# can a snake survive being run over twice



## andrea69au (Dec 31, 2011)

hi i own a pet snake but have moved to a farm house in victoria. while with vistors my daugther and her friend scream out there is a huge snake on the road out the front. well it gets run over twice and starts coming towards us where my daugther and her friend have run to look at it. guy trys turning around to come back and hit it again. but its got off the road. struggled across the ditch and was resting in some leaves on my side of the road. friend rings councils and they give her some numbers and we go back where it was and its gone. not far from there is a pile of wooden sleepers that the owner of the farm left there and thats close to my car where its parked. am hoping to god it went off to die but aint sure if being run over twice will kill it and am now really scared for out pets and it coming inside. or worse biting the kids or our animals including puppys and dogs. it was a huge brown snake. any ideas?


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## Pythoninfinite (Dec 31, 2011)

It will die.

Jamie


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## waruikazi (Dec 31, 2011)

There is a very good chance it will die. Killing them is not the best course of action, just leave it alone and chances are it will never see you again. They are timid cryptic animals that do there best to keep away from things bigger then them, such as dogs and people.


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## andrea69au (Dec 31, 2011)

yeah nah as a owner of a darwin python, named eve that we own i never wanted to see it be killed. it is on the main road off the hume highway with many many cars and trucks. so by the time the kids seen it it was run over twice when they got outside. grew up on a farm and yeah u are right it wasnt that offen u seen a snake around here. never near the houses. just moved my family back here after being away from the land for 25yrs. used to see alot of tiger snakes in shepparton on our other farm because of all the water from irration channels and watering the paddocks. was just a shock to see it so close and my dam 3 pups i have keep going under the house and causing trouble and there very valuable. so id hate to see $4500 be killed by it. thanks its a shame that it will die but alittle happier that it wont be in my house tonite well hopefully it wont lol happy nye everyone and thank u. i must say my 12 yr old wanted to go save it as he and i are the only one our snake lets hold her she is a cranky thing that will strike everyone except him and me. he thinks he is quick enough to grab a wild snake. have told him off and said dont u dare. this was a huge snake too ours is 6.5 feet this was close to it from looking at it before it got away to where ever it went


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## waruikazi (Dec 31, 2011)

Good to know you enjoy wildlife! 

Just re your puppies, if you remove anything that snakes can hide in under and around your house you will significantly reduce the likelihood of your dogs encoutnering a snake. Nothing is 100% but it's a good risk minimization tactic. Also, dogs are very efficient predators, 9 times out of 10 the snake will come off second best without the dog getting tagged.


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## andrea69au (Dec 31, 2011)

yeah i wouldnt worry to much about there mum and dad as there american bulldogs. the pups on the other hand are 11 weeks old and think there smart as they keep getting out in the paddock. i only just moved in this house 3 months ago and believe me the paddock has grass as high as the waist in there and the front and back yard was just as bad. we have spent 3 months getting all the grass down and cleaned up a yard that had a person in for years that never did a thing here. the roof alone had gutters choka with leaves and even trees growing from the roof. have spent alot of hours clearing every thing we did see a snake in the paddock in the shed thats also full of rubbish so im sure there living in that. it was a truck yard and the sheds are big and full of plenty of snake hiding places. seen a dead snake on the road just up from us a while back it was dead and cruled up like it was alive but wasnt.


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## PilbaraPythons (Dec 31, 2011)

Snakes are remarkably hardy and I have seen many snakes run over and have been surprised on a number of occasions how some of them recovered.
Obviously it depends on what injury it sustained of course. Usually though, they end up with broken backs and therefore are doomed a very slow drawn out death. One time I picked up what I thought was a road killed BHP near Cooktown for scalation observation the next day. On further inspection, the snake was close to limp and blood seaping from its head but just alive . I was staying at a mates place at Rossvale and just for a simple colour comparison we placed the snake inside my mates own BHP enclosure meaning to dispose of the snake later. Things happened and I actually forgot about the surely dead critter by now until the next morning and to our complete amazment the injuired snake was copulating his female like it never had been run over in the first place. I will never forget this remarkable turn around and now always keep freshly road injured snakes ( yes even ones that appear only just alive) overnight to see if they stand a chance. While most don't make it over night, I have seen quite a few survive that I would have bet anyone, that they couldn't have. I once kept a run over BHP from MT Surprise and it took about 8 months before it lost its head shake from its injury but it did come good, left in the wild at the time it would have surely died.


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## Retic (Dec 31, 2011)

I ran over a Coastal Carpet years ago, both wheels. Obviously thinking the worst I jumped out to check and the snake was still amazingly alert and feisty. I took it home and kept isolated from my collection for about 2 months, it ate well and was released back where I hit it. Snakes are incredibly tough.


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## PilbaraPythons (Dec 31, 2011)

Its hard not to feel good when you get a result like that Boa.
Many many years ago I thought in my wisdom that I had better finish off a water python that I had run over near Tully.
Stupidly I lined up the head and slowly drove over its head in my Hiace van thinking that it would instantly kill it, how wrong I was.
I repeated the process three times and failed to crush its head. I ended up using and tyre lever to do the job. I felt absolutely terrible.


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## Renenet (Dec 31, 2011)

I accidentally ran over a snake in Tasmania once. I carry the guilt to this day, especially since I now know that it wouldn't have died instantly. :cry:


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## Retic (Dec 31, 2011)

Yes it was very satisfying, even though it was completely illegal what I did I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. 
I have had to finish off a few animals over the years, it's never nice and knowing it ends their suffering doesn't really help. 



PilbaraPythons said:


> Its hard not to feel good when you get a result like that Boa.
> Many many years ago I thought in my wisdom that I had better finish off a water python that I had run over near Tully.
> Stupidly I lined up the head and slowly drove over its head in my Hiace van thinking that it would instantly kill it, how wrong I was.
> I repeated the process three times and failed to crush its head. I ended up using and tyre lever to do the job. I felt absolutely terrible.


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## PilbaraPythons (Jan 1, 2012)

Renenet
The ones that seem to die quickly are ones that are run over on the heart region. 
Boa 
I'll think you will find that it was perfectly legal for the first 72 hours. From memory that is the maxinum time you have to report it (in QLD at least).
Over here in W.A there is no such time limit.


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## andrea69au (Jan 1, 2012)

thanks guys lol that didnt make me feel any better lol. hmmm so now im like where is it calling home


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## Retic (Jan 1, 2012)

I think I went over that by a few hours 



PilbaraPythons said:


> Boa
> I'll think you will find that it was perfectly legal for the first 72 hours. From memory that is the maxinum time you have to report it (in QLD at least).
> Over here in W.A there is no such time limit.


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