Fuscus
Almost Legendary
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2003
- Messages
- 7,897
- Reaction score
- 5
Well that was interesting. I really didn't expect to find anything let alone a nest of snakes. The site was a microwave repeater station at Cooloolabin, one of the little hamlets at the back of the Sunshine Coast. If you ever wonder where the kids whose reports cards say "Doe's not play well with other children" or "Please remember that it is a legal requirement that your child is properly restrained and muzzled during school hours" end up, well now you know. The repeater station is one of those buildings stuck in the middle of nowhere with antennas, barbed wire, cameras and warning signs everywhere. They are normally empty but I was led there and I had to sign in stating I was aware of the hazards - low level radiation, electricity and "verim".
The building itself consists of two small rooms packed full of comms gear and a mega UPS, the first room was for QLD rail and the second room was for a TV channel. There were sheds ( old snake skins ) everywhere. Had a look around and we quickly found an adult Brown Tree Snake (BTS) in one of the server racks. Hooking through the gordian knot of Cat5 cables was of course impossible so a quick grab for the head was attempted and was fortunately successful. I had set up a snake bag so I could just drop the animals into the bag and that was precisely what I did. Then I spotted next to my foot a very cute neonate BTS. A quick grab and she is in my hand. I probably should have been a little bit more careful as she is venomous but she didn't mind sitting in my hand. She did, however, take great offence at a camera phone being shoved in her face and had a couple of strikes. I quickly dropped her in the bag before she realized that my hand was quite biteable. I looked up and there amongst the 240 volt feeder lines was another adult BTS. The lines were super well insulated but still didn't like using the metal golf club hook to pry the BTS into a grabbing position (mental note - make some fiberglass hooks).
Then into the TV room. First thing was another Adult BTS in amongst the Cat5 high up on the wall. Another successful head grab. Then another adult in a server rack. This time it was difficult as there was delicate fiber optic cables. As the snake was sitting on top of the cable I did a quick body grab and got it clear of the cables before it could grasp anything. Of course I now had an improperly restrained mildly venomous snake in my hand but I was quickly able to adopt the "python grip". This is where you have the unrestrained snake hanging head down from your hand. Pythons held this way rarely bite ( I used to say never bite but ... ) but I hadn't tried it on a BTS before ! She acted the same as a python and didn't try and bite though her entire trip to the bag
Interestingly the TV room had a number of server racks that were well designed to be critter proof. Where the cables entered and left there was a tough material that was velcroed around the wires. Very effective too, there was no sign of incursion in any of those racks.
Then I spotted the last snake in what was the most difficult spot in the room. The room has a number of overhead racks on which the wires traveled and behind them was a removed brick to allow the wires to run from one room to another. The snake was there and the racks made it difficult to reach the snake. But reach it I did and soon number six was in the bag.
Oh - and I released seven snakes so I have missed telling about one capture!
The building itself consists of two small rooms packed full of comms gear and a mega UPS, the first room was for QLD rail and the second room was for a TV channel. There were sheds ( old snake skins ) everywhere. Had a look around and we quickly found an adult Brown Tree Snake (BTS) in one of the server racks. Hooking through the gordian knot of Cat5 cables was of course impossible so a quick grab for the head was attempted and was fortunately successful. I had set up a snake bag so I could just drop the animals into the bag and that was precisely what I did. Then I spotted next to my foot a very cute neonate BTS. A quick grab and she is in my hand. I probably should have been a little bit more careful as she is venomous but she didn't mind sitting in my hand. She did, however, take great offence at a camera phone being shoved in her face and had a couple of strikes. I quickly dropped her in the bag before she realized that my hand was quite biteable. I looked up and there amongst the 240 volt feeder lines was another adult BTS. The lines were super well insulated but still didn't like using the metal golf club hook to pry the BTS into a grabbing position (mental note - make some fiberglass hooks).
Then into the TV room. First thing was another Adult BTS in amongst the Cat5 high up on the wall. Another successful head grab. Then another adult in a server rack. This time it was difficult as there was delicate fiber optic cables. As the snake was sitting on top of the cable I did a quick body grab and got it clear of the cables before it could grasp anything. Of course I now had an improperly restrained mildly venomous snake in my hand but I was quickly able to adopt the "python grip". This is where you have the unrestrained snake hanging head down from your hand. Pythons held this way rarely bite ( I used to say never bite but ... ) but I hadn't tried it on a BTS before ! She acted the same as a python and didn't try and bite though her entire trip to the bag
Interestingly the TV room had a number of server racks that were well designed to be critter proof. Where the cables entered and left there was a tough material that was velcroed around the wires. Very effective too, there was no sign of incursion in any of those racks.
Then I spotted the last snake in what was the most difficult spot in the room. The room has a number of overhead racks on which the wires traveled and behind them was a removed brick to allow the wires to run from one room to another. The snake was there and the racks made it difficult to reach the snake. But reach it I did and soon number six was in the bag.
Oh - and I released seven snakes so I have missed telling about one capture!
nice job getting them all
