Monday, January 28, 2008

Tales of the Intrepid Snake Hunter

Well after my heart has finally stopped beating like it is going to jump out of my rib cage.

I thought you would all be interested to know our news...

This is our 3rd summer in this house and I have never even seen a snake in our yard or heard the birds doing their snake alert chirping. So imagine my surprise.

I opened the door from the kitchen to the laundry and heard something move in among a few things over on the far side of the room. Now we do get the odd tiny lizard but it sounded a bit bigger than that so I decided to investigate, I thought it may just be a mouse or something. I grabbed the broom and gave the bag and the rolled up rug that was on the floor a good wack and nothing happened.

I grabbed the bag (Marcus's football training bag) and flipped it over and nothing happened.

I almost left it at that but thought I had better just check under the rug. I had already moved it about a bit with the broom but grabbed an edge and picked it up. Well didn't my head spin when a Brown Snake thudded onto the floor. Thank goodness I had been leaning towards it and not standing right next to it.

You can just imagine how quickly I jumped backwards into the kitchen. Shut the door, grabbed the tea towels and rammed them against the bottom of the door and ran to the phone to call my in-laws who live 100m across the paddock. Marcus is usually up there working and he usually has lunch up there but he was out right then. So Bev and Ian came across to help.

Poor Bev, all I could say when she answered the phone was "There is a snake in my laundry... it's Bec"

I paced around the house until they came, bringing shovel and morale boosting smiles. It took us nearly half an hour to find it as first we had to get everything off the floor of the laundry and it had hidden itself behind the washing machine. So Ian hunted it out and pinned it down with the broom. I then held the broom while he bashed it on the head with the shovel.

Now for those who may go cross at the cruely please don't bother. Come and see me when you've been bitten by and Eastern Brown Snake and then we'll talk. I have never been bitten and don't ever want to but we live 1/2 hr from the nearest hospital and it would be touch and go for and adult but it Sam got bitten it would probably be fatal much quicker.

I don't know how long it had been in there and I am still scratching my head trying to figure out exactly how it got in there. I have plugged up the 2 possible places.

I am still thanking the fact that I obviously have some kind of 6th sense and hadn't let Sam into the Laundry to play with the shoes today as I often do when I am in the kitchen. I think I got in while I was over at the in laws having a cup of tea this morning and then when I got back I was making some soup to stock up the freezer and for some reason had kept Sam in the kitchen with me, he was in the Laundry when Marcus's Dad came to deliver our post but I took him out when I went. He usually plays over where it was and ohh.... I just can't believe our good luck.

Enough. I am still feeling a bit panicky just talking about it.

Bec

7 comments:

Car said...

OMG Bec, that is so scary - we had a legless lizard in the house last week (not the same, but I still freaked out) I think if it had been me, I wouldn't have had to call the neighbours, they'd have heard me screaming...
Glad to hear that Sam didn't go near it.

Helen said...

Oh Bec! How horrid for you! Thank goodness Sam wasn't playing in there that morning. I would have bashed it over the head too. Glad your okay.

Suz said...

Oh, wow, Bec. So lucky that everything turned out well. I'm happy to hear you and Sam are okay!

Lindi said...

Sheesh, I hate the thought of dangerous snakes on the loose. Love watching them behind glass, and I am ok with pythons, but that's it!
Keep that 6th sense sharpened!

thehummingcat said...

I would of given him a big whop too, hanging out in your laundry and not doing the washing, how dare he!

Kys said...

WOw sorry all i can say but can't not comment when a native reptile is killed, no i haven't been bitten but have had a eastern brown in my garden and when younger removed a red belly black so it didnt get needlessly run over.

Next time why not just remove it or call a snake handler in to remove it, not publish on the www that you did something illegal (yes illegal to kill native australian snakes since it wasn't actually threatening you you were just scared of it). Snakes will only bite when provoked and they feel threatened. Most snake bites occur when someone is trying to kill the snake

And yes i do know this since i keep snakes and have friends that remove venomous snakes on a very regular basis. Thats i guess what you have to deal with when all there homes are being over taken, no matter if its country or urban venomous snakes are getting more common and people need to learn what to do not react by killing it and risking being bitten.

Sorry not having a go although it may sound that way but i am very passionate about snakes and reading your post has litterally made me feel sick.

Unknown said...

Oh Bec! I'm a Bec too and I could not believe it when I read this - I have an almost IDENTICLE story - 45min from town, Brown Snake in the bathroom!!!! Your story is pretty much mine WORD FOR WORD!!!!

YUCK!