Since the days of the days of Adam and Eve and that little misunderstanding in the Garden of Eden, snakes have copped a bad rap in western culture. To some people they are the personification of evil and the merest glimpse and in extreme cases even the thought of them can cause panic, fear and a deep visceral loathing. Is this fear of the snake instinct? Are we genetically programmed to avoid snakes because of the harm they can inflict? Or is our fear cultural, are we taught to fear snakes? Probably a little bit of both really. One thing is for sure, through education we can put aside our fear of snakes and learn to respect snakes and understand their ecology and how we can get along. Generational attitude change to snakes can occur, for example my Mother in law is absolutely terrified of snakes and yet my eldest keeps a snake as a pet.
So on with the story, learning about Snakes is an important life skill in Australia and in particular South East Queensland. Australia has over 140 species of land snakes and South East Queensland has 56 of these. Queensland is home to some of the world’s most dangerous snakes, with more than 20 species that are capable of killing humans. These are the scary statistics, but the reality is that you are literally more likely to die from a lightning strike than die from a snake bite. So how do we learn to live with and respect snakes? Well for starters not all snakes are venomous, the presumption that they are may be a useful default for you if you’re not familiar with snakes (even if you are, some can only be identified by counting the scales around the mid-body, which requires a very co-operative snake – not likely!). Back to respect, this is a word that sums it up for me when it comes to snakes. Snakes are potentially dangerous, even deadly, but only in the same way that electricity is dangerous and deadly if you don’t respect it and stick a fork in the power point.
Apart from the occasional snake slithering into houses, most snakes are encountered in gardens or the bush. Snakes are predators and eat other animals; the presence of prey animals is usually required to attract the snakes in the first place. For example Red Bellied Black Snakes are generally hunting frogs, lizards and other snakes; Eastern Brown Snakes are generally hunting rodents, other small mammals and lizards; Carpet Pythons generally eat anything that can pass through their jaws! The presence of snakes is an indicator of ecological health, if there weren’t any snakes we’d be up to our you know what’s in frogs, lizards and rats, conversely the presence of snakes can be an indicator of the presence of prey animals and habitat for them.
People who work in the bush are likely to be exposed to snakes more than many, as such the Brush Turkey Contracting Team recently undertook snake handling training with Martin Fingland from Geckoes Wildlife Presentations. We did this not so we can move snakes (please don’t call us), but so that we could increase our understanding and with that respect for this much maligned group of native fauna. Martin has a long history of working with native fauna and shared with us a wealth of knowledge on the biology, ecology, handling and laws regarding snakes. The best part of the course was the final session when all the theory had to be put into practice and it was time to handle the snakes. This requires specialised equipment such as bags, hooks and grippers that keep you safe and the snake uninjured when it’s time to make contact. Catching an Eastern Brown Snake (the most dangerous snake in SE QLD) and safely storing it in the snake handling bag under the supervision of Martin, was certainly a highlight.
For the general public the most basic tip that I took away from this snake handling course is don’t handle snakes. If you do get bitten by a venomous snake, risk of death is low, but risk of injury from the complex cocktail of chemicals that make up the snake venom is high. First aid is very important, but this article is too short for this and video helps, so check out the following link on the St John’s Ambulance website – http://www.stjohnqld.com.au/en/videos.html .
Dressing to be snake safe is one of the best ways you can ensure your safety from venomous snakes in the garden or out in the bush and it’s not as hard as it sounds. You don’t require layers of body armour, simply long baggy pants, enclosed boots, long sleeved shirts and gloves will provide good protection from snake bite.
The best thing you can do when confronted by a snake that you think may be threat to you is avoid it, believe it or not most of the time they will try to avoid you. For example I have accidentally stood on and dug up several Red Belly Black snakes over the years and all they want to do is get away. Eastern Brown Snakes are known to be more aggressive and potentially chase you, but again don’t panic, just move. Finally a great little book to educate you is “Snakes of South –East Queensland – A Queensland Museum Wild Guide”.
