Winter just around the corner but the snakes are still about. Just finished Gym ( I'm doing a lot of gym this inter) and got a callout to an old folks home. They had a resident with dementia that kept wanting to pick it up. Anyhow I got there and of course there is no snake visible. But they did have a nurse watching the spot and it was supposed to be confined to a very small garden. The garden was pebbles with mulch on top. A careful look around and there was no visible snake. Five minutes later and all the mulch was raked off the garden. But still no snake.
They did have two water meter housings in the garden. In Australia these are plastic boxes with holes in them for pipes and a thick plastic lid. The first was located in a corner of the garden adjacent to two concrete path while the second was only up against one path I opened up the first and no snake. But there was a fragmented skin and a cane toad. This container was modified and had no bottom and was easy to lift out. Much to my horror I could see a huge gap under the pathways and the cane toad disappeared into it. After a feel around ( with a snake hook ) and a look around (with an inspection camera ) I decided to try and flood the hole. As it started to flood a head appeared. The cane toad. The people asked me to get rid of it so I put it in a bucket. Then another head appeared. Another cane toad. This was repeated eight times. A bucket full of kittens is much cuter than a bucket full of cane toads though the kittens have a potentially worse environmental impact. After 10 minutes I was convinced that the snake wasn't there and moved to flood the second hole. Almost instantly I spotted the very tip of a tail. Now it could have been a garden skinks tail as I could only see the very tip but I stuck the hose into the spot and out came a dazed and confused keelback snake. Quickly tailed then the obligatory photo session. It terrifies me to think of how many FB pages have my ugly mug gazing malevolently out from them.
The cane toads have been destroyed, it's a pity that the animal pays the price rather than the person who imported them.
They did have two water meter housings in the garden. In Australia these are plastic boxes with holes in them for pipes and a thick plastic lid. The first was located in a corner of the garden adjacent to two concrete path while the second was only up against one path I opened up the first and no snake. But there was a fragmented skin and a cane toad. This container was modified and had no bottom and was easy to lift out. Much to my horror I could see a huge gap under the pathways and the cane toad disappeared into it. After a feel around ( with a snake hook ) and a look around (with an inspection camera ) I decided to try and flood the hole. As it started to flood a head appeared. The cane toad. The people asked me to get rid of it so I put it in a bucket. Then another head appeared. Another cane toad. This was repeated eight times. A bucket full of kittens is much cuter than a bucket full of cane toads though the kittens have a potentially worse environmental impact. After 10 minutes I was convinced that the snake wasn't there and moved to flood the second hole. Almost instantly I spotted the very tip of a tail. Now it could have been a garden skinks tail as I could only see the very tip but I stuck the hose into the spot and out came a dazed and confused keelback snake. Quickly tailed then the obligatory photo session. It terrifies me to think of how many FB pages have my ugly mug gazing malevolently out from them.
The cane toads have been destroyed, it's a pity that the animal pays the price rather than the person who imported them.