We relocated a tiapan from the officers mess yesterday and saw 3 tiapans and caught one black headed python today. Must be the change of weather. I've never seen so many snakes in one day.

They're likely ravenous after all the rain, which stiffled their hunting activity. Just like you!

Yep I'd say so. We had a drop off in snake numbers when the cane toads arrived. Good to see they are building back up. Still to wet for me to get out hunting but.

I have to admit , in all the trips I have made to Aussie , I have yet to see a snake in the wild . Seen lots in the zoos and a few flat on the highway but not a real live and kicking one . Hope to keep it that too actually....

I guess that temperature has a large bearing on their mobility - anything else ?

Temp and food supply I suppose, I'm no expert on them. The guy across the road has 4 pet snakes and he was the one we went to when we got the call from the O's mess, for some reason when someone finds a snake in their yard, the first thing they do is ring the dog handlers If they find a stray dog I can help but a snake!



I think its great seeing them, I've seen very few out hunting, two Black snakes down south and only one Tiapan up here. We see a few when I'm at work, yesterday was an unusual day however. We do get small pythons in the dog kennels now and then, as they chase the small frogs that hang around there.

Only thing lower than a snake; lawyers & used car salesmen

Which proves we need snakes to have a yardstick to judge them by!

Snakes, lawyers, car salesmen, politicians and flicked ex wives - in that order! It's been a long time since I was in the Army, but I would have thought that removing the snakes from the Officers' Mess would mean removing all the humans from that precinct? So that would mean the OM would be left with reptiles?

Mate you know how it is. Officer see's snake, officer screams, troop come's along saves officer

So how do you relocate a snake anyway, with a 12 guage?

Best way to bag a snake is to get a naked Sheila and have her dance.
Works for me.....

BIGBULL

So , aside from the cretin Crocodile Hunter and his moronic clones , does the average aussie try to avoid hurting snakes , or do you work on the kill them all system ? We dont have snakes at all so it is all new to me

I personally don't kill them because I believe in reincarnation and I don't want to get my arse sued by one of his buddies that is still living!

All snakes are protected in Australia. In the NT you can kill a snake if its within 100m of your house. I tend to leave the pythons and kill the nastie ones.

How do you tell which ones are the nasty ones ? And how many diferent species are you likely to encounter ?

If it bites you it's nasty, if it slithers away kick it up the arse to keep it going in that direction; if it gets this close - shit yourself cos ya gonna get bit!

Muzza,
You'll be lucky to see one at all,if you do it will be when you least expect it.
..but going into Cane is just looking for trouble.

FYI
Red Belly Blacks love water,and are mostly seen around creeks.

Muzza,
On banana platations you get snakes dropping out of the platic bags that surround the bunches when you go to pick them. They are fairly sluggish in the morning and I would say the great perecentage of these are intorduced to Mr Cane Knife.

Most of the snakes we find in the north are Taipans..just ask anyone.
I must have seen green taipans, red bellied taipans and even a taipan that fell to the ground and looked suspicously like it it was being propelled by four legs as it scuttled through the trash.

I never worry about snakes out bush.For every one you see you have probably stepped over several others and never knew it.

Of course I may die by snake bite one year ...

We have snake ID posters all over the section and a hand held one in the vehicles. You soon get to know whats what ie. venomous/python. At first we thought the snake at the O's mess was a black whip snake (another venomous one, not as nastie though),as it was a very dark colour. After it was caught, a check of its scales below its arse found it to be a tiapan.

When we drive around at night we use a very simple method of snake identification. If it rears its head as the lights approaches, its nastie and deserves to die! Pythons don't tend to rear up. Not scentific but it works for us

Damm
you guys like snakes way too much if you are checking out the scales around their arse!

Hey, it was a good looking snake allright!

OK, apparently, as I've been told, the scales on a tiapan go right across the tail area. The scales on a whip snake have a join running down the middle.

Here's some pic's for you Muzza

And here

Carpet python

Pythons

Brown tree snake

Red bellied black

Snakes - i like them.

Hubby dont agree with me on that though.



Ive met a few out hunting (tiger,black,tiapan,brown/KB)and even walking to school,(copperhead, tigers),many yrs ago and the worst would be the king brown.

Sure the inland tiapan or ,fierce snake, is the most 'venomous' - Land snake - but i dont believe it to be the 'deadliest' because it doesnt seem to bite as easily/often as others.



Those K/Browns are just plain, big, nasty buggers.

Do the King Brown snakes wear cowboy hats and shoot pistols.....( sorry FC )

Thanks for all the good information on snakes , at least no-one has mentioned the most predictable one of all , the one eyed trouser snake , but I have been expecting the subject to be "raised " by someone before now ..( think pictures of Bakes in the shower , eh FC ).

Thanks for the links Bakes , at least now I will know what to look out for in my wanderings.

Now if you guys were to import squirrels they would be worth looking for...

FOR CHRIST SAKE DON'T MENTION SQURILS....YOU'LL ATTRACT MORTIE TO THE FORUM

I agree, the amount of times we've been called to a house that has a tiapan is unbeleveable. Usually it turns out to be an olive python! The one we caught wasn't that aggresive, but Brett didn't get it riled up either. I think the arresive rep come from the fact that people try to kill them and miss, then they've got a pissed off snake to deal with.

Yeah Bakes, and officer gets mentioned in bloody despatches for showing leadership! Don't start me!!

Use a stick from a protected species of tree?

Caught a small Children's python tonight. Cute little fella, and no Muzza they don't call them Childrens pythons because they eat children

But you could train them , right ?

Bakes, used to have a 'Childrens python' when i was a bit younger - friendly little bugger (seriously!!) - you wouldn't happen to know if it's still legal to keep them as pets?

I suppose so Muzza, it might take some time but yeah!

Rugeruser
Yes you still can. There's a pet shop in Katherine that sells them. In the NT, as the rest of Australia, you need a permit but here its free. In QLD its about $30 or so I think?
You can't take them from the wild however, you must go through a breeder/pet shop.

Thanks Bakes, Katherine's a bit far to go to buy a snake, but I'll check out the local shops.

I sometimes have some slightly damaged browns for sale. Still wriggling.

I hear they make nice pets as long as you treat them well.

How well do they survive mechanical harvesting?

In Vic snakes are protected and you can only kill them if they are a threat. I once had a wildlife officer tell me he considered any snake in the same state as him a threat.