Oh NO! It's another one!

[Kody]

I drove down to the water trough that the horse and roos drink from and began to fill it. I had emptied it out to apply some tar stuff around the plug as the water was disappearing so fast and thought there was a leak at the plug. The tar stuff was now dry so I turned the tap on full open. Kody always comes with me to check and fill the trough and she was quite excited as this was the area where the dingoes hide out. She raced away from the car and began to sniff and explore every interesting new odour that filled her nose. I looked up to see where she had run to and saw her shaking her head at a furious rate. She lifted her head up and threw a "wiggly stick" high into the air. I left the horse trough as fast as I could run and grabbing a "solid stick" ran to my very precious Kody. She had just found another 4' long snake and had chewed and flogged the stuffing out of it. I couldn't recognize the type of snake when I first saw it as Kody was about 35 meters away, all I could tell was it was black in colour. This colour snake turns the scares on at full strength. It could be a Taipan or an Eastern Brown. The Taipan is very dark brown to black and the Eastern Brown can be any colour from grey to golden brown to deep chocolate. Either one could kill Kody in five minutes or a man in twenty or even less. A man working not far from here was bitten by a Taipan and died within 5 minutes about 12 months ago.
By the time I reached Kody, the snake was nearly dead but the front half was still moving. I "sticked" it good and proper on the head with the stick I had picked up and then I was able to identify the snake. Thank God, it was a Yellow Bellied Tree Snake. These are non venomous but a bite can deliver a strong dose of bacteria that can cause gangrene to infect you or even Kody. Kody did find a "Brownie" about a year ago, it was near the garage but I was with her when she found it and it was easy to keep her at a distance with a simple command. She also found a "Whip Snake" which in venomous but not dangerous as being life threatening. It still puts me on edge though as I wouldn't be able to tell if Kody had been bitten. It would be a case of picking her up and rushing her to the vet 6 miles away for treatment and help. When Kody found the Whip Snake, she was walking with Cindy to the horse to feed it. She suddenly turned and flew about 20 meters to the snake that then became very excited. It's amazing how she knows they are there when she has to run 20 meters to them. Shepherds are not snake killing dogs, they don't have the extreme speed that some others do. Every time she tangles with a snake, she brings my heart to a lump in my throat as she has found about six of them in the past 3 years.

Kody

[Roo Dog]

Joe,
Dugites and Tiger snakes are the beasties to avoid down our way. Both deadly.
We have two terriers and attacking snakes is what terriers do. Being spring the snakes are starting to show their faces so we keep our mutts on a short lead when out and about. Unleashed terriers tend to have a short life, though possibly enjoyable from their limited viewpoint.
Fox and dog baits are the other issue when traveling through farm and pastoral country which we do.
Take it easy.
RD

[michaelrsydney]

To be fair, Australian snakes kill just two people a year... They are mostly very timid. Probably more people are killed by dogs (not dingoes!)

By contrast an average of 20 Australians die each year from honey bee stings. Lost a few to crocodiles lately too.

[Roo Dog]

Michael,

Yeah I have to agree with your post.
Dingos are responsible for a great deal of sheep losses but conversely keep fox and feral cat numbers down. Dingo attacks on humans are rare as are snake bites as you say.
Feral dogs and dogs in general are responsible for most dog attacks and deaths of humans.
I have spent a bit of time out bush and had dingos about the camp but have never felt threatened. Had a bloody great snake come into the tent one night which got our undivided attention.
The Oz bush is pretty damn safe, be aware and watch where you walk. There is little out there that will do you much harm. Ya gotta keep your eye out for them man eating kangaroos and savage koala bears though.
Take it easy.

RD

[PKCSPT]

My sister in AZ used to have a house cat that preferred to be outside that would kill rattle snakes and bring them home. I think her record was a 2 1/2 foot. She was a nasty cat.

glad Kody is allright

[eamarquardt]

Ya gotta keep your eye out for them man eating kangaroos and savage koala bears though.

RD

Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!
Lions, tigers, bears, man eating kangaroos, savage koala bears, snakes, dingos, and feral dogs. OH MY!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 553AAkOR9q

Cheers,

Gus

[Roo Dog]

Gus,
If an Aussie starts telling you about drop bears, man eating kangaroos and all the ferocious beasties about the shop, walk away, he is having a lend of you.
Sharks and crocs are not friendly in Oz but I would say that applies to sharks and crocs everywhere.
No it's about as safe a place as you can get when it comes to beasties. My biggest concern when I am out bush is running out of cold beer.
Take it easy.

RD

[eamarquardt]

Gus,
If an Aussie starts telling you about drop bears, man eating kangaroos and all the ferocious beasties about the shop, walk away, he is having a lend of you.
Sharks and crocs are not friendly in Oz but I would say that applies to sharks and crocs everywhere.
No it's about as safe a place as you can get when it comes to beasties. My biggest concern when I am out bush is running out of cold beer.
Take it easy.

RD

Roo Dog,

I knew that. This is from the link I posed below the OH MYs: "It means that the the speaker is fearful of a rumored threat, and (as others have pointed out) comes from the classic Wizard of Oz."

It often seems the rumor of a threat is far worse than the threat itself.

That said, I think I'm out of cold beer, OH MY!

Cheers,

Gus

[celticquetzel]

Coworker just had a pup nailed in his backyard run in the head by a rattler. Amazingly should be ok, but a MAJOR vet bill plus cost of expensive anti-venom. She puts her dogs through anti-snake training with a pro and his de-venomed rattlers but the pup was too young. Hopefully he's gotten the point. Unfortunately the hard way.

[mikeschn]

We only have one real snake to deal with...

http://www.easternmassasaugarattlesnake.com/

And they love to hang out at the bark park where we take our dogs every day.

We try not to get too close to the shore of the lake where they hang out. Pretty scary stuff though. We've seen guys walk out of there crying, holding their dogs that have been bitten.

Mike...