SNAKES ON THE PLAINS
Local snake handler has been called to the rescue three times in a week
RESIDENTS across the Western Plains of NSW are being reminded that, as the weather heats up, the snakes come out of hibernation.
In the past week alone, local snake handler Stephen Thomson has been called to remove three snakes from three different places around Dubbo – including a childcare centre.
Meanwhile, Elong Elong resident Rae Craft wants others to learn from her recent snake bite incident.
AS the mercury begins to rise, so too do the sightings of slithery, legless reptiles.
In the last week, local snake handler Stephen Thomson has been called to remove a whip snake from a childcare centre, a red belly black snake from a garage in South Dubbo and a brown snake from a shed in East. As the scaly species slowly slide out of their winter dormancy, Mr Thomson is reminding the community of how to deal with a serpent should it turn up unannounced.
“Give them plenty of space and if you know there is a snake in the vicinity, try and tie up your dogs and put cats inside because it’s actually the pets that suffer a lot during the summer months and it can be both expensive and fatal,” he told Dubbo Photo News.
“Also, wear sensible clothes like slacks or trousers and sensible shoes and that takes 95 per cent of any risk of being bitten by a snake away.”
Mr Thomson, who has been a snake handler in Dubbo for 25 years, said 70 per cent of snake bites do not actually envenomate.
“A lot of snakes come out big and scary and bluff a lot, especially the Eastern browns, but they are trying to scare you to get out of their area,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll have a fake hit but it’s not actually venomous, if they’re really angry they might envenomate, but they’ll often leave that for when they want to kill mice or rats.”
Rae Craft from Elong Elong was recently the victim of one of these ‘fake hits’ and wants her story to serve as a cautionary tale for others.
Earlier this month, Mrs Craft slipped on her ballet flat-style shoes right upon dusk and went about her regular routine of hanging out washing, feeding the dogs and watering plants. “I came in and went to put tea on and the top of my foot was a bit itchy,” Mrs Craft recalled.
“I scratched it, and about 10 minutes later my foot felt quite sore and itchy and I looked down and I had two bite marks on the top of my foot.”
Having not seen nor felt a snake, Mrs Craft and her husband Gary decided they should head to hospital to get the wound examined.
“The hospital said they treat every bite as a venomous bite, but my bite was a dry bite,” Mrs Craft said.
“It was probably just a warning bite because I didn’t feel it, I may have even trodden on it, I don’t know.”
And while she was lucky this time around, Mrs Craft wants her story to serve as a warning.
“If you are going to go out in the hot, where there possibly are snakes, wear proper shoes and don’t walk out in your thongs, especially when it’s getting dark and you can’t see properly.”
Dry bite or not, Mr Thomson said all snake bites should have a compression bandage applied immediately, followed by immobilisation of the affected limb.
“You should then ring an ambulance and get going to the hospital straight away, but do your best to stay calm, so you don’t pump your blood pressure up too much,” he suggested.
And while many might squirm at the thought of Mrs Craft’s story, Peter Driver thinks the reptiles are given a bad rap and are really nothing to be scared of.
Mr Driver grew up in a snake-loving household and has had his pet jungle python, Zebbie, for six years.
“It is just about treating them (snakes) with respect; you’ve commonly got aggressive dogs and aggressive cats, and everyone knows how to be wary of them by putting a sign on the gate, but as soon as they see a snake, there’s a fear factor,” Mr Driver said.
“Yes, snakes can be deadly in their own right, but so are a lot of other animals, they all have different aggressive traits and it’s mainly just a defence mechanism.” z If you need a snake removed from your property, contact Stephen Thomson on 0429 149 278 or WIRES Rescue Line on 1300 094 737.