Is that snake an anaconda?

"next time you’re confronted with one, you may wish to consider how you tackle it."

There is no way I will be tackling a snake. And there is no way I will be cutting off its head. I have seen a snake leap over 5 metres when its tail was cut.

Best thing to do is stand very still and allow the snake to go where it wants --

I came across one on a pathway one day while out walking....I just started walking backwards and it slithered away.

Dad was bitten by a live brown and survived luckily, after hospitalisation.

Both mum and dad had to be snake killers unfortunately, when the 1950s floods hit. Mum was the best, despatching them with a whack from the back of a shovel. Not nice I know and total destroyed was around 300, all of whom were around the house and very aggro after the waters rose.

It was a case of survival in the floods, them or us. Other times we all just let them be.

I happened to step on snakes more than once in those days. So cold underfoot.

:) Had a few around my place in recent years including one in the kitchen ... we just do the Mexican standoff.

This bit of news made me smile 

An elderly man put his slippers under the bed every night before going to bed, but one morning, one of the slippers disappeared without a trace, but a few days later the thief crawled to the scene of the crime and gave himself away.

The snakecatcher took the python with the suspicious buldge to the vet.

The doctors took an X-ray that confirmed all the assumptions and guesses

The operation was successful, and after a few days the python was released.

My Grandad used to say that a snake never dies til the sun goes down.  Probably an old bushie saying to guard against this kind of thing.  He would kill them but never handle them immediately.

I've come really close to being bitten on a couple of occasions, but never, ever attempt to kill them. That's how most people get bitten.

We have lots of snakes around here, Eastern Browns, among others.

My Son has often had them in his work boots when he went to put them on  -- those were mostly small Red Bellies --  and he just took them out and let them go,  the Pythons where often around the yard or the roof and never worried them -- and often were having a good slumber after obviously having a big meal

A stunning healthy bunch of baby eastern brown snakes just hatching from 60 days in the egg.
The mum was removed from a garden bed next to a house in Bradbury choccas full of eggs

- she made cute babies

Video of this sweet/terrifying display of nature

There are plenty of snakes where I live.  I have found that if I let them be they slither away, they are probably more scared of me than I am of them.  I also believe that "you attract what you fear" - my late partner was scared of snakes, saw plenty around the yard back then.  Since he died, very few come my way.

Some interesting responses.  By the way Kay "ant-venom" only works on ant bites.  Chuckle....

Not sure how the head "bit" the person in the story unless decapitated means cutting the snake in two.  Certainly if you pick up a dead snake by the fangs it needs to be remembered that the venom is still active. 

The other thing is very small (young) snakes are not less venemous because of their size as the venom is more toxic. 

Interesting critters.  As Patti said if you don't attack them they will slither off.  I understand remaining perfectly still is the best way to calm a snake which is agitated.  Hoepefully I won't have to find out.

In the country you hang the snake dead obn a fence.  At night you bash the head in to make sure it is truly dead.

My neighbour and I used to sit in a sunny spot on an old railway sleeper in the back yard having our morning tea, unbeknown to us that was the home of a red bellie black.

When the weather warmed up I found the snake and got a snake catcher in to move it back in the bush .... the snake catcher caught it and had a question. He was wondering if it was a pet as it appeared so tame.

My neighbour...

well 20 years on still shivers when she remebers sitting on top of a snake nest. :)

I have often had Red Bellies slither across my feet on bush walks and I have come across Browns and some green tree snakes and just let them be and they just went their way.

Also, snakes are totally deaf but they pick up vibrations and heat