snake catching tools - West Australia

[desbromilow]

Many thanks indeed Des, a very comprehensive description that just makes me even more wary of snakes. I'm impressed at how fast they can move especially down hill on dry grass. It's scary to think you can die so easily by being careless about simply stepping over a log. I could never be a snake catcher, keep up the great work, and be safe! Thanks again.

yes - they can move fast, but after formal training, and some experience you do start to get a sense of how they fear, and what they do. The worst one I ever got was a local call, the wife had seen the snake enter the garden shed, and so she'd closed the door (so their dog wouldn't get it - vice versa), and then mentioned to the husband 3 days later. In the middle of a very hot summer, the steel was boiling hot, and it was 43 degrees at 6pm when they called me. I get there and we open the shed - he's wearing thongs (flip flops for our US cousins) and shorts - I'm in steel toe cap boots, jeans. his shed was full of junk, and we could see the snake was frantic and agitated. He INSISTED that it be caught and relocated - his dogs were in the yard going nuts, and he wouldn't put them in the house so I could work without them barking and trying to get in the way.
Eventually I convinced the wife to take the dogs for a walk out front, and gave him my gaiters to put on - he had to stand near the door.
I moved about 400 kg of junk and eventually had a clear path to the spot where the snake was hiding (dugite about 1.2m long).
I put the bin down and set it up, and gave him the towel and strict instructions to pass it to me when I asked for it.
I got the snake up in the hook and tong, and put it in the bin - it was trashing around scared/ furious and was winding around the hook
As I'm unwinding it and trying to get it settled in the bin, he throws the towel past me and knocks the bin over.
snake was gone in a flash, and belted past him and out the door and around the corner of the shed.

I'd been there for over an hour - it was simply the most frustrating attempt ever because his fear made everything worse - we could have given the snake the option to leave under its own steam, and then put some measures in place to discourage it from returning.. but the owner knew best.

I walked around the back of his shed to see where it went and there was a stack of rusted roofing iron there - he did not appreciate my suggestions about making his yard "less inviting"

Most snake catches usually take around 5-20 mins, based on how easy it is to see the snake, and how complex the obstacles are ... smallest snake I've caught was a baby snake - about 4mm in diameter and about 200mm long (5/32" x 8") - biggest is around 50mm x 2.1m (2" x 7') but most are around the 35-40mm x 1.2-1.6m (say 1.5" x 5') range - mostly brown snakes at work, and browns/ dugites and tiger snakes near home.

I did the training through work as an additional service/ duty (similar to first aid), and then offered the services to the local community. I don't get paid to do this, but locals will often offer a few dollars to cover petrol costs.