After we moved in to Glenrosa Road in Brisbane, one day we had the snake talk. We concluded being in an old established built-up area, literally 1 mile from the very centre of the city, hence there wouldn't be any around there, so need not worry. How wrong we were.
One weekend in the spring, we had a warm blast. We were sitting in the spare room/office, doors wide open, when we heard a Butcherbird going nuts, squawking away like crazy. In the end I said I'm going to see what is going on. I walked out into the doorway and couldn't believe what I saw. There was a huge black and dark green python sliding down the garden path not 3 feet away. 'Claire'. She came out and we just stood there going 'oh f**k'. We watched it slide down the back, through the fence, past the communal swimming pool next door, and disappear off, as we tried to grab a couple of snaps.
We tried to work out how big it was. It overhung the fence posts, and I measured those at 6 foot apart. It overhung a lot, so we estimated it at least 8 foot. A few days later we spoke to the neighbours out the front, and they said 'Oh yes, that's George. He's at least 10 foot. He comes up in the autumn, hangs around a few weeks before hibernating in the wall against your carport for the winter, emerges again in the spring, hangs around a few weeks, sheds his skin, then heads off down to the creek for the summer. You might see his children around as well, they are over 6 foot long'. Gulp.
Well we did see him a number of times, and his children (they're another story). The Butcherbird turned out to be our early warning system and we called her Grace. Whenever we heard Grace squawking, there was always a snake around, and often I would go and find it. If it moved out into the open, Grace would swoop down and peck at it, so they would hug the fence to move up and down. There was only one path at the front to get in and out up numerous steps, and George often seemed to be on there, so we had to be really careful going out that we didn't run into him, especially at night. Needless to say that we never left the doors and windows open again...
One weekend in the spring, we had a warm blast. We were sitting in the spare room/office, doors wide open, when we heard a Butcherbird going nuts, squawking away like crazy. In the end I said I'm going to see what is going on. I walked out into the doorway and couldn't believe what I saw. There was a huge black and dark green python sliding down the garden path not 3 feet away. 'Claire'. She came out and we just stood there going 'oh f**k'. We watched it slide down the back, through the fence, past the communal swimming pool next door, and disappear off, as we tried to grab a couple of snaps.
We tried to work out how big it was. It overhung the fence posts, and I measured those at 6 foot apart. It overhung a lot, so we estimated it at least 8 foot. A few days later we spoke to the neighbours out the front, and they said 'Oh yes, that's George. He's at least 10 foot. He comes up in the autumn, hangs around a few weeks before hibernating in the wall against your carport for the winter, emerges again in the spring, hangs around a few weeks, sheds his skin, then heads off down to the creek for the summer. You might see his children around as well, they are over 6 foot long'. Gulp.
Well we did see him a number of times, and his children (they're another story). The Butcherbird turned out to be our early warning system and we called her Grace. Whenever we heard Grace squawking, there was always a snake around, and often I would go and find it. If it moved out into the open, Grace would swoop down and peck at it, so they would hug the fence to move up and down. There was only one path at the front to get in and out up numerous steps, and George often seemed to be on there, so we had to be really careful going out that we didn't run into him, especially at night. Needless to say that we never left the doors and windows open again...