What's the procedure when calling for a Snake Catcher ?

[Woma_Wild]

I have a question for those that are snake catchers or have called one.

Last week, I had workmen here putting up our new fence.
My yard is clear. My neighbours yard, on the other had, is a dumping ground - old sheds, weeds, high grass, old cars,a brick BBQ, etc.
and the men had to work from my side.

Anyway, one of the men disturbed an RB and saw it go into their BBQ. As there are houses all around us, pets and kids the yards, I contacted a snake catcher.

I told him where it was and had not come out.
He asked me if I could actually see it.
I said no because of all the crap in the neighbours yard but told him that it was still in the BBQ.
He told me that unless I could see it he was not going to waste his time coming over to look for it.

My question is, is this how all snake catchers work?
Should I have gone in and caught it for him before calling him out to pick it up? (I'm being sarcastic here).

 

[saximus]

From my understanding, that's how most volunteer catchers work. You have to remember that these people are taking time out of their lives to do something for free. They don’t want to waste their time with a person who saw what they thought was a snake, then ran screaming inside and assumed it was waiting just outside to ambush them half an hour later when in reality it was probably a stick or, if it was a snake, it is now three blocks away.
In your case, even though you didn’t see it leave the BBQ, you’re probably right but there’s no guarantee it didn’t get out some way that you didn’t know about or that it didn’t get away when you took your eyes off it for five seconds.

On the other hand, I know someone who is a paid catcher who will be more than happy to come out in those circumstances because he gets paid either way

 

[andynic07]

Haha, funny that this happened to you because a couple of weeks ago we were having a new fence put up and a RBB went slithering from my neighbours yard through my yard and into the other neighbours yard. I didn't call a snake catcher though, my kids know not to touch any wild snakes and I love having them around. I think if it was a free catcher then that is reasonable but if it is a paid one then it is pretty poor form.

 

[12-08-67]

If it was on someone elses property i doubt they would have the powers to legally enter???

 

[-Peter]

If it was on someone elses property i doubt they would have the powers to legally enter???

exactly... cant enter other peoples property and cant remove an animal without the property owners consent.

BTW, I had 12 people standing around a clump of plants that a red belly had hidden in. Low shrubs, loose groundcover and matted grass. After about 10 minutes of watching them search an area of about 3 square metres with no success I informed them that the snake had snuck past them in the first minute. End of that part of the training session.

 

[Firepac]

I am a Snake Catcher and although I usually charge a modest fee to cover petrol etc it is NOT my primary job. Whilst my employer is understanding It would be hard for me to justify leaving work for an hour or so under the circumstances you describe. I would however pass on the phone numbers of other local catchers and if they were not available would come around after work.

If it was on a weekend then I would certainly come around after explaining that there is a reasonable chance that it would be gone by the time I got there even though you were keeping an eye on it ( believe me it happens all the time) and my fee would still apply even if I could not find it.

 

[Woma_Wild]

Thank you for your replies.
Just to clarify, the fence was down and my neighbour was home as well so if someone had come over, there would have been no illegal trespassing.
The person in question was not offering a free service.

I called because the neighbour has dogs, a toddler and they probably wouldn't hesitate to get the shovel out should the snake come out later.
Had it been a carpet, I wouldn't have called a catcher but seeing as it was a venomous animal, I just wanted to try to do the right thing.

 

[andynic07]

In my opinion you did the right thing and given all of the facts the snake catcher was very unreasonable.

 

[-Peter]

Was the snake in danger?
No
Was the snake a threat?
No

 

[markannab]

For a period of time, I did snake relocation for an organisation. Over time, however, they gradually tightened the rules on when they'd arrange for a volunteer to go out. I understand, for reasons mentioned above, why they did this. But, in the end, they were refusing to arrange a catcher even when it was a terrified householder in the thick of town with a venomous snake under their back step. The organisation would say, "Leave it alone and it will crawl away".

That may be true. But crawl where? Being in an area where there's kids and pets, there's a small chance someone would get bitten, but an even greater chance a neighbour sees it stick it's head under his fence, and chops it off. This organisation promotes care of wildlife. But in this case, my personal opinion is, they've got it wrong.

 

[Echiopsis]

I have a question for those that are snake catchers or have called one.

Last week, I had workmen here putting up our new fence.
My yard is clear. My neighbours yard, on the other had, is a dumping ground - old sheds, weeds, high grass, old cars,a brick BBQ, etc.
and the men had to work from my side.

Anyway, one of the men disturbed an RB and saw it go into their BBQ. As there are houses all around us, pets and kids the yards, I contacted a snake catcher.

I told him where it was and had not come out.
He asked me if I could actually see it.
I said no because of all the crap in the neighbours yard but told him that it was still in the BBQ.
He told me that unless I could see it he was not going to waste his time coming over to look for it.

My question is, is this how all snake catchers work?
Should I have gone in and caught it for him before calling him out to pick it up? (I'm being sarcastic here).

It might not be how all snake catchers work but it's how you have to work if you don't want to spend your entire life sorting through other peoples junk. It's perfectly reasonable to refuse the job if the snake can no longer be seen, its completely UNREASONABLE to expect someone to come out, hunt through a yard full of crap and more than likely not catch the snake. This is why I avoid relocations like the plague nowadays, people think they have some kind of right to have snakes removed from their yards. You're a jerk if you wont come out because the snake was seen a month ago, you're a jerk if you refuse to spend half a day hunting through the customers crap heap, you're a jerk if you dare ask for a donation after catching the snake and you're a jerk if the snake cant be found and you aren't willing to setup a base camp in the yard and hunt the deadly critter for weeks on end until it's caught.

The 'customer' always thinks they know where the snake is, they are wrong most of the time. Try thinking about this from the relocators point of view for a change....

 

[disintegratus]

I "cornered" a rat in the sun room, I saw it come out from under the old couch, watched it run back under that couch as I entered the room. Nathan was watching the only door or could Jane gone out of. Did not take my eyes off the area for one second. We searched for half an hour, but the bloody thing had disappeared. Different animal, same principle. Critters are good at disappearing!

 

[Woma_Wild]

Was the snake in danger?
No
Was the snake a threat?
No

Not sure that I understand what you are insinuating here.
At the time that I phoned the snake catcher, no one nor the animal were in danger.

Are you suggesting that people WAIT until there is danger before we call for assistance.
If human was bitten and WAS in danger then I would call an ambulance
If the dog had grabbed it or the neighbour got a shovel to it then it would be too late for a snake catcher wouldn't it!

 

[Radar]

Not sure that I understand what you are insinuating here.
At the time that I phoned the snake catcher, no one nor the animal were in danger.

Are you suggesting that people WAIT until there is danger before we call for assistance.
If human was bitten and WAS in danger then I would call an ambulance
If the dog had grabbed it or the neighbour got a shovel to it then it would be too late for a snake catcher wouldn't it!

He's not insinuating so much as applying the general questions you ask when deciding if a snake needs to be relocated or just left alone. If the snake is not a threat or being threatened, why move it?

Most volunteer snake catchers won't come out unless you can see the animal. I know it's only 'this once' for you or anyone else, but when, like up here, there are 3 or 4 catchers, all volunteers, to service about 200, 000 people, it only takes one dud call a day before they get jack of burning fuel and time driving around to people who lost sight of the snake as soon as they ran inside. Do that every day for a week, and every week for 4-5 months over summer, and you'd start putting some strict sort of checks in place to to try and avoid wasting your own time and money on peoples paranoia.

 

[Woma_Wild]

Sorry that I started this thread.

All that I was getting at is that because snake was spotted in a built up area with kids and dogs in yards, and because the reptile was an RBB, that I would do the right thing and contact an expert.

Thanks for your input guys.

 

[cement]

I run a relocating business and it goes like this.

I get a call
I listen to the story
I ask my questions. whats the address? Do you know the species/ can you give me a description?
I tell them my fees and ask if they are ok with that
Do or don't go.

I charge a call out fee, just like a sparky or a plumber, and I charge for my time if I search. I charge wether I catch the animal or not.

If I don't get paid to do the work then I can't afford to be on call, and then the people who really need the help don't have anyone to call. Just like building work, which is my other business.... if I don't charge and get the correct amount then all the people who want building work done, run out of builders because we all have gone broke.

As far as catching snakes goes, there are no garantees that the animal will be caught and if you are calling because a snake is in your neighbours yard then you need the permission of the neighbour and also work out who is going to pay for it.

I don't like wasting peoples money so I make sure they know the rules and then it is up to them.

I have a very good rate of normal reasonable people who are happy to pay for the service either way snake in the bag or not. Keeping an eye on the animal or where the animal is hiding is very important, especially inside a house, but most of the time you are dealing with people who really fear snakes and getting them to go in under a house or wherever to watch it simply just won't work all the time.

 

[-Peter]

Sorry that I started this thread.

.

don't be sorry, its a good thread and gives you and others an idea of what goes on.