sssssssssssssSSSSSNAKE

[Bonniegirl]

One major factors choosing between NZ & Oz was the fact that Oz had snakes and bloody big spiders, NZ doesn't so that was an easy choice! You can keep 'em over there mate!

[Gytrash]

One major factors choosing between NZ & Oz was the fact that Oz had snakes and bloody big spiders, NZ doesn't so that was an easy choice! You can keep 'em over there mate!

Er. I'm in Yorkshire, England

[Hawthorn]

The markings look like an adder to me :)

I'm no expert though. except in one eyed trouser snakes but that's a different story

[Gytrash]

I'm no expert though. except in one eyed trouser snakes but that's a different story

They were all hibernating yesterday - too bloody cold up there!

[Boots]

The Yorkshire Moors....

Don't suppose you know whether there is an old orphanage there somewhere do you Dave??

Great Snake shot by the way.

[MKG]

Gytrash - it's sometimes very difficult to tell the difference unless you get up really close (and how likely is that if you don't know!!!), but what you've got there is almost certainly a female adder. It must have been sleeping or very cold because they normally hear you a long time before you get anywhere near.

Don't worry, though - unless you're very frail or particularly sensitised, an adder bite is hardly any worse than a bee sting.

[kiwirach]

there are snakes in the UK
i'm leaving.........

great tale and hope you've managed to find the snake. I would consider living in QLD near my sis, 'cept them poisonous things like living there!.

oh, and for the poster who chose NZ over Oz.....you havent come across a weta yet then?!.(not poisonous, but mightly bl**dy scary!)

(spot the chicken!)

[Bonniegirl]

One major factors choosing between NZ & Oz was the fact that Oz had snakes and bloody big spiders, NZ doesn't so that was an easy choice! You can keep 'em over there mate!

Er. I'm in Yorkshire, England

Errmmmm I was talking to boots lol!

[MKG]

I've looked at the piccy again in the full light of day, and there is a definite V shape on the back of the head - I'm now certain that it's a female adder.

Kiwirach - we have 3 snakes and a legless lizard. If you want to identify them, one bites and is venomous; one bites and isn't; one will try to headbut you if it's worried; the other's just not a snake.

[mrsflibble]

I like snakes. I wouldn't want one in my bedroom.

[Stonehead]

I guess none of you would like to wake up in your sleeping bag, in your tent, in the middle of the bush, think "that's odd, my chest feels heavy" and when you peer down the top of the sleeping bag, find a brown snake curled up for a nap.

It was fairly sleepy—it was a cool night and I was almost certainly the warmest spot in town—so I rolled to one side, the snake slithered and flopped onto the ground, and I cautiously slid out of the tent. I then dragged the ground sheet out, complete with sleepy snake, and dragged it away from the campsite, before turning it out under a bush.

And no, I've never been worried by snakes despite having a fair number of close encounters with them as I used to bushwalk and climb a lot.

The only encounter that was particularly tense was when climbing Sunstroke at Booroomba Rocks near Canberra. I'd put my left hand on a ledge, started hauling myself up and found myself almost eye to eye with a black snake. It was a hot, sunny day so it was active, but seemed more curious than annoyed. I very slowly lowered myself down, slowly removed my hand, and then found another route.

One of my sisters, on the other hand, hates snakes and had the fright of her life when she took the roof off the chook house to find a very large brown snake eating the eggs. Her scream must have been heard for miles.

[dudley]

Last summer when moving a muck heap with our Fergi 135 we noticed a tail hanging out of the loader bucket, it was a massive grass snake. Fortunately it escaped any injury from being grabbed by the loader. We were fascinated by it and risked picking it up. Bad move, it didn’t bite but scent marked all over us. We stunk! And it wouldn’t was off.

[PeterNZ]

there are snakes in the UK
i'm leaving.........

great tale and hope you've managed to find the snake. I would consider living in QLD near my sis, 'cept them poisonous things like living there!.

oh, and for the poster who chose NZ over Oz.....you havent come across a weta yet then?!.(not poisonous, but mightly bl**dy scary!)

(spot the chicken!)

And Huhu Beatles who bite you so that you bleed! And White Tail spiders - ahh hang on they are introduced from Australia. Drop Bears? Do we have Drop Bears in NZ?

Cheers

Peter (Who is happy to eventually be Tom Good!)

[MKG]

I hate to tell you NZ peeps - but you also have a thing called a Katipo spider, the bite of which (apparently) needs hospital treatment. And apart from the Whitetailed spider (rated painful, sometimes infected) you have another painful one which is native to NZ - the Slater spider.

At least that's what Google says, so it must be right, mustn't it ...

[PeterNZ]

I hate to tell you NZ peeps - but you also have a thing called a Katipo spider, the bite of which (apparently) needs hospital treatment. And apart from the Whitetailed spider (rated painful, sometimes infected) you have another painful one which is native to NZ - the Slater spider.

At least that's what Google says, so it must be right, mustn't it ...

The katipo is meanwhile so rare that it hardly counst anymore

Slater spider? Never heard of it. Let me google it ... You are right! Interesting. But it says

Its bite can be painful but the venom does not cause serious medical problems.

And the white tail spider bite can cause serious medical problems. It causes necrosis in many cases. The spider usually bites it prey and then lays eggs into the wound. The baby spiders then live from the rotten flesh caused by the necrosis. A friend of mine lost a toe due to a white tail spider bite.

Isn't nature wonderful????

This here is even more a worry!

Cheers

Peter