Snake on main street signals another slithery season

An eastern brown snake had lost his way and found himself in front of Bridge Medical Centre at about 4.30pm on Monday.

Local snake catchers Harvey Black and John Hardgrave received the call out, so they scooted down there to check out the situation.

“The poor thing was so scared he got into the bag himself,” said Mr Hardgrave.

Last week, the two Volunteer Rescue Squad official snake rescuers attended seven callouts, plus one for a cat stuck up a tree, but ‘Mr Eastern Brown’ on Main Street could well be the final signal that snake season is again slithering.

“He was in Dewhurst Street going quietly down the side of the arcade – without stirring him up, John went ahead of it and held the bag in place, and the snake was going along looking for somewhere to hide and he went in the bag,” said Mr Black.

“Three-quarters of him went in the bag, and I touched the back of him, and all hell broke loose in the bag.

“You touch a black snake, and you know it’s going to go in one direction, touch a brown snake on the back and he’s going to come around and want to chew whoever’s touched him.”

Well, with that kind of daring, we can imagine how Mr Black attained his snake bite in 2007; but that was a black snake.

Snakes on the street aren’t something we should get used to according to Mr Black.

“They’re either going somewhere, they obviously don’t live there, but where they’re going to, we don’t know.”

What we do know is that Mr Black and Mr Hardgrave have seen a lot of brown snake activity in the last month.

Otherwise known as the common brown snake, their venom is some of the most poisonous in the world, so the message is: stay clear, and definitely don’t try and wrestle.

“There are a lot of them around, they’re just waking up and going looking for what’s next in their lives,” said Mr Black.

“Because it’s dry, there are a lot of wide cracks in the black soil, when you go to catch one in someone’s yard it just disappears down the cracks and it’s gone.

“There were black snakes in a lady’s backyard in Narrabri West that were all twirled around each other, either brawling or mating.

“When we got there, they were gone, next morning she was in the backyard and saw one, and it disappeared into a crack in the soil.

“We shifted the whole wood heap to see if it was in there, but it wasn’t.”

The almost comedic endeavours of our snake catcher extraordinaires could be enough to author a book.

“We had one behind a spa in Barwan Street,” said Mr Black.

“We chased it out of there, across the lawn and under the trees along the fence, chased it around and across the verandah and it ended up back under the spa again.”

Then there was the time Mr Black thought it would be a good idea to move a python that was sunning itself on the road when he was travelling along Coolongolook with a bunch of Irish friends who had never seen snakes before.

“I picked him up from behind his neck, and they don’t like that, and he started wrapping himself around my hands.

“We were in a hurry to get somewhere, and I said to the people I was with that someone would have to help unwrap him from my hands, but next thing they had all flew in the car and shut the door.

“So, I moved over and put its head in the grass and relaxed my grip on it and it relaxed its grip on me, and he just slithered away.”

Last season, the Narrabri region had many pythons and black snakes a ‘plenty which are common for the region, but this year seems to be the year of the brown snake.

As Australian native animals, it is illegal to kill a snake, but even if you’re thinking about it, a brown snake’s aggressive and unpredictable nature should be enough of a deterrent.

So, what should you do to get ahead of the season and stay safe?

Keep your eye out, keep away from them, and watch out for your kids, cats and dogs.

Chooks are good warnings for snakes, the birds in the trees will also be squawking their emergency messages to each other which normally scares snakes away.

“They are looking for somewhere to hide so if you give them somewhere to hide, they will go there.

“If you had a black snake running around inside and you chucked a towel or shirt over it, it would stay there, and you’ll know where it is when someone comes to get it,” said Mr Black.

“Block under the doors and the exits to keep the snake in the room.”

You’d be surprised to hear that John and Harvey also get calls from farmers requesting snakes to control the mice in their hay sheds, so Harvey always tries to keep a python for a few days.

Another thing to remember is that snakes only eat things to keep themselves alive, and after they have a feed, they’ll go and have a lie down for a few days.

“Keep away from them because if you leave them be, they could be gone the next day, because they’re not coming to your place, they’re passing by, looking for things to eat and going on a holiday.”

Mr Black’s snake bite still bothers him to this day.

“I got it in 2007 so don’t do it,” said Mr Black.

“But if you get one, it’s worthwhile having a constrictive bandage around the house.

“Wrap up the bite tight and get to a hospital or an ambulance.

And where do all the snakes go after Mr Black and Mr Hardgrave have caught them all?

“Back into the wild, and far away from other humans,” said Mr Black.