Hi Gruni, I've just been reading that thread about the other python with the tick infestation. Talk about bickering! I guess a lot of them would feel that we did the wrong thing by helping our snake here Parlay, but even if poor Parlay doesn't make it, I would still do the same thing all over again & I have no regrets. Yes in lots of ways I do agree with the sentiment that we should, should if at all possible, leave no footprint. As humans we do leave too great a footprint on our enviroment, however I also agree with the sentiment that as humans we have hurt our enviroment & our wildlife (sometimes purposely & sometimes unintentionaly) far to much, and if we can make it up to them in some small way by (in this case) saving the life of a snake to replace the one that got killed by the car or the barbed wire fence etc etc, then why shouldn't we do that? I love the wallabies & bandicoots on Straddie too, but no I'm not going to rip one out of the jaws of a capet python to save it, even if it wasn't already too late by then. Nature is nature, & I think using common sense is always a good thing. As far as using the RSPCA comments on that other thread is concerned, I competely understand where those comments are coming from. I have had hardly any luck with them either. I usually call Wildcare Australia, & if I can get the animal to them on the mainland, they will always pick it up somehow to take it to Currumbin Sanctuary Wildlife Hospital, or will organise the Animal Ambulance for me. This time I did have to ring the RSPCA however to get the Animal Ambulance. The girl who sounded extremely young on the phone did not sound very happy to be rescuing a snake, & made comments to the fact that they were too busy and had too many other animals to pick up that morning. I told her however, that I had spoken to Currumbin Hospital & I had spoken to Wildcare & I had spoken to 'Fred' from the Ambulance, who were all waiting to hear from her, to do her part to register the pick up. I think I guilted her into arranging it, otherwise, I don't think she would have. All other calls I have made to RSPCA previously resulted in them telling me to ring someone else.
The thing I don't understand is why people can't perservere until they find someone willing to help. Not really trying to have a go at the OP on the other thread, but surely he could have done something other then half heartedly try to knock a few ticks off and then walk away after taking photos and video footage. I competely understand why he wouldn't want to capture the snake himself to take it into care, but there are people he can call who will do that, who are trained to do that. We here are all trained in how to handle venomous snakes and are all confident to do so, but if we were not trained, I would not attempt to capture an injured or sick venomous snake (ours this time was just a non-venomous python), but I would still call someone, particuarly if it was a python, but even if it wasn't, to get someone who knew what they were doing to help. We have to look after our wildlife before they go the ways of the Dodo.
As for paralasis tick paralising a snake or a reptile, I don't know for sure if they do, but I would really doubt it. Our Wallabies are immune to the ticks and they usually do have quite a lot of them on them at all times, with no ill effects. If you find a wallaby that has hundreds or thousands of ticks on them, then they may die from anaemia, but I really doubt in that case, that the wallaby would not have an underlying cause or sickness that would allow for that wallaby to have so many ticks on them. I think the same would be for a snake, and in Parlay's case, it was the car running over his head.
To the person who said that ticks don't hurt on a human, I beg to differ, as one time I had 4 ticks on me, 3 on my head, and one on my shoulder. One was on my temple and that one I think did the damage. I had the toxin I think go through my glands. My face swelled up, and I felt pressure on my ear-drum and my eye ball socket. I slept through an entire day and night, then went to the doctor who put me on antibiotics and antihystamines. I find it difficult not to like any creature on earth, but ticks, I find it pretty difficult to like. Gruni, the comments you made, made perfect sense to me however. I think Philk must have been talking about another snake up there on the Sunny Coast. I noticed, that there was another python with a similar snake infestation last year also. Currumbin Sancutary Wildlife Hospital said that they had never seen an infestation close to that on any reptile before. I think comments like that, would mean that it would always be extremely likely that there would always be an underlying cause to create that kind of infestation, such as an injury or pre-existing illness, in an animal that was immune to paralasis ticks. They will cause paralsis in dogs & cats and other animals, which without proper treatment in time, will lead to death, but not all animals are effected in that way by paralisis ticks. Doesn't mean they won't finish off the job by causing aneamia to an animal that would have recovered from their injury or other illness if it wasn't for those ticks. Should we leave an animal in that state to die on it's own, knowing that there is most probably something else wrong with it? That is something that each individual will have to determine for themselves I guess while they wrestle with their moral demonds. For me though it's a no brainer, I'm going to help every time, even if it's to get the animal euthanased, if it is deemed not to be savable. Just my 2 cents worth. Apologies in advance for being long-winded, and passionate about this.
