Welcome to Australia

[Certus]

Maybe other people shouldn’t go to North America because there are mountain lions lurking around every corner.
Lol!

And bears behind every tree!

 

[Longwalker]

My first day in the Australian countryside, the neighbour came over to announce that he had just killed a taipan in our yard. The next day after returning from our explorations the same person announced he had just killed a red bellied blacksnake in our yard. I slept with the patio doors closed that night, even though it was kinda hot that evening...
Give me bears instead of snakes to deal with any day! At least you usually can notice them coming!

 

[Dr Ray]

I had a great laugh. Welcome to Australia!

 

[JPbowhunter]

My first day in the Australian countryside, the neighbour came over to announce that he had just killed a taipan in our yard. The next day after returning from our explorations the same person announced he had just killed a red bellied blacksnake in our yard. I slept with the patio doors closed that night, even though it was kinda hot that evening...
Give me bears instead of snakes to deal with any day! At least you usually can notice them coming!

Bloke should have let the red belly go, they're venomous but not enough to kill someone. They also are snake eaters, on the family farm if we don't have red bellies we have tigers.

 

[Dr Ray]

In the far north we have a lot of taipans. Friendly critters (NOT). We don;t have tiger snakes though (they're a southern snake).
When my father was young he lived near Nowra (south of Sydney). On a Saturday afternoon he would go out hunting tiger snakes to kill!
How things have changed & the mentality too!

Leave them alone and you'll be fine!
See the shark attacks in Oz waters in the last week! 3 in the one area and another way down further in New South Wales!
Welcome to Australia & its waters!

 

[Longwalker]

Our host said the neighbour was just a semi domesicated bogun, and he should have let the redbelly go too! I was far too new to the culture and environment to have an informed opinion!

 

[JPbowhunter]

In the far north we have a lot of taipans. Friendly critters (NOT). We don;t have tiger snakes though (they're a southern snake).
When my father was young he lived near Nowra (south of Sydney). On a Saturday afternoon he would go out hunting tiger snakes to kill!
How things have changed & the mentality too!

Leave them alone and you'll be fine!
See the shark attacks in Oz waters in the last week! 3 in the one area and another way down further in New South Wales!
Welcome to Australia & its waters!

That's why i opt out of ocean related activities. I'm an apex predator on land but in water big fishies wear that honour. I ain't keen to fight for that title.

 

[Certus]

In the far north we have a lot of taipans. Friendly critters (NOT). We don;t have tiger snakes though (they're a southern snake).
When my father was young he lived near Nowra (south of Sydney). On a Saturday afternoon he would go out hunting tiger snakes to kill!
How things have changed & the mentality too!

Leave them alone and you'll be fine!
See the shark attacks in Oz waters in the last week! 3 in the one area and another way down further in New South Wales!
Welcome to Australia & its waters!

I’ve heard taipans are making their way further and further south.

Tiger snakes - have them here, about as northerly as they occur I believe. Remember finding a freshly Road killed one and was very pleased - straight into the metho it went! Not a common creature here at all. Browns and blacks (blues/spotteds and reds mainly).

The snake catcher got a death added recently - been a very long time since someone saw one here, hopefully they’re coming back.

Great, now I want a pet snake..!


Dr Ray, your profile picture and profession make me think of this guy.. Gerald McRaney. Plays “Dr K” in “This is Us”.

 

[Dr Ray]

You should buy a taipan off Andrew
You just need to get a licence to keep a dangerous snake

 

[Certus]

You should buy a taipan off Andrew
You just need to get a licence to keep a dangerous snake

Could he fill me in with how to do it in QLD? In SA you just do a venomous Snake handling course and Bobs ya uncle. It’s a bit more complex in Queensland I believe?
Except for pythons, but they’re sorta a snooze (and more expensive than venomous!)

 

[Dr Ray]

Sorry but I have no idea on getting a licence to keep a taipan.
Seriously if you make a mistake and get hit by a taipan you have 7 minutes before your blood starts coagulating. At ten minutes you’d be seeing double. At twenty minutes you’d be comatose and at 25 minutes your kidneys will start shutting down. Without antivenin you will die.
If you survive your nervous system is shot and basically with the two types of attack agents in the taipans venom you may or will experience a lot of issues. The venom will cause the victim to bleed from every orifice and under the tongue.
Only one person has survived a taipan bite without antivenin and that was at Cairns in 1949.
The victim was revived numerous times.
Suggest you stick with a child’s python!

 

[Certus]

Sorry but I have no idea on getting a licence to keep a taipan.
Seriously if you make a mistake and get hit by a taipan you have 7 minutes before your blood starts coagulating. At ten minutes you’d be seeing double. At twenty minutes you’d be comatose and at 25 minutes your kidneys will start shutting down. Without antivenin you will die.
If you survive your nervous system is shot and basically with the two types of attack agents in the taipans venom you may or will experience a lot of issues. The venom will cause the victim to bleed from every orifice and under the tongue.
Only one person has survived a taipan bite without antivenin and that was at Cairns in 1949.
The victim was revived numerous times.
Suggest you stick with a child’s python!

Or a milder venomous snake to learn on. I’ve played a bit with red bellies but haven’t worked up to a brown yet..! I wouldn’t start on a taipan, for sure. Probably get a few pythons also

 

[Dr Ray]

Maybe they’ll make great belts!
Joking!!

 

[Certus]

Maybe they’ll make great belts!
Joking!!

I always thought a red belly would make a neat belt..! Legalities ruin that though!

 

[Dr Ray]

Nice one!

 

[Jaws]

The most venomous snake is the one that just bit you, the rest are irrelevant.

Every continent has some or other deadly critter that can kill you. I fear Malaria & idiotic drivers far more than a deadly snake

 

[Dr Ray]

I certainly agree with you "Jaws". In Australia, we don't have many of those dreaded diseases such as malaria or TB although in the very far north islands, tb is there (fortunately). Idiotic drivers - well that's a different matter. As I get older I am very much more conscious of my driving & others!

 

[Dr Ray]

Just remember I'm not a psychopath - it's just that I haven't had my morning coffee, yet!!

 

[Longwalker]

This is a little note I sent our Australian buddy a while ago, just to compare bears and snakes as local environmental hazards... I'm pretty sure we both fear what we are not accustomed to!
"We must be getting pretty accustomed to life in the Northern BC bush with so many bears around. This conversation may have been a little different our first year here. Went for a walk this evening. When I returned Monique asked if I saw anything interesting. Me - “nope, but did run into a sow bear with cubs” her - “Chewie chase them up a tree?” Me - “ya, so I just walked past, but I did lever a round into the chamber first” Her “ oh so no danger then” me - “no, I checked the washout at the curve, it looks not too bad. Might have to get the the road grader in later”

 

[Dr Ray]

Death adder fails to add champion greyhound mother to its tally after bite and vet mercy dash
ABC North Coast
By Bruce MacKenzie
Updated Mon at 9:07am

PHOTO: Face off: Chloe the greyhound was bitten trying to protect her pups from this death adder. (ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie and Northern Rivers Veterinary Service)
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A champion greyhound bitten by a death adder while defending her new litter of pups, has survived the ordeal after a veterinary team in northern New South Wales went to great lengths to get life-saving antivenom.

Things looked grim for new mother Chloe, which raced under the name City Breeze, when she was brought into a vet surgery at Casino earlier this week.

Vet Liz Brown said many animals bitten by the deadly snake survive less than an hour.

"She started vomiting and shaking and she had a definite swelling on one of her front legs. So we knew she had been bitten," she said.

Help! My pet has been bitten by a snake

How to tell if your pet has been bitten by a snake and what you should do next.


But death adder bites are relatively rare, and an ampoule of antivenom costs $3,000 so most vets do not keep any on hand.

"One of the nurses spent quite a few hours ringing every hospital in the area trying to get them to sell us a vial, and of course hospital protocol is they won't lend or sell," Dr Brown said.

"We eventually sourced one straight from the manufacturer in Brisbane, so one of the girls headed up there and met a courier."

The round trip took about four hours, but Chloe clung to life and has now recovered.

"Just lucky she didn't develop the severe life-threatening effects of the snake bite, but she had definitely been bitten," Dr Brown said.

"Death adders as a rule are extremely slow moving, they camouflage really well and strike extremely quickly. But greyhounds are so perceptive to movement she attacked and killed it.

"I'm sure she would have been protecting her pups because they were right there as well. She might have known the snake was there and grabbed it."

PHOTO: Vet Liz Brown with Chloe the greyhound and her owner Dean Casey. (ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie)


Owner Dean Casey said Chloe had always been a family favourite, not least because she won 19 of 62 starts during her racing career.

"She's perfect," he said.

"Good natured, a good racer

I thought I'd add this story