mosquitos, or viruses, yet we want to eradicate those. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Afraid it is the other way round, mice are very effective at eradicating harmless snakes. Once the native perennial plants were on the way to being replaced by European winter pasture species and summer weeds, your area would have had some big mouse plagues (and possibly rabbit plagues). The mice and rabbits will eat every seed and kill almost every small plant. No food for the tiny creatures means they starve and die pretty quick and the snake population crashes soon after. The brown snake is one of the last of the survivors. My area had the high numbers of brown snakes in the 60's and early 70's, by 1980 they were rarely seen here. I commented to my dad that I had seen a RARE snake with bright yellow bands for the first time. He just laughed and told me that when he was a teenager, he saw them every day. He said that on new ground in its first few years of crop or pasture there would be one or two snakes under every stump, hay bale or stook of wheat and 99% of them were NOT brown snakes. I have spent most of my life attempting to recreate the original habitat here on a small 200 acre slice of land on my farm. The plants and animals struggle along for a few generations then it just crashes...again.  I am about ready to throw the towel in, the few remaining totally hidden wilderness patches that I used to collect seed from are now dying.
I know it is not helping your snake on the doorstep problem, but I think everyone that is surrounded by dryland farming should be more aware that what they are looking at is closer to "green wasteland" than "pristine ecological environment". I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
||||
vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
A virgin Australia means no Europeans at all. Only aboriginals, marsupial tigers and so on. Think of Australia as an alien planet, conquered by a dying human race, with different needs for surviving. Sad for natives, vital for the new occupants. To stop the new plagues, it will require a complete european ecosystem, in my humble opinion. Of course at a price of replacing the locals completely (is already happening). I'm not saying this must happen. Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
||||
norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Interesting yahoo2 you state mice are very effective at eradicating harmless snakes our resident carpet snakes keep the rat and mice population down nicely. They only turn up when we have a few rats or mice around, believe they live on the rocky knobs we have on our property the rest of the time. We don`t seem to have plagues of rats and mice like we did years ago up here in NQ. Unfortunately vasi`s belief we may require a european ecosystem is probably what is happening to our native animal population, but whether it is what we require is debatable, but it does seem what is happening. The only shovel to use when tackling browns is the 12 guage variety ( although personally I leave them alone unless they come near the house), fellow I grew up with lost his life 20 years or so ago, tried to kill a big brown with a long handle shovel, the brown was quicker got him on the arm. Our brown population has died right back up here, belief is the cane toad is responsible. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
||||
| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Hi Norcold, My comments only apply to areas that are mostly open plain (scattering of trees) with dry summers and lowish winter rainfall. It is the groundcover plants and the little critters that live on them, that have been smashed by the plagues. I still have some scrub that is fairly healthy. I bait foxes for 3 months a year to give the mallee fowl a chance to survive in there. Last year, on the 30 nights that I was laying baits, I shot 643 cats. I am up to 420 already this season but I have had to stop cos it has rained. I dispatched three the other day while the were munching on an echidna they had just killed. Shooting things is not something I like doing but I don't see any alternative. From what I hear Western Europe is in worse shape than we are, it is only when people visit some of the forests in the former Eastern Block countries that they start to realise what their own forests should be like. If you want an encounter with a snake that is truly frightening, try the death adder. They coil up and flick sand over their back so they are almost invisible, if you touch one, they spring up and at you. I used to catch and release them for people, not anymore, lost my nerve, they are just too fast.  I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
||||
| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Hi Yahoo2, I think from our travels our country(NQ inland), the same low rainfall, open grasslands, scattering of trees is not too much different. We have the cats(domestic gone wild) but fortunately no foxes. The cats being the biggest predators, although domestic dogs gone wild with dingoes are catching up. Than we have the wild introduced pigs, they dig up any low wetlands for roots completely changing the environment. Also have the death adders or should say had them, haven`t seen one for many years(probably toads took them out). But ours seemed to be a slow non-agressive type only having a go at you if you stand on one, whereas our brown will sometimes chase you when you get within a metre or so. Have you the toads down that way? Imagine they`ll get there and they`ve got to rate near right up at the top as our native animal populations worst enemy(probably only beaten by humans). A mixture of dettol and water sprayed on them takes them out, toads that is  Humans being a protected species, nothing we can do there!!
Got to agree, seems no way to avoid shooting things(introduced only) Being a dog lover(neutered), it breakes the heart to shoot the dingo-dog cross pups, baits being a no-no because they also get the wallabies and roos(yeah they are not completely vegetarians and will occasionally chew on a bone). We have no mallee fowl but an occasional scrub turkey, echidna and thankfully what seems to be a growing population of plain turkeys (bustards). Gizmo, apologise we`re off the track again but think your mesh-fence solution, to keep them away is the way to go, it seems to be working for us here. Touch wood. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
||||
| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
No toads, no rats, no pigs and the humans are dwindling away too. 24 families around me 20 years ago, now there is 7, could well be down to 4 in a couple of years time. browns are fast learners if there is nothing to attract them to the house and they have had a bit of a scare, they give the place a wide berth. Unfortunately a warm sunny spot and tucker is irresistible. if the dens are close by and you have chickens or even worse, quail, there will be no shortage of scaly volunteers to check the eggs. Mesh certainly works but it needs to be perfect, they can muscle their way through some incredibly small gaps if they really want to. Sleepy lizards (shingleback) are even faster learners. A sleepy will walk 5 Km in two days for ripe juicy strawberries. Those stumpy little legs must be just about smoking at that pace.  I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Well I can say with some confidence the solar powered snake repellers dont work. Neither does short cut grass, lack of hiding places, or lack of mice. All these things I've put in place, and I still see several large black and brown snakes per week. Maybe these wives tales work for small snakes, cause I never see anything less than 4 foot long
It is breeding season, so that would explain the sudden increase in snakes in the area. I can vouch for 1/2 inch wire mesh along the fence line, and funnel traps, a combination that works very well. I think if anyone took the time to research a snake deterrent, it would be scent based. I've seen one black snake in a trap, and another black under the trap, so the smell of one attracted the other, it is mating season after all. An animal that uses smell to find mates and food surely must have smells it avoids? Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
I wonder if those pet repellent pellets you sprinkle on your lawn to keep dogs and cats off would work with snakes. I know the 12 gauge pellets work well. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
||||
| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
It's also springtime Glenn and it's standard down here in Melbourne that the snakes come out of hibernation and get themselves moving again about now - maybe up your way the snakes aren't so seasonal. My daughter's a vet and the snake bite cases start coming about this time each year (twenty-three at their practice last year). There's nothing for months and then not unusual to have several snake-bites (mostly to dogs) in one weekend (the owners take them for 'good' walks on sunny weekends!). When I lived in Boyne Is in central Q'ld the locals used to warn us about leaving bowls of milk near the entrance to the house for the cat - especially just inside the door! Seems they're partial to milk so watch that. I guess bowls of water for pets might also be an issue for a thirsty snake. Greg |
||||
| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I should have stopped and taken a few photo's. I was on the road last Sunday and the bearded dragons were out on the prowl, in one area there was more than 100 bright orange lizards up to a metre long nodding and dancing, not something I have seen very often. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
||||
Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
I got to see that eastern brown that lives beside my shed last week, it would be about 3" round now and I still aint seen the full length. I was walking down the ramp and heard a rustle so looked around to see the snake going back into it's hole. The way I see it if it leaves me alone it can have all the rats and mice it wants. Around our house area is a heap of sleepy lizards and in the 10 years we've been here never seen a snake near the house. |
||||
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Glen I have a great dislike of snakes. To that end, I designed and built a great snake trap. I'll search through my barn and try to find it and I'll post a picture of it. It works like a champ. Basically, all I did was take a half-inch-thick piece of nylon sheet and milled it out so it fits inside the end of a length of plastic rain-gutter leader (rectangular plastic tube). Across the top of the milled piece, I inserted a brass rod (so it would be weather resistant) creating an axle. I cut several round nylon washers on my lathe, each about 3/16" thick and installed them on the rod. Between each of the washers, I placed triangular Exacto blades, so they hinge on the rod, pointed end down. The pointed end of the kives face the cage, so things can enter, but when they try backing out, they can't; they're speared with the pointed razor knives. The whole contraption is about a foot long and has a small plastic cage on one end, with the knives on the other. I put a chunk of cheese in the cage and screwed it onto the tube, then laid it in the grass alongside my pasture fence, where I'd seen a snake once. The cheese attracts a mouse. Once he sticks his nose into the thing, there's no backing out, so he proceeds into the contraption, eats the cheese and is trapped. Along comes a snake, who is attracted to the scent of the mouse. As soon as he sticks HIS nose into the thing, there's no backing out, so he proceeds into the contraption to get to the mouse. Now he's stuck along with the mouse. I come along and see the snake's body stuck in the thing, then merely up-end the critter end in a 5-gallon bucket of water and they both drown. OR . . . you could merely chop Mr. Snake in two with a shovel, then dump the rest out and put another piece of cheese into the thing and so on. Granted, it's a bit greusome, but it works and is cheap to build. If your snakes are big there, you might want to teather the contraption to the ground, so it doesn't "crawl" off! . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
||||
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904 |
How sad. All creatures on this world are there for a reason which is to keep some sort of balance of what eats what and what gets eaten. The exception are some humans who have to upset this system by killing things just for disliking them rather than needing to eat them. Keep your snakes alive, you will have less bother with mice and no wasting of good cheese  .
Klaus |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I don't know Tinker. I feel there is an imbalance in the number of large deadly snakes, caused by us. My last place was basically in the middle of the bush, lots of tree's, rocks, grasses and shrubs. It had a very active wildlife ecosystem, lots of lizards, frogs, birds, 4 legged critters, and snakes. The snakes were usually green tree snakes and pythons, harmless, nothing over a couple of foot long, and I went out of my way to protect them. It was nothing unusual to see a tree snake or python on a daily basis. If a snake came inside the house, I would catch it and take it outside to release. In the 5 years I lived there, I saw 2 dangerous snakes, both about 4 foot long, and not closer than 30 meters from the house. My current place is in a open field, land that was cleared over 100 years ago. No tree's, just grass, except for a few small tree's and shrubs near the creek, about 100 meters away from the house. I've been here just over 1 year and I've seen 6 large deadly snakes ( Browns, Blacks and a King Brown ), within 10 meters of the house. Two of them ( 6 foot Browns )were in my path, and relied on me to see them and take evasive action. I have not seen a single "friendly" snake in that time. One Blue Tongue lizard, a legless lizard, one green frog, heaps of kangaroos, and a few birds. I do see mice, but not that many, not as many as my place in the forest. I've seen more large deadly snakes than any other reptile. The large snakes have no natural predators apart from us. The birds of prey wont tackle them once they get over a few feet long, and everything that comes into contact with these snakes will die, either as a meal or just unlucky to cross the path. Yes snakes eat mice, but not that many. A bird of prey will eat many times the number of mice. I feel farmland has created an environment that is perfect for large snakes, which is why we see so many. I don't feel they should be protected, at least not once they grow over a size that means they have no natural predators. We have changed the balance of the ecosystem by clearing the land that has, in my opinion, increased the number of large deadly snakes, and thus they should not be protected, but controlled, like as we control kangaroo populations. Just my view. I don't like killing animals, and will even go out of my way to put a spider in a safer place. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Very good analysis! I bet even Tinker will say like you after a year spent in your place, I can't dare to imagine having kids playing in a yard from that zone of yours! Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
||||
| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Tinker et. al. My daddy used to tell me there were only two kinds of snakes he didn't like; live ones and dead ones. Call me bad names, think me crazy, imagine what you like; I for one, will go out of my way to kill a snake. I carry a concealed weapon and have thrice pulled it out and used it on a snake. This is Texas and we do things a little differently here; popular opinion doesn't count for much in these parts; sorry. Enough of this. I think I'll go work on my steam engine. If I run across my snake trap, I'll post a picture of it here. . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
||||
| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I wouldn't kill a snake if its not any threat to me or my family/friends/pets. Besides, its illegal here. Several years ago I killed a snake that was a harmless python. At the time I didn't know what it was, but once I found out it was a python, I felt bad. Since then I've made a point of researching the animals I live with, and go out of my way to protect the ones that are no threat to me. Red Back and Funnel Web spiders are stepped on or sprayed, Wolf spiders and Huntsmen spiders are admired. The Red Backs are like the Brown Snakes, they pop up in places you will step or put your hand, and that's makes them a problem for me. I don't think there's been enough research into snake numbers. Talking to the neighbours, there is a surprising number of sightings of the large dangerous types, and everyone knows of someone who has lost a dog or livestock from a Brown snake. When the kangaroo number gets to high, even though they are protected, we cull the numbers. I think snakes should be treated the same, but we don't have the research to make a educated decision. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
||||
| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
I have your attitude too Glenn. Last week I was down at Point Nepean, bike-riding with friends. We were coming back up a hill on a single lane bitumen road and a brown-ish snake about 1.5 metres long came out about 15 metres ahead of us. We all stopped and so did the snake, about a third of the way across the road. No one was game to cross in front of it or behind it so we just waited. It finally slid off into the scrub after about three minutes and everyone went on their way. If it had been close around my house (in the NE Melbourne suburbs) my reaction would probably have been a bit less genteel but pretty much always I leave them alone. I'd see three or four a season (summer basically) around here when I'm walking along the walking tracks. I always warn other walkers if I see one, especially if they've got a dog with them, it's surprising how many dogs are bitten by snakes every year. Greg |
||||
| Page 2 of 3 |
|||||
 Print this page |
