‘Go to’ snake removalists turn up to remove unwanted guests

A small group of Narrabri VRA members are the local ‘go to’ snake removalists when a snake turns up where it is not wanted.

There are plenty of snakes around but as VRA snake whisperers say, ‘more snakes will see you than you will see snakes’ – “there may be the snake or two even in your backyard, but you won’t see him and everyone remains happy.”

However, snakes appear in unwanted places and those are the occasions when the Narrabri VRA’s ‘snake whisperers’ are called on.

Snakes find their way into unusual places and some are harder to move on than others.

“Pretty much anywhere you can put your finger a snake can crawl – they are just looking for somewhere to hide,” said VRA member and veteran snake removalist Harvey Black.

“The most challenging removal was one from the bottom of the Gurley silo,” recalled Harvey.

“I was told it was a black snake, it was dark in the bottom of the silo, but when I got it out in the daylight I found it was in fact a bronze colour, the biggest and angriest king brown I have ever seen in my life.

“We have found snakes in business premises, main street shops, in a roller door, in cars, house backyards, washing machines, and other places. Some we can’t get at in wall cavities in older houses.

“One lady found a snake in her car halfway from Wee Waa and jumped out. I drove the car back to her place, parked it and sprinkled talcum around it and left the doors open and next morning there were tracks where it came out.

“We have them under car bonnets. A lady checked the oil and found one coiled in the engine for warmth during the night.

“We have found them in kitchens. We shut down a commercial kitchen in Narrabri because the staff wouldn’t go back while it was there.

“When they rang they said they had it trapped under a cardboard box being held down by two people with brooms. We arrived and they lifted their brooms and the snake cleared off and went under the counter.

“We were once called to recover a little brown snake,” recalled Harvey.

“I had to get the plane to Sydney and took the bagged snake home, left it in the bag to release it when I got back. When I returned it was gone. My wife Claire wore gum boots for a while when we didn’t know where it was in the house.

“One was in a bathroom and the snake had somehow got up on the wall and onto plastic ivy trim on the mirror frame. I wasn’t expecting him to be above head height.

“We mainly recover black and brown snakes, and the occasional carpet snakes which are just poking along doing their thing,” said Harvey.

“We have a pair of tongs with leather jaws to pick them up, a long stick with a hook and a bag to transport them.

“Most black snakes are just looking for somewhere to hide so if you offer them the bag they will go straight in. Others don’t want to and spit venom all over the edge of the bag.

“The biggest issue with snakes at homes is that some backyards are like rubbish tips. People say ‘the snake was here’ but no one watched it and we arrive we have to search the whole back yard the snake could be two houses away by the time you get there.

“About 40 per cent of call outs are a waste of our time because the callers don’t know where it is and if they don’t know where it is we can’t spend hours looking for it.

“One Christmas Day I had to get a snake from a lounge room. It was in a washing basket full of shoes and thongs and we had to unpack the basket it to get the snake out.

“Meanwhile, the house resident had arranged the chairs so she could get from the lounge room to the kitchen by walking up on the chairs.

“The extractions which take the longest involve unpacking a wardrobe or dismantling something. In the majority of cases it happens fairly quickly if you know what you’re doing.

“If you know where the snake is when we get there we will come, but if your neighbour says he saw it, or you don’t know where it is, you are wasting everyone’s time.

“If we know where the snake is we are happy to remove it.”

Health authorities remind us all snakes have to be treated with care, despite folklore that ‘black snakes aren’t too bad, but be careful of the more dangerous brown variety.’

“Black snakes just have a better attitude,” said Harvey.

“But if you stir any snake up it will have a go at you.”

Harvey was bitten by a black snake when he was bagging one on February 28, 2014. He still suffers the effects of that bite.

“No snake can be taken lightly,” he emphasises.