Thread: For Goodness sake,

Or a very abridged version of it.

Yesterday afternoon I was making some mods to the front of my "barn". I had been grinding, cutting, banging with hammers etc on the steel trusses; so there was plenty of noise and sparks. I had been hearing noises of movement along the front wall and the 'feeling' that there was something moving around. Also heard the rustle of movement in the scrap pile in front of the workshop the other side of a 8m laneway. Came time to finish the day so as I entered the workshop to shut things down there was the sound like a very coarse bristle broom being rubbed on the concrete. In the centre of the floor was a large (most likely a 6 foot) brown snake making a getaway towards the back wall and under a bench. No sign of him on the outside of the shed; so the bustard must still be in there.

All quiet this morning; but was a cool night. Air temp now 28C so he might be getting ready to make a move. I am about to finish my coffee and go back over to the shed. I am going to fire the air comp. up and use the air hammer on the concrete floor. That should make plenty of noise and vibrations through the concrete to give him the hint he is not welcome.

At least last years cardiac repairs were good. No heart attack yesterday.

Ken

Just an update.

The mongrel was still around that bench this morning. 10.35am I tried the air chisel trick on the floor then metal items on the floor and then used a piece of pipe with a pad on the end to bang on the concrete for a while. I could feel the vibrations of that through my boots.

At about 11.30am had to go into the shed and under that bench was a very fresh (still soft) snake skin. The noise I made must have scared him right out of his skin.

Ken

As long as he doesn't scare something out of you .

Doesn't take much to hide one of these either so take care.

Michael

I still think the sod is in there. Movement noise this afternoon when I went in. I had the doors wide open during the day and was working on the other side of the laneway. Nothing was seen moving around.

I am getting too old and slow to dodge the damn things. At least it wasn't a tiger. My workshop is only about 15 metres from an irrigation channel so get a few of them around. Two distinct temperements with them. Some will avoid you whilst others will immediately attack you; even if they 20-30 metres away.

Ken

A couple of years back I went into the shed and could hear the squeal of polystyrene (something dragging across it) and reckoned it was rats that found a birds nest. At that time I had loose sheets of 50mm polystyrene sitting below the corrugated iron tacked up for insulation. The rats favoured it as a nice place to camp. Well I was contemplating having to find the birds nest to get rid of the rats.....as the squealing kept going I turned around to see a snake coming from under the polystyrene and slithering along the 70mm wide girt supporting the wall sheets. It kept coming and coming until it revealed its full 6 foot length. Now what??? It slithered along to the end wall and just kept coming. It must have seen me because it changed coarse and got down to floor level to hide in amongst some timber shorts. The wife arrived home just them and said she would call Wires. We live 18 miles from town and I figured the Wires people would arrive after it might bugger off. I did try to head it out but to no avail. Wires turned up and we commenced moving and shifting stuff so Mr Wires could scoop him up in his sock/bag. hours we chased him till finally the snake went into the bag.The whole time the snake just wanted to hide and was not aggressive at all. He was 6 foot long (1800mm) and as fat as my fore arm at the elbow (say 75mm diameter).
Mr Wires loaded him into a wooden box in the back of his station wagon for transport. I asked the Wires bloke what breed he was and he said he was a Tiger snake!!!!! I was not convinced due to his non-aggressive demeanor but a few months later Australian Geographic had a feature on Tiger Snakes and guess what.... the bugger was a tiger
Looking back I think he had been in the shed for a while before because I remembered hearing little odd noises. Just thinking about it gives me the creeps. I do think that they will get to know your movements and just keep out of your way while they go about theirs. I have at least 2 Skink Lizards in the shed at present. They give me heart failure as I walk in there when I see a small portion of them disappear.I am subconsciously on "Snake Alert" ll the time. I really don't like snakes at all.

Oh dear.

needed some bits from the scrap pile at the end of the workshop today. Earlier in the day noticed nothing; but this afternoon I noticed another large recent snake skin. I must be a bludy snake magnet.

Ken