iStockphoto / Ken Griffiths
There are officially 40 days left until the first day of Fall here in the United States but only 18 days until the first day of Spring in Australia, which means a lot of rare snakes are waking up from Winter and on the move.
The Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers are a 24/7 snake wrangling company based out of Queensland, Australia. Snakes in Queensland don’t hibernate through Winter because temperatures don’t force them into hibernation, but they are waking up from a period of brumation which is similar to hybernation, just not a true deep sleep.
Recently, they were called twice in one day to come wrangle rare Eastern Small-Eyed Snakes from homes. These are poisonous snakes that can be fatal to humans with at least one confirmed death in Australia.
Somehow, that snake above had gotten itself wrapped up in a scotch tape roll. The Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers were able to remove *most* of the tape but had to call in Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital veterinarians to complete the job and then release the snake.
They also took footage of the capture and release:
In their Facebook post, they wrote “Two Eastern Small-Eyed Snakes in one day! Stu and Dan rushed over to a job in the Buderim area for a snake stuck in tape. This is never a good situation and can be quite difficult to manage.” Adding that these “Snakes are on the move!” and encouraging locals to save their phone number as these rare and poisonous snakes are starting Spring early.
According to Nicole Iliagoueva of Yahoo! News Australia, Cassie Della-Flora from Adelaide Snake Catchers in South Australia reported this being very early for these snakes to wake up. She said “They should be asleep all winter, so it’s very strange” after finding one adult and three baby Eastern Small-Eyed Snakes.
The Eastern Small-Eyed Snake is far from the most dangerous or rarest snake in Australia. However, they crack the top 10 of the most dangerous snakes in Australia (#8 here) because they have such a wide distribution and powerful venom.
That article claims that Eastern Small-Eyed Snakes carry “long-acting myotoxin” that attacks muscle tissue for days after being bitten by the rare snake. It sounds quite torturous.
Meanwhile, here in the USA we’re still in the thick of Summer which presents circumstances leading to above average snake sightings. Always be cautious when on hikes and keep your head on a swivel.