Red Belly Rhubarb

“Crikey! There’s a snake in the garden!” Not exactly the words Helper Tom chose when he discovered our scaley visitor, but you get the idea. Although it’s rare for us to see them, we are well aware that red belly black snakes inhabit our property and we usually let them be. Red bellies are venomous but they are quite timid and extremely fond of eating other more dangerous snakes, so they are not such a bad thing to have around. This one, however, was a little too close to the house for comfort so Mark set about shooing it off with a blast from the hose.

This particular snake was not at all interested in leaving, and simply retreated under the cover of the rhubarb patch. Out came the long handled trimmers to prune off the rhubarb leaves so we could see where it was and give it another shower. Still determined to stay, the stubborn snake slipped over the garden bed and curled up for a sulk in the long grass. After ten minutes under the hose all we’d achieved was growing the grass longer, so we gave up on  “Plan A” and called Dusty.

Dusty is a local legend. He has lived here forever and has been taking care of problem snakes for just as long. At 76 years of age he is still passionate about his work, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience that he loves to share. Today was no exception. After capturing our intruder (check out the video below) he informed us that the snake is a male, 3-4 years old, in great health, and just passing through on it’s way to find and establish it’s own territory. He named the snake Thomas in honour of our helper and bagged him up for later release onto his own property.

For those of us that are accustomed to snakes, perhaps the most interesting thing we learned today was that as much as Dusty loves his snakes, he is first and foremost a “cat person”. Honey and Harley were both treated to some cuddles and admiration before we sent Dusty on his way with a big bag of rhubarb.