Snake in the garden.

[Riverlander]

Hi. Faye spotted a snake outside yesterday. I searched for it with the garden rake in hand saw it slide under a bush and could not find it again. About 1.3 mts long and a tan colour. Could be a younger brown. Hope it was just passing through. I had a thought and put a radio playing in the garden on full base with the idea the vibrations could be annoying for it and it may move to the neighbours for a bit of piece and quiet. What are your thoughts? If it could hear music I am sure a bit of Rap or even The Corrs or Kylie Minogue would drive it away. Have been patrolling the garden today with the garden rake but have not spotted it again and luckily the cat is having an inside day today.
Cheers John

[T1 Terry]

Maybe Barry Manilow might work better https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29474213 although I'm sure Brian (Homeless) would be happy to share some brass band music ... that will probably chase the neighbours away as well

T1 Terry

[Dot]

Get some guinea fowls to roam the place, I would have a spade here there and everywhere around the place. If chopped it would then over the fence for the kookaburras lunch. Happy chopping, stay inside Miss Evie please.

[Dot]

snakes.jpg

Any of these John? Wow so many variants..

[native pepper]

I see snakes all the time on my place, only two days ago when walking the dogs we came across a thick black tiger snake about 1.5m long lying in the bush beside the track. Bindi stopped looked at it and then walked on whilst I and Dax walked past it and he didn't even blink and we were only a metre from it. next day it was gone. Snakes will only hassle you if you hassle them, or get between them and either their nest or young. Our grass in the paddocks is very long at the moment, up to my thighs in places so carry a stick in case we startle one but keep to the track, banging the stick on the ground as I walk send vibrations that warn them we are around and they either get out of the way or just watch us. Snakes don't hear they have no ears, they work on vibrations through the ground.

In my experience snakes work on vibrations through the ground and seem to be able to tell if you're a threat or not, remaining calm and if they start to move getting out of the way of the direction they want to go always relaxes them and they go on their way. If you don't want them round your house, don't leave any water anywhere even small amounts as they need to drink at times and know their prey needs to drink so tend to hang round where water is. We only have 3 varieties in Tas, copper heads, white lipped and tigers and tigers are the most venomous. In the sth where i live they tend to be black, but up nth lighter with the stripes. Down here you have to get close to see the stripes so I don't see them often and have never seen a copper head or whit lipped snake around here, think they are mostly nth and in the nth west.

[Dot]

But look at the different colours . I was walking along with 2 of my Dobies as I put my foot down it didn't feel right, when I looked down there it was a red bellied black, I think I must of picked a dog under each arm and hover crafted over the fence. I was in shock I reckon. Next day same spot the big boy dobie did the "set pointer pose" and growled and yep the wriggly stick was there but it was disposed of very quickly, appears his vibration detector was not working. He was too close to my animals. 1 more was later relaxing under the pergola, same result. Then another was poking it's head out of the retaining wall.. Too close.

[native pepper]

Was referring to Tas Dot, not Aus where there are more volatile reptiles and have had experience with them. Most have the attitude leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, have had encounters in Aus with s few snakes and the one that always worries me is the eastern brown which is very aggressive no matter what you do. Red belly blacks are reasonably calm and rarely attack unless cornered or really hassled, always wise to keep your distance and if they move let them decide their direction and wait until they are away before moving. Unless you're between them their nest or young, then you should move slowly in another direction and 9 out of 10 times, they'll leave you alone.

Fully understand about your dogs as even here it worries me when they trot off in front in the long grass, but they have been trained to leave wildlife alone and do. It's cats they are allowed to chase and either dispose of or corner them so I can get them, they mainly just corner them up a tree so can shoot them. Down here whit lipped snakes and the most aggressive. But it's only a couple of months mostly Feb and March you have to worry about snakes, that's when their looking to breed and can be a bit hassled. The rest of the time they are slow or hibernating, however with climate change that could change.

The water down here is extremely warm and a green turtle was found at Hobart wharfs the other day, seems our waters are heating up much faster then anticipated and that's the southern ocean. The state of the world at the moment is not looking very good, my grand kids are very worried about how the great grand kids will handle the future, that's if they have a viable future.

[T1 Terry]

When I was working in Tassie, had an encounter with a snake heading across the air stripe at the B&H property (Rushy Lagoon area) on the NE tip, near Gladstone, no wind farms there back then The property manager alerted us as he tried to land their Cessna and get the snake with the prop at the same time, the assistant jumped out and got it with the shovel. We must have been near its nest or something, big snake and it was coming straight for us ... and I was laying under an aircraft loader (Superphosphate) replacing the clutch, no hope of getting out of its way by the time we saw it. They said it was a King snake, but probably a local area name for it, probably a Chappell Island tiger snake, apparently they are common in the area.

T1 Terry

[Greynomad]

For this very reason we keep our back grass v short, and on t'other side of the fence between us and the golf course we keep that soil bare with weedkiller.
There's an open drainage channel running the full length of the golf course and our back fence is a metre off it.
We've never had a snake in our yard in 10 years, while our next-door neighbour, who lets the grass behind his place go feral, has killed 4 or five large browns in that time... in his yard.