Red Belly Rescue (netting)

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Just_Joshin

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Well, this afternoon i was sitting around home recovering from a weekend of water skiing follow by 2 hard days work, feeling the muscle aches and pains when the phone rang.

I answered to find a rather anxious lady,who was an old family friend, asking to speak to me. When i let her know it was i she was speaking too, she proceeded to tell me she has a snake stuck in bird netting in her garden and was not quite sure what to do, who to call etc. Well having previously been a rescuer and still having all my gear i said "see you in 5 minutes".

Upon arrival i discover an approximately 5ft Red belly severely tangled in the bird netting on the first 20cm of it body, with the neck and head being severely constricted. With this in mind i wanted to act quickly to free the snake so i VERY quickly took a few pics then began the task of cutting the snake free, and then cutting away the netting that was entangle on the snake. With the help of her rather nervous husband holding the tail end for me, i managed to cut the snake free within about 10 minutes. The snake looks relatively unharmed, but i have it tucked away over night to rest it up and will pop it in to the vets for a check up first thing tomorrow morning. All going well i'll release it tomorrow.

Below are a couple of pics i took on arrival and then 1 or 2 after it was freed as i was checking its behaviour, condition and movement. I'm awaiting an email from the lady with pics of the cutting. Enjoy!

bodynetting.jpg


nettingcloseup.jpg


nettingfull.jpg


jiggercloseup.jpg

And to say thanks the little blighter musked me. Charming!!
bodyshot.jpg
 
Great work mate glad you got the snake free :)
 
great job mate, that netting can do some serious damage, i have been called out to several snakes in that stuff. the more they move in that stuff the tighter it gets.
 
nice work...... and nice snake....we need ore peeps like u around too many peeps just head to the shed for the shovel.....
 
On ya Josh hope it goes well ...;) lovely rbbs ...
Thanks Mate. I was waiting for you input. Out of curiosity have you had a bird netting rescue before??? If so did any injuries result?? The only external injuries i can see are the roughed up scales which will simply shed out. Only thing i was worried about was the potential internal injuries it may have?? It doesn't appear to have broken the skin anywhere, just roughed up the scales.
 
Well done josh, birdnets kill heaps of native animals, not just snakes.
We get heaps of them every year, carry all sorts of scissors and cutters in the car now.
Excellent job
 
Thanks Mate. I was waiting for you input. Out of curiosity have you had a bird netting rescue before??? If so did any injuries result?? The only external injuries i can see are the roughed up scales which will simply shed out. Only thing i was worried about was the potential internal injuries it may have?? It doesn't appear to have broken the skin anywhere, just roughed up the scales.
Josh ,only an eb caught up in carpet threading ..very similiar situation ,although your netting wouldve been more cutting into the snake then what I had ,mine was more wound and weaved but being thicker thread it didnt cut deep into the skin nor even roughed up any scales to bad ...just a fiery pissed off EB thrashing around ,was making my job a little tricky...
You said you were taking it to the vet ? ...hope it goes well with that ..fingers crossed its all good ;)...Baz has done bird netting before ...fortunantly I have never been called to one ..I hate the stuff !! I think if that was the case, I would be cutting a fair bit more of the netting then I needed too,bloody cruel stuff ...:evil:
 
One of my fav elapids! What a beaut! Well done! :D

doesn't seem to take long for that netting to do some serious damage to the poor snake. It'd be a slow, horrific death without kind intervention.
 
Good work Josh.
If I could though make the point that instead of dangling the snake, use your hook to support the bulk of the body. Especially as there has been some trauma already.
 
Well done Josh :D Nice size too. See you you just stand there with him hanging, that's what I can't comprehend - how or why is it that the snake isn't trying to bite? I've seen many hold them like that. Makes me feel less intimidated by them if I knew I could safely hold it like that.

I have rescued a green tree snake from bird netting. Didn't get a photo but this particular snake was awesome - almost black with his silver flecks and brilliant yellow belly. I was called out to a "yellow bellied black snake" but the silver flecking gave away its ID.
 
Kath if you hold the snake with the head and part of the body ,resting on the ground ,so it thinks it can get away, especially with the RBBS ,they are quite ok to stay like that with out coming at you ..RBBS's settle down quickly ...In Josh's case ,I would say the snake was probably buggerd after struggling in the netting, so was very quiet,to be hanging like that ..
 
Good work Josh.
If I could though make the point that instead of dangling the snake, use your hook to support the bulk of the body. Especially as there has been some trauma already.
Yeah mate i had been (see the closeup with hook underneath). Only the snake had thrashed and launched off the hook seconds before the photos. Also explains why i'm holding so far away, lol. I regained control right after the photo, however, it was the only decent photo my 14 yr old cousin took showing the length of the body.
 
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