Snakes

Poor bloke. I wonder where he was bitten? I always where high sided boots and long pants when walking though shrub. Also where gloves when collecting firewood.

RA,

I wouldn't want to meet a taipan anywhere, let alone in thick lantana!!!

The few I have seen had more attitude than Mike Tyson on ICE. Really touchy reptiles.

Even wondered if he might have a had a heart attack too, especially if he did see the offending snake. If he'd known he was bitten, you'd think he'd yell out and alert his mates.

Saw a doco some years back, and it was a "comparison" of the Coastal and Inland taipans. Pretty interesting, and showed the different modus operandi of each, to kill their principle diet......rats. The coastal bloke is extremely fast, multiple strikes 'cause their prey is much bigger than the Long-Haired Plague Rat, consumed by the Inland Taipan. With the venom potency of the inland bloke, he's like Clint Eastwood, with a .44 magnum!!!

Saw a large specimen in Diamantina Lakes N/Park, one day. He was on the track, and he didn't move. I sat in the toyota, and wisely didn't get out. Just sorry I didn't have a camera with me at the time.

Pretty sad for this bloke and his family and mates,

Bob.

When doing a bit of gold detecting in areas where the spinifex is fairly dense I always wore fairly high boots. I kicked aside a clump one day and got the shock of my life when a death adder came out looking for a fight. Now I wear the boots and a pair of gators (not the snappy snappy type..lol) made of canvas. I wonder if I need a pair made of something a bit stronger. I know snakes like the death adder don't have quite the venom potency of the taipan but in a remote area they can still kill.

Cheers
Pop

I know this is an individual case....but I understand the snake population has both had a bit of a growth spurt withe the breaking of the drought and there may be more of them than there have been where humans can encounter them.

So we should be pretty carefull.

cheers

May be there should be campaign on snake awareness from the government. There seems to be one for every thing else.

I reckon first aid and this sort of thing should be mandatory subjects at school.

I speak from total ignorance of what to do in emergency situations.

I nearly stood on a bloody big brown earlier in the year, would have got me if I hadn't jumped a world record (or that is what my mate and I believe) but was close. We we doing a bit of a reckie for a walk in the bush and was not paying attention.

I must admit I would not have known what to do even if I had bandages etc.

Since then I have looked up what to do and bought a bit of gear to take with me when bush walking but still not confident. One thing there is a lot of differing opinions of what to do when bitten by a snake - re how to apply the bandages. I got some very good advice from people who were supposed to know but had different opinions. Both may have been correct - I still do not know for sure.

Unfortunately I doubt any government will do any thing unless there are a lot more sad situations like this poor guy.

Rich

I've seen browns and red bellies just disappear into cracks in the ground. If I had not seen it I wouldn't believe it. No thongs in the bush for me.