Diamond Python with over 100 ticks on it.

[ozbrad]

I was walking my dog along a fire trail (Goonelabah NSW) when I came across this snake covered in ticks.
I'm actually not fond of snakes although I knew it was a non-venomous python so I tried to push them off with a stick and that just irritated the snake more.
I'm an avid photographer so I took heaps of pics and video.
The next day it was gone.

[video=youtube_share;pEIF4CT4RWM]http://youtu.be/pEIF4CT4RWM[/video]

 

[grannieannie]

Oh my God the poor thing.....shocking !!!:cry:

 

[JrFear]

should of called some one to help it! so sad!

 

[TreeHugger]

Yeah.... Bad forum to post on if nothing was done to properly help the snake... There are quite large snake enthusiasts on this site!

 

[JrFear]

uhh makes me sick but cant stop looking at it!
looks more like a coastal than a diamond!

 

[waruikazi]

Geh row ssssss!

 

[grannieannie]

Maybe the best thing to have done to it was kill it....and put it out of it's misery....I doubt even if caught nothing could have been done to help it....it also makes me sick to look at it.....

 

[Gruni]

I'm sorry but filming and photographing it without helping the poor thing... What the %*^$!?!?!?
That sort of infestation is a deathsentence for the animal, where as it could have been rescued and helped like the one from Stradbroke. If you were there with someone else one of you could have watched the snake while thge other called the RSPCA or WIRES people in Lismore.

Of course it was gone the next day it's not going to stay on a walking trail forever. I just hope that someone else happened across it after you left and got it the help it deserved.

 

[JrFear]

im sure if the ticks were all removed and got some well needed treatment it could of made a recovery!

 

[Gruni]

Maybe the best thing to have done to it was kill it....and put it out of it's misery....I doubt even if caught nothing could have been done to help it....it also makes me sick to look at it.....

Actually Grannie there was a thread a few weeks ago about a snake EXACTLY like this one found by a ranger on Stradbroke Island and it was taken to the wildlife hospital at the Gold Coast and is making a full recovery at last account although it is spending a little time in foster care first.

 

[waruikazi]

Assuming they are native ticks, why should anyone interfere?

I'm sorry but filming and photographing it without helping the poor thing... ***?!?!?

That sort of infestation is a deathsentence for the animal, where as it could have been rescued and helped like the one from Stradbroke. If you were there with someone else one of you could have watched the snake while thge other called the RSPCA or WIRES people in Lismore.

Of course it was gone the next day it's not going to stay on a walking trail forever. I just hope that someone else happened across it after you left and got it the help it deserved.

 

[Gruni]

Those were not all native bush ticks, the big fat ones are clearly paralysis ticks. I don't know about where you are in the NT but they are rife in the Lismore area.

 

[Coppersimon]

If the snake was taken and helped how many people would have said it was the wrong thing to do interfering with nature and all. Damned if you do damned if you don't.

 

[ozbrad]

To all the complainers do you ever moralize the live animals you feed your pets? Are they less worthy of death. Would you pull a live wallaby off a python?
As gruesome as it was I was just documenting what was an extraordinary event.

 

[Manda1032]

we cause way more problems for animals than we fix

 

[Poggle]

Could have been fixed. The one of straddie was rescued by a ranger and assisted, Paralysis ticks are not considered native therefor we as humans and carers will often interevene, if it is a natural cycle, we should prevent our selves from interefering but these forms of ticks are not natural.

 

[Manda1032]

that and it's a good deed, something to feel good about. helping a life no matter how little

 

[12-08-67]

I think a majority of people would like to let nature takes it course but to possibley prolong and animals suffering/death by not offering help when it could have been so easy is hard to support (even on an education level). I could not watch the video

 

[Norm]

Sorry everyone, I once rescued a bluetongue that was being attacked by a crow, maybe I should have let nature take its course?

 

[Venomous1111]

Could have been fixed. The one of straddie was rescued by a ranger and assisted, Paralysis ticks are not considered native therefor we as humans and carers will often interevene, if it is a natural cycle, we should prevent our selves from interefering but these forms of ticks are not natural.

Yeah it could have been fixed should it have been caught and fixed IMO no, everything needs to eat even a little much hated parasite like a tick..There are paralysis ticks native to Australia, there's over seventy different species of Acarina species in Australia this includes mites and ticks.. What form of ticks would you be referring too that are not natural? that doesn't make sense..