Wriggle Sticks

[Teresa Parkinson]

And so it begins.

Wayne just emailed me at work to say we just had our first snake of the season. A 5' brown about 3m from the front door at home! God knows how many more are around that we don't see.

So, keep your eyes peeled and your grass real short. I think it's going to be one of those summers.

Teresap

[Gareth Tawton]

Teresa,

We saw 2 browns at the ACT Champ last week. The next month or so tends to be the busiest time of the year for us. I tend to snake train my dogs as early as possible. If I get the chance the older dogs get a reminder session when possible. Monty now jumps in the back of the car if I put a dead snake near him.

Gareth

[Kerry Webster]

Gareth,

How did you go about training your dogs to avoid snakes ?

Do you think starting the same training on adult dogs would work, or does it work best with pups ?

We don't see snakes too often, but I know my lot would be curious and investigate if one slithered in front of them. It would put my mind a little at ease if I knew they were aware that a snake is nasty.

Kerry

[Gareth Tawton]

Kerry

This is not a pleasant task but one of those jobs that has to be done. Especially if you shoot in snakey areas.
I use a freshly killed snake (I feel better cutting its head off first). With the dog on a longish lead let him become aware the snake is there. As he shows any interest grab the snake by the tail and give the dog a few cracks with the snake. If you miss and hit yourself you will soon see why a dog doesn't like this. Its a bit like being hit with a stock wip. Most dogs are generally wary of snakes so a couple of cracks is usually plenty. Throw the sanke back on the ground and try walking the dog past it again. Most dogs will take as wide a detour of the snbake as possible.

Although this wont prevent a dog being bitten by a snake he doesn't know about. It certainly seems to stop dogs going anywhere near a snke they have found. My pup, River, wanted to pick up a dead tiger snake the first time he came across it. After to cracks with it he stayed right away.

Regards,

Gareth

[Julie Cramond]

Teresa,

I am terrified on snakes. Not so much for my sake, but the dogs. It would be a terrible tragedy to lose any dog, particularly our beloved trialling dogs.

Over a week ago after lunch, I resumed (double fall training - fat lot of good it did me at the last trial, LOL) training. As you know we have a pretty walking track in our front paddock. I was ambling along with Ses and Crisp, and noticed two dark shapes. Naturally I thought it was bark off our trees, as in the 8 years Andrew and I have been here, we have never seen a snake. My reactions have never been so good. I quickly reversed with dogs in tow.

A friend was summoned who found one of the snakes, the smaller one.

Yesterday after Andrew had mowed the front paddock, I asked him if he had run over any others. Unfortunately not.

I remain hesitant to return to the front paddock. From hearing all the snake stories lately, I am starting to get over my phobia. Even my mum, told me a story of when they owned a holiday house at Phillip Island. A holiday maker 4 doors away from my parents house, died and the property was left unattended. The grass grew. When mum used to go walking during that summer the verandah would have at least 4 snakes wriggling around and sunning themselves.

[Teresa Parkinson]

Well Julie, it's nice to know we're not the only ones breeding the little !

Seriously though, I just had a call from Wayne who was home for lunch again. Torpy (aka Mighty Mouse aka Snake Killer Extraordinaire) despatched an 18" brown beside our front porch!

They're getting closer by the day!!!!!!

Ironically, we recently cleared away every single bit of potential snake-hiding material from around the house and shedding. And now, I think they're looking for somewhere else to spend the summer???!!!!!

Teresa

[Joanne Hagan]

Eeeek Teresa! I hate snakes too and worry about losing any of the dogs to them, my biggest fear. Have had several GSP friends up Goulburn way lose their dogs to Tigers in the past few years.

And Gareth - I am extremely glad that nobody pointed out those browns to me at the trial the other weekend. Bad enough Jason and I walking together and he comes out with 'snake' and I was like 'where?????'. Fortunately it was just a trail in the sand that he pointed out to me. Touch wood - I have never yet seen a snake whilst living in Canberra but get told about them an awful lot.

Jo

[Maureen Cooper]

Totally endorse Gareth's tip on snake training avoidance and it DOES work with adults dogs, only problem is first find and kill a snake! All my previous dogs were 'done' in Victoria at trial sites!!!!! Jack Lynch gave me a big black I have to defrost to snake train my two latest 'girls' and reinforce Chess. I hope the man upstairs does not call me in before I have time to empty my freezer, it contains all sorts of dead stuff, LOL!

Maureen

[Teresa Parkinson]

Hi all!

Here's the latest update from Snake Valley - oops! I mean Teal Point!

Yesterday morning, a 4' brown snake found at the pigeon loft about 20m from the house. That's #3 in the last week.

This morning, I take the dogs for their daily run. We come across a very fresh 4' brown snake 'road kill' 100m from home on what I thought was OUR stretch of Roberts Road. Now I find that we're sharing our favourite walking track with things that slither and slide!!!!

This is the first time in 10 years that I have actually seen a snake during my daily walk...it doesn't bode well. And it's only October. YUCK!

Teresap (who's finding it very hard to walk fast in gumboots!)

[Alison Hargreaves]

Teresa,

Now that we have moved onto our property, snakes are one of my biggest fears. In all the years that I have agisted horses, I have been lucky enough not to come into contact with a "wriggle stick" but now that we have land, I am on the lookout each time I go out into the paddocks. We have a forum like this one for the HRCAV (Horse Riding Clubs Assoc of Vic) and there is a similar post on there re snakes and how many have been seen in recent weeks coming out of hay sheds and stables. Lets hope the wriggle sticks here stay down near our dam which is a kilometre from the house.

Alison

[Alison Hargreaves]

Teresa,

Two wriggle sticks at the State Championship last weekend, one under the decoy bag. Lucky the guys saw the tail before they picked up the bag.

Alison

[Teresa Parkinson]

What the??????

Reminds me of someone (who shall remain nameless) who saw some tangled bird netting the other day and wanted to shift it. Fortunately, it was the 'harmless' end of a brown snake which he unwittingly took hold of before realising what it was. Needless to say, he dropped it very, very quickly!

A friend of mine was also telling me just yesterday that her father-in-law (they live on a dairy farm) was out watering the paddocks recently. Always mindful of snakes where there's water, he carefully dug out a pipe with his shovel before reaching down to unblock the outlet. As he did that, a small brown snake popped out of a crack in the ground and bit him on the finger! Fortunately, it was only a quick nip which landed him in hospital for 24hr observation and left him feeling weakened for several days but otherwise unharmed....

They are definitely moving about Alison.

Still no sign of them at your place?

Teresa

[Alison Hargreaves]

Teresa,

None yet but I have two horses coming over on the weekend to stay for a month and eat some of the grass down - it is over my knees.

Alison

[Teresa Parkinson]

Now that's what I call a good idea

Teresa

[Alison Hargreaves]

Teresa,

Had our first wriggle stick - Red Belly Black only about a metre long. I didn't see it as I was at work, one of our agisters saw it in her paddock making its way out onto the arena. It was probably making it's way down to the dam. Jim has been spraying the blackberries down the back for weeks and hasn't seen one, but a neighbour told him that there are large brown wriggle sticks down there - boy has he been lucky.

Alison