| Author | Message | ||
     Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 838 Registered: 04-2019 |
So at the property I have signed papers for there is supposed to be Copperhead snakes. We also have Rattlesnakes. Now I'm sure for Aussies that is no bother because everything there is a danger (except rabbits). I was headed over to the property with the lawn mower I got for free, to clear some paths. So I was going to use rubber boots in case a snake tried to bite me. Websites say it might not work. Then everyone goes to Walmart to buy mothballs as snake repellent, which another site says it does not work. And the ones that are supposed to work are "Essential Oil Based", whatever that is. What do you wear to not be bit by snakes? And what do you use to keep snakes away? | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1529 Registered: 02-2013 |
Mike work boots and jeans will protect you from most snakes while walking unless its a black mamba from Africa in which case I have been told by South Africans you just find a tree to sit under because death is a certainty. Most snakes will move away from you rather than strike. One place where you can have a problem is in a chicken coup. Many people down here get bitten while trying to collect eggs so if you are going to have chickens make their coup snake proof. The other lot of people down here who get bitten are the fools that try to handle or kill snakes with a stick. Snakes can move at a lightning speed. Personally I love snakes and I live amongst many poisonous brown ones. But provided you don't corner them you won't have a problem. On the other hand if you want to eat them do a snake handling course first. | ||
| Graham Phillips Experienced User Username: playtime Post Number: 142 Registered: 03-2019 |
G'day everyone,.... When I was going to school I used to catch snakes for extra money,... We'd take them to the local hospital where they were milked for their venom. We'd get paid. Was great while it lasted,..... Graham. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2136 Registered: 04-2016 |
Gents, Vlad doesn’t like to brag, but he is a very good snake handler. I found a pic of him on the net in his latest snake wrangling gear. Mt Coolon allows him to wear such high tech outfits.  | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1531 Registered: 02-2013 |
Patrick, Russian men just do not wear Dutch clogs, and especially red ones. | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 842 Registered: 04-2019 |
Patrick, good one. Thanks for brightening my day. Especially the Dutch red clogs. We all know the proper way a to dress for snake hunting in Siberia is this.  Yelling die you little bastard die! (Just a joke.) | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3425 Registered: 04-2003 |
Gentlemen, Please keep the humour coming - it makes my day. | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1533 Registered: 02-2013 |
Oh yeah go the Texan! Hootnanny! Cat my dog! Good for bears, Siberian tigers and indeed tax inspectors! What's yee-ha in Russian? | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 843 Registered: 04-2019 |
Apparently down here in Texas this is all the protection we use.  | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1534 Registered: 02-2013 |
Beautiful snake Mike. Imagine the feed you could score out of that, you would need at least half a carton of beer (30) to wash it down! | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 845 Registered: 04-2019 |
I just got back from my property as I posted in another thread. I wore my rubber boots just in case. I did not see any snakes, but I heard a vibration under some rotten logs that I stepped on. So I backed up and tapped my saw on the ground to let it/them know I was there. It might have been a baby rattler to young to have rattles. Like a cat and its paws, it only wanted to pat me with its lips, without the pointy parts sticking in me.  | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1536 Registered: 02-2013 |
Mike quick mail me a box full of rattlesnakes! How cute they are. They are probably a protected species here (just like crows) because there are none. Sadly Australia has no rattlesnakes. Damn just remembered I don't have a private jet like Johnny Depp who got into trouble bringing in a couple of tiny hounds. The world is just so unfair. | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 846 Registered: 04-2019 |
I'd be afraid you would eat them like hamburgers. The Grady Gaston Method: Grady was a member of a B-24 bomber in WWII that crashed in Australia after returning from a bombing run against the Japanese in New Guinea. He survived over 130 days, most of it solo, while living on snake meat that he obtained by hurtling large rocks on the creatures.  | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1537 Registered: 02-2013 |
They say snake is not only delicious but that it is very good for your health but probably not the snake. Koala soup is no doubt the tastiest soup I have had outside of Russia, goanna is horrid but I am looking forward to platypus and if I get across the Tasman Sea one day I will go to the zoo and dine on a kiwi. I have always believed that if you love protected and or endangered species you should eat them because that's the only way you can get very close to them. Just cannot see myself ever turning vegetarian somehow.... | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2137 Registered: 04-2016 |
Mike, I’m sorry to say, you have got it a little wrong regarding the Siberian snake hunter outfit. I came across this pic of Vlad on the Siberian most wanted site.  | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 847 Registered: 04-2019 |
Another good one Patrick, I'm sure I would probably get kicked off this site for saying anything about his tongue and his wife. I would like to know the story on the red Dutch clogs though. What the hell is he doing? | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2138 Registered: 04-2016 |
His wife Mike? You mean this one?  | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1542 Registered: 02-2013 |
Bugger me Patrick and I thought ASIS did not talk to Russian FSB. Fancy getting a picture of the missus and posting it here. Hmmm bottle of Vodka looks inviting but the evil look in her eye makes me wonder if I dare return to Russia as questions may be asked. I could be as doomed as Omar. Russian women much jealous. The trigger in the corner has me sweating. Will the jacket save me. Maybe I will disappear into the Alaskan woods and take my chances with the bears. Egad! | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2139 Registered: 04-2016 |
I think she would adore you in the Jacket Vlad. Well, who wouldn’t she is only human  | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 853 Registered: 04-2019 |
Not sure if she's wanting to give a piece of meat, Vodka or cigarette while wearing her improvised pickle Dutch clogs. Maybe the whole picture is the artist's way of making a metaphor for she likes things that shoot. Pickles, meat, gun, shoots, hummm a Russian matryoshka doll. | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1565 Registered: 02-2013 |
A close call. Two days ago I was walking on a farm on my way to the garage from the kitchen and I just happened to notice a thick two metre eastern brown snake one metre (3 feet approximately ) from my foot and coming fast in my direction. Given that these deadly reptiles can kill you under 30 seconds and the air ambulance is an hour away it was a certain death sentence. I snapped into full reverse quick smart. Now I think its time to buy another lottery ticket. If I win I may emigrate to Sweden or Portugal where the government unlike here has at least one fully functioning brain. | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 887 Registered: 04-2019 |
In the USA Obama tried to fake it up that the USA is just like Europe and called it Obama Care. The only care it gives you if you don't pay for insurance you have to pay more on your taxes. Really, you can't afford insurance let's make them loose money on their tax return so they have even less money for health care. In the USA you have the right to die as long as you don't do it yourself. Just have a snake bite you and go to a hospital with no insurance that will cure you. Of life. | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1567 Registered: 02-2013 |
Mike thats quite funny and very very sad. In Australia we have Medicare which works reasonably well. I will always fail to understand the American system. Plenty of money, plenty of technology but a heartless disregard for the welfare of fellow citizens. The USA is probably a plum place if you are rich and packing a handgun. Other than that I think the US should just pack in its propaganda about being a bloody good place to live because its very clear that for most its a damn mean place. | ||
| Larry Kavanagh Frequent User Username: shadow_11 Post Number: 492 Registered: 05-2016 |
In Ireland healthcare is free if you're prepared to wait in line. If you have private health insurance you get to skip the queue because the consultants consider you to be a more lucrative proposition. The upside of the free health care is that in an emergency case you get seen and treated similarly to private health insurance policy holders but the downside is that with a niggling or painful condition that is not regarded as life threatening you have to wait in line and that wait could be a long one. The upside of private health insurance is that less serious conditions require a much shorter waiting period before treatment commences and if a hospital stay is necessary you get a private or semi-private room depending on your level of insurance and on the category of hospital. I agree with Vlad that the US system is heartless and I feel that it discriminates based on wealth or lack of same. | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1576 Registered: 02-2013 |
Larry, have you crossed France yet giving the rude frogs a good face thrashing with wet fish? Or are you still preparing your Italian mobile bed for the expedition? | ||
| Larry Kavanagh Frequent User Username: shadow_11 Post Number: 493 Registered: 05-2016 |
I haven't started out yet Vlad. The Italian mobile bed appears to be in fine fettle and has recently passed a stringent roadworthiness test. First trip will be to Kerry in SW Ireland for a week or two in September and then maybe after another couple of months I'll head down through France to the South of Spain where the climate is warmer in winter. I'll have to be back home from Christmas until Easter as that's the lambing season and I'll be busy tending sheep. | ||
| Trevor P Hodgkinson New User Username: wm20 Post Number: 32 Registered: 11-2006 |
Getting slightly back on track. Down here the most common place for a man to be bitten by a snake is the right forearm Why? because the snake runs up the shovel / axe handle that he was using to attempt to kill it & so bit him. Most snakes have short teeth ( vipers excluded ) so loose floppy clothing is the best defense . In most cases the snake will just nip & not inject venom unless it thinks you are a threat to it. Why waste venom on something that is too big to eat ? Do your research about the snakes that are in your patch. Where I am we get quite a few snakes. I encourage black snakes by providing them a water feature and some nice places to live in. Black snakes eat frogs & reptiles which includes baby snakes The worry snakes are the browns who are also quite aggressive. They eat warm blooded things like rats, mice & chickens. So the chicken run is a long way from the house and the pond is between it and the workshop. Thus by & large the blacks take care of the browns. I also have a carpet python in the roof. Like browns they like warm blooded food so will knock off potential brown snake fodder leaving the browns no reason to come into my space. If you have a steel shed then always open the door from the side so you are not in.between the snake , trapped in the shed & freedom. A friend of mine opens his garage doors ( electric ) while banging on the back wall with a broom. usually 3 or 4 snakes make a dash for freedom before the door is fully up. | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 905 Registered: 04-2019 |
The most I have seen so far is a 8 inch lizard, no snakes. The people I talked to made it seem copperheads were around all the time. I think they were exaggerating, I still wear rubber boots just in case. Until I can see where I am walking and see what is there. I don't put my hand down anywhere without tapping around to let them know I am there, and to clear them out. Snakes can't exactly hear. They can feel/hear vibrations (woofer like vibrations for sound). The banging on the wall may let them feel the air vibrations, and they know something is up. | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1583 Registered: 02-2013 |
Trevor all can say is .... It was a big thick Brown snake. I have no fear. I just happened to look down when my foot was a metre from its head. Given the choice again... Hell's Angel with silenced pistol Copper with a warrant Politician with a promise. I would shoot it dead. | ||
| Trevor P Hodgkinson New User Username: wm20 Post Number: 34 Registered: 11-2006 |
Mike, That is why I mentioned researching the local snakes. Once you know what they do & why they do it living with them is no problem and they can do what ever they do normally in the environment to keep everything in balance which is usually not biting you. Living with nature is so much easier than living against it. For 40 years Sydneysiders lived in fear of the funnel web spider usually called the "North Shore Funnel Web" This is because while the spider was originally evenly distributed the effluient North Shore councils banned the keeping of domestic fowls ( only cheap lower class people need to keep chooks ). Now because domestic dogs had wiped out native running birds and blue tounge lizards, there was nothing to prey on the funnel web as it lives underground so they grew to plague proportions. The wealthy then called in the exterminators to wipe out the ground spiders which lead to a massive growth in cockroach numbers. Funny thing is we all remember the song about the old woman who swallowed the fly, but very few actually understand it. | ||
| Trevor P Hodgkinson New User Username: wm20 Post Number: 35 Registered: 11-2006 |
And Vlad, It was them. Browns are generally found in pairs so you step back from the one you saw and step on the one you did not see. You have a few hours before you are dead if and only if the Brown gives you a full venom bite, It will rarely do this because it is several hours before it can make enough venom to kill it's next meal. A glancing strike is a warning and generally will have no venom. A full venom strike requires the snake to bite and hold for at least 30 seconds. More people have died or been seriously injured racing for medical attention than have died from the venom. Standing dead still is generally the best thing to do till the snake passes, quite some distance. If they are less then 6' or so past & you start to walk they will do a 180 and strike you as they think you are trying to sneak up on them. All vets, ambulances & in the bush and most doctors keep anti-venom. The stuff that vets give to your prize work dog is the same as what the doctor gives to you so if you are isolated contact the local vets to see if they keep it on hand. However that shot will be $ 2000 and if given by a vet not claimable through medical insurance. People like to exagerate things. The landlord was the local vet & her dogs get a brown snake bite around every second or third year. She has only lost one dog in 15 years but a lot of that is because there are 5 dogs and they hunt the snake as a pack. Customers with a single dog in their yard usually end up loosing the dog because the snake will end up giving it a full venom bite if not 3 or 4 of them. Your best defense against browns is blacks and you manage them with a frog pond , some damp pipes and a rock pile. Most other Aussie snakes are not as aggressive so will back off. Tropical tigers are also agressive but we don't get them in Sydney. FWIW I have emerald pythons, carpet pythons, green tree , whip,, black & brown snakes around here in varying numbers depending upon the season that I have seen so far, sure there are more. | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 927 Registered: 04-2019 |
So I have been looking at the ground and worrying about snakes, and now spiders, as brown recluse spiders that look like wolf spiders but littler. Now I looked up in one of the trees I was under and saw this.  Now I'm wondering if I will feel a log fall on my back that's moving around, then gives me a little kiss on the neck. I'll be glad when this job is over. | ||
| Trevor P Hodgkinson Experienced User Username: wm20 Post Number: 56 Registered: 11-2006 |
If it was in a tree it will be a Python. So it will not bite you. Might give you a little hug though | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3450 Registered: 04-2003 |
Mike, Was this a "house warming" gift from the locals or should I say "house warning"??? | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 928 Registered: 04-2019 |
 Start yelling Die you little bastard die !  | ||
| Mike Thompson Frequent User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 986 Registered: 04-2019 |
I found proof Texas does indeed have rattle snakes. Albeit a baby rattler, none the less they can do damage like an adult. (Oh by the way it was dead, something crushed it's head.) I took it home and put it on the end of the cement drive, to the last car bay, to kind of scare the neighbors. A few of them walk through the woods in back to go to work near by. It had moved a few times like they poked at it a bit. Then one came and knocked on my door. (I did not answer in time to see why they knocked, but I am sure it was about I had a snake.)  | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Prolific User Username: soviet Post Number: 1658 Registered: 02-2013 |
That is a very pretty snake Mike. | ||
| Mike Thompson Prolific User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 1040 Registered: 04-2019 |
The backhoe I am using got a flat, and I took it up the street so I could use this guys air compressor. He has a few pot belly pigs. He said that the rattle snakes have, by natural selection, come to be only rattle snakes that do not rattle. If they rattle the pigs eat them. So the only rattle snakes that are left to breed are those that do not rattle. I think that is neat. | ||
| Mike Thompson Prolific User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 1042 Registered: 04-2019 |
I guess the Administrator has run Vlad off, I don't think he has posted since his post was deleted. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2182 Registered: 04-2016 |
Mike, You have to remember Vlad is now brewing his own beer. He has probably been on a bender for a couple of weeks.  I had a spy in Mt Coolon snap this pic the other day.  | ||
| Mike Thompson Prolific User Username: vroomrr Post Number: 1043 Registered: 04-2019 |
Just as long as he does not get confused where things go and does this.  |
