bondi beach

[Jozz]

Yer i understand but you dont try to make an angry snake crawl into you bag you restrain it first

Do you think that i catch dangerous snakes all the time. My first was a red and you need to pin its head so you are not at risk of a bite

Hook, bag, confidence, and an understanding of their behaviour is all you need IMO. Those snake tongs are good too.

 

[Jules]

I live in Bondi and I was wondering is that who I get if I find a venomous snake. Why isn't there someone more qualified? I've seen the snake guy on La Perouse. Why didn't the call him?

 

[Magpie]

I had a TV crew turn up once when I was trying to get a BBBS out of a car bonnet, I dropped it a few times

 

[Just_Joshin]

Ok too all those people saying you should have pinned it head first and that's the best way to avoid a bite........your stupid. Pinning the head and them grabbing it is one of the best ways to get yourself bitten. Also saying the coaxing it into the bag without restraining it first is stupid is plain silly. That is the desired situation as it is least stressful on the snake and almost completely eliminates the chance of being bitten.

All it takes is one little slip or lapse in concentration......i.e. as you bend down to pick it up after pinning and then you sub-conciously realease a little pressure on your pinner and then you have a loose, pissed off (for having some jerk squash him down) venomous snake withing centimetres of your hand. Guess what....You've just been tagged.

Now i'm no expert but i have completed a 2.5 day venomous snake handling course, done plenty of rescues in all situations and during which we had to catch, Numerous times, the following (in order):

*Red-bellies
*Tiger snakes
*copperheads
*Eastern Browns

The easiest and safest way, IMO and experience, is to 'tail' the snake and then drop it into the bag. Basically you position the bag about mid body of the snake and grab the tail after which you promptly step forward while lifting your hand. Using the bag in this manner almost assure the snake will strike at the bag (if at all) when you grab it and not you. Once you have the snake by the tail, suspended in the air you have very good control over it. 99% of the time using a jigger (snake hook) with most elapids is useless, unless they are very slugish or wedge in a tight spot, because they will slide straight off it.

If you were to ask me, i feel she had attended a similar course to me and was trained using the same methods. She attempted to tail it a couple of time but quite understandly was very nervous and back out at the last minute.....not to mention the fact it was under a slight overhand most of the time. Also it was her first 'real' capture outside of her training....not the first time she had caught a live snake.

With the stress of her first capture, surrounded by people, being on NATIONAL TELEVISION and having to deal with an aggitated red belly who was nice and warm. Kudos to her i thought, she got the job done and no one was bitten.

 

[reece89]

i thought she did quite well infront of the crowd and knowing she'd be on tv well done i say

 

[Jozz]

Everyone will have their preferred method, but they never "slide" through my hook. I don't get close enough to touch the snake, therefore it doesn't get close enough to tag me! I like that method

 

[swampie]

I watched it and although things could have gone smoother i think she did a good job in the end. Good on her i say, i would have been nervous in front of all those people as well especially if it was my first rescue.

 

[Just_Joshin]

Everyone will have their preferred method, but they never "slide" through my hook. I don't get close enough to touch the snake, therefore it doesn't get close enough to tag me! I like that method

Lol fair enough. But answer me this......when you have a snake on a full slither trying to escape, how do you keep it on your jigger long enough to drop it in the bag or even long enough to completely get it off the ground. When they are on the run they usually last about 1 sec on the jigger before they have slithered straight off again.

 

[Jozz]

Some photos from my course

A work collegue catching an eastern brown with a broom and bin, and me catching a tiger with hook and bag. Enjoy!

 

[Jozz]

Lol fair enough. But answer me this......when you have a snake on a full slither trying to escape, how do you keep it on your jigger long enough to drop it in the bag or even long enough to completely get it off the ground. When they are on the run they usually last about 1 sec on the jigger before they have slithered straight off again.

I reckon it's easier when they're on the run. I don't know what sort of hook you are using, but mine is not a big loop, it has a sharp angle with some foam, and they have trouble slithering through it. They get a bit stuck, and are in the bag in a flash

 

[tooben]

well i think that on the show they said that the lady on the phone said that at first it wasnt a black snake because it went under some rocks. and thast black snakes dont go under rocks i think if threatend any snake would go under a rock to get away.i think that the guys with the camera were chaseing it around and that it was way pissed off before that lady got there. they should have pissed the bystanders off and let the lady relax and she mite have got the job done a bit easyer. just glad both are doing ok.

 

[Just_Joshin]

I reckon it's easier when they're on the run. I don't know what sort of hook you are using, but mine is not a big loop, it has a sharp angle with some foam, and they have trouble slithering through it. They get a bit stuck, and are in the bag in a flash

Cool, fair enough. It's just that in my experience (and everyone else on the course, including the instructors), when you try to pick them up with the jigger while there on the move, they slither straight off before you have a chance to do much. If they are physically exhausted or sluggish it's sometimes works fine.

And by hook you do mean a 'jigger' right and not a pair of tongs??? i.e. the left picture and not the right!!

 

[Jozz]

Yeah, the left, but mine is different. It's not such a big loop, it's got a sharper angle, and some rubber foam, and they can't slither through. Helps if you get them in the right spot. I have done it heaps of times with no trouble.

 

[Tatelina]

And I thought we were going to get bikini photos! What a let down!
But I didn't see it either. Hooray for girls!

In the end, a woman that looked a bit like my mum mananged to bag the snake while the buff male life surfers stood around and watched.
Good on her I say.

 

[Jozz]

Like this one. Geoff Coombe, Living with Wildlife sells them (also does the training).

 

[Tatelina]

Ok too all those people saying you should have pinned it head first and that's the best way to avoid a bite........your stupid.

you're

 

[Jozz]

http://www.livingwithwildlife.com.au/book.php

 

[Tatelina]

Some photos from my course

A work collegue catching an eastern brown with a broom and bin, and me catching a tiger with hook and bag. Enjoy!

I thought you were female!

 

[mrmikk]

That argument 'I'd like to see you do better' is pretty lame. She wasn't forced to catch the snake, that was her choice and she held herself out to be a snake catcher and she was hopeless, inadequate and an embarrasment for others in the industry. If the cameras made her nervous, she shouldn't be in that job, she should have been concentrating on the task at hand.

By the way, I could have and have done a much better job of catching a wild RBBS.

 

[Jozz]

I thought you were female!

I AM!!! Can't you see the pigtails?! I'm just not a "little girl" Bit of a "tomboy" how I dress. NOT GAY (not that there's anything wrong with that)