THE BUSSE CHAT THREAD!

I was mowing the grass around the property just then with the ride on mower and noticed this guy. I must have run over it and killed it. There are a lot of snakes around at the moment.

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That’s a clean shoot right there! :thumbsup: I used to like snakes, but now my views on them more closely reflect those of Indiana Jones. A Pygmy Rattler got a single fang into to base of my left pinky one day on a construction site. Thankfully, I didn’t lose my finger, and my employer’s insurance handled the medical bills. Three days in the ICU, five or six doses of anti-venom later, and we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. :eek: In the whole scheme of things, it wasn’t that bad of a time. They gave me dilaudid. :cool: Ever since that experience, seeing a snake (even a non-venomous one!) in person triggers a primal instinct to Run away! Run away! Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is, Mow Hard.
 
To me it looks like a red-bellied black snake, except that the belly is white. Colours vary though. It's a bit hard to tell since it's upside down.
 
Snakes are like spinach (or insert hated vegetable here)...you might not like them, but they're good for you. Better if you can just let them be or shoo them away. As a youth my dad used to catch snakes for Bill Haast down in S. Florida, and he was always impressing (and scaring) us kids by catching the blacks, rats, indigos and diamondbacks around the property. While I've never liked them, I do appreciate them. Although I must admit, a brown snake flying towards you is a little different matter...
 
Without snakes we would quickly be overwhelmed with rodents, they kill and eat far more than all other ways rodents are eliminated.

They ARE the perfect mousetrap.

Please only kill them if venomous, and only then if you must.
 
Currawong said:
I nearly died yesterday !! :eek:

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^ Here is where it happened.

I was walking up this slope. The patch of dirt going from the bottom left corner towards the middle is actually a large hole (about a metre wide and more than a metre deep) where an old tree burnt out in the bushfires, right down to the roots. I was walking around the side of it towards the pile of dirt and rocks on the right when there was a sound in front of me.

I looked up and saw something flying towards me through the air. I jerked backwards out of instinct, and it fell just short and landed in the hole. I looked down and saw the biggest brown snake I've ever seen :eek:. I don't know how long it was because it was all curled up, but it was about as thick as my forearm.

It had leapt off that mound, flew at least a metre through the air - aimed straight at my chest !! - in an attempt to bite me.

I was WAY out there in a national park, so there was no chance of walking out with a snake bite. Eastern Browns are the second most poisonous snake in the world so I don't think I would have lasted long. If it had bitten me it would have been right next to my heart, which I assume would have been a bad thing.

Anyway, I ran for it. I got this pic of the location, but didn't go any closer to get a pic of the snake because it was still writhing around trying to work out how to get out of that hole.

Just another day in the office. o_O
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Well, THAT's about scary AF! I have nothing against snakes. But that is predicated on them staying on the ground, or at least in contact with a surface. NOT leaping at my f-in' face or chest! I HAVE had a black snake drop from above the garage and just miss me. But that was from my opening the garage. The second time it happened, as much as I would have liked him to stay and catch any mice, I decided to relocate him to my woods. Unharmed. But if it had landed on my shoulders, both of us would have probably gotten hurt, by my uncoordinated, spastic ninja moves! :eek:

I generally go out of my way to keep a snake from getting hurt, if I get the chance. At least that goes for non-venomous ones. It pains me when I see a black snake, or one of the garter snake varieties, smashed flat on the road my dog and I walk. Venomous.... don't know so much about. Off my property, I will go out of my way to just leave them alone. But I'm not going to stop and help one across the road (the way I end up "helping" most snakes). They are on their own. Around my house, I won't stand for their occupation. I carry a pistol loaded with snakeshot all summer doing yard work.
 
We had a lot of bushfires in Australia this time last year. We should hopefully have a lot less this Summer because of all the rain we've been getting (last year was the end of a long drought).

However, more rain means more green growth and therefore more snakes. So last year I spent 6 weeks defending against fires, this year I'm spending a lot of time mowing and trying not to get bitten. If it's not one thing it's another.

Also, a magpie just flew into the window near me and broke its neck.
 
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