The Snake

The toothless old gummy black cat jumped in the front window last Friday night with his "meow, meow, meow" of "I'm so clever here's what I have caught for you!". I turned to take a look at the rat, mouse, lizard, mouse that is the usual. However this time it seemed a little LONGER than usual and it head seemed to be wriggling around. "JEEZUS, IT"S A BLOODY SNAKE."

I was sitting here at my desk and put my feet up on the desk at once, looking down at the cat who had let the wriggly thing go and was watching it with interest as it slid behind the desk. I was perched there looking down in horror to see how long it was...... it was only small about two feet and skinny.

I now had a snake in the house (albeit a small one) and had on a pair of shorts and not much else. First priority get some thicker clothes on so if it did bite me, it wouldn't do much damage. Second thing, get it outside.

Third consideration. Downunder we have 8 out of ten of the world's deadliest snakes, thus every snake is treated as something that will potentially send one to one's maker in rather short order.

So I gently pushed the chair on wheels away from the desk with me with my legs up in the air. Then, when a suitable distance away, raced off to get some heavier clothes on whilst the cat looked after the snake, I was contemplating veterinary bills in the meantime, the last case of $900 for some gas. This one would be even more if it got him.

Then a method of attack to get the snake.

I remembered that a snake is essentially on the lower level of the intelligence scale so it would be a matter of guiding the serpent towards a "something" that would hold it, covering it and sending it on it's way outside. Man has the advantage in this case, one can safely make a dumber creature go in the direction he wishes.

So I returned in a thick pair of pants, leather boots and some gloves. I found a small storage tub and got a 12inch ruler. The snake meanwhile had ended up under the sitting room chair. Cat was peering underneath waiting for it to come out.

Cat was put outside not to further complicate things. Snake looked rather quiet as it was night time and his blood was cold. I poked him towards the tub and he was in. Threw my swimming towel over the top and held it down TIGHTLY so the bloody thing wouldn't slither out.

I then RAN outside to the bush and CAREFULLY removed the towel, tipped the tub and the side and the snake slithered away into the night. I had a look at it in the torchlight and it seemed to be a bright irridescent green so was probably a small tree snake or grass snake. Someone told me later the bad ones are usually dark.

Unfortunately no photo, I was not in a clear and present state of mind at the time.

There was news from last week about a teenager down in the"flatlands" in the Western Suburbs in Sydney around 7 miles away, who was bitten by an Eastern Brown Snake and sadly, later died. The Eastern Brown is 8 times more poisonous than an Indian cobra..... jeust to give you an idea.

The young guy's mistake was to run back home from where he was bitten. I don't think he knew that the faster you run and more blood that is pumped around your body, the more effect the poison will have on you. The poison is fed back through the body through the lymphatic system where it then attacks the bloods coagulation properties.

I heard at a First Aid course of a forest ranger who was bitten by the same snake after being airlifted in and stayed still for a week in bed until the chopper came back to get him out. He survived although he was rather sick.