Eastern Brown Snakes

[quillo]

Hi...

I don't know if I'm in the right place but I was wondering if anyone knows how I can minimise the number of browns on my property.

I was looking at purchasing a dozen of those Sentinel Snake Repellers but on doing some more research have found that they could be a scam.

I always thought that keeping dogs & horses would help keep the snakes away but lately I've found more and more of them and I've just lost one of my horses to snake bite. The first in 7 years. If any of you have lost a horse to snakebite, you will know what a terrible death it is.

I know part of the problem is that we have a pretty good eco system here and have lots of wildlife.. ie.. green tree frogs, brown frogs (not to mention rotten cane toads), lizards, beardies and all kinds of birds. We've got lots of green tree snakes & we once had a red-belly black snake but we haven't seen him/her since the browns moved in. they all call my property home.

We love the wildlife but apart from bulldozing all of my gardens.. I don't know how else to try & repel (even some of) the eastern browns that have also now decided to call my place home.

Your help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[cadwallader]

I dont think you will be able to get rid of them or even reduce the numbers, if you move as many places for them to hide such as piles of wood etc you may decrease but as long as you know they are there just be careful, could always call a snake relocater to get one moved.

 

[blakehose]

Make sure that all horse feed etc is cleaned up properly, with nothing left lying about. As this is food for rodents, and where there are plenty of rodents, the browns will come thick and fast! If you starve them of their food source though, this should greatly reduce the numbers.

 

[quillo]

Thanks... and I think we will be having a major clean-up very soon. They do have a number of lovely home sites here.

I've been using Racumin to control the rodents in the feed shed, so that there's no secondary kill but I'll also have a major clean-up to ensure that no feed is spilt.

The only other thing is the frogs... do browns like frogs for dinner or are rodents their main food source ??

 

[blakehose]

They take preferance to rodents. Tiger snake and Red bellies are much more reliant on frogs in their diet. I think you will find that after you have a good clean up, there will be much less of an issue in the near future

 

[guzzo]

Hi...

I don't know if I'm in the right place but I was wondering if anyone knows how I can minimise the number of browns on my property.

I was looking at purchasing a dozen of those Sentinel Snake Repellers but on doing some more research have found that they could be a scam.

I always thought that keeping dogs & horses would help keep the snakes away but lately I've found more and more of them and I've just lost one of my horses to snake bite. The first in 7 years. If any of you have lost a horse to snakebite, you will know what a terrible death it is.

I know part of the problem is that we have a pretty good eco system here and have lots of wildlife.. ie.. green tree frogs, brown frogs (not to mention rotten cane toads), lizards, beardies and all kinds of birds. We've got lots of green tree snakes & we once had a red-belly black snake but we haven't seen him/her since the browns moved in. they all call my property home.

We love the wildlife but apart from bulldozing all of my gardens.. I don't know how else to try & repel (even some of) the eastern browns that have also now decided to call my place home.

Your help would be appreciated.

Thanks

You don't live near Dalby Qld do you?.....my friends property had so many browns on that place.

 

[quillo]

No I'm not near Dalby but near Beaudesert.

I've just been reading about snake identification and what they are likely to do.

Whilst I've correctly identified the browns... I'm now terrified to realise that I have a TAIPAN living under my pool gazebo. I saw this snake retreat under the gazebo when I was gardening there very recently but I thought it was a brown. Browns apparently don't retreat when disturbed and this one very clearly retreated & I only saw the last bit of it's tail.

The Taipan makes sense being there because the frogs are all in my house yard and frogs are it's main prey.

I'm a bit confused because I didn't think all these different types of ven. snakes would be able to live so close together ??

 

[moosenoose]

You can understand the frustration by owners of large properties etc when it comes to an abundance of these animals, especially around kids. Nice to see someone taking the time out to write into a snake forum for some advice.

The only problem with snake relocators is you'll have your hand in your pocket all the time. Perhaps because you seem to care about the welfare of these animals (hence writing about it on here instead of grabbing the shovel) perhaps you'd consider doing one of the many 'venomous snake handling" courses that are out there. I know when i did mine (for the purpose of obtaining a relocators license) we had quite a diverse range of people attending (everything from uni-students, plant nursery owners, farmers and nutbag hobbyists like myself )

Most would say you don't have the legal right to move or touch the animal, but as far as I'm concerned you do! If people can get away with killing them, you can get away with moving them! Especially if you've been trained up a bit to do so. Just a suggestion

 

[imported_Varanus]

Browns will always retreat if given the opportunity from my experience and large Taipans don't eat frogs to my knowledge, but are rat and bandicoot specialists. I'd suggest what you saw retreating under the pool gazebo was likely another Brown, especially if you haven't seen the head shape. As stated earlier, your best bet would be to clean up the yard and rais everything that has to stay (like wood piles, etc) well off ground level. Your local WIRES (or QLD equivalent) should remove animals free of charge (or for a voluntary donation). It makes their job easier if you are able to locate the snake on their arrival.

Hope this helps.

 

[quillo]

@imported_varanus... thankyou ! you've just settled my heartbeat 100 fold.

@moosenoose... doing a course could be a great idea and I'll see if there are any in my area. I think the course would also considerably reduce my natural fear of the ven.snakes. Thankyou ! My theory has always been... if I leave them alone... they'll leave me alone.. It was more likely my horse stepped on the snake or walked too close to it but the pain of the loss has prompted me to re-assess.

 

[guzzo]

No I'm not near Dalby but near Beaudesert.

I've just been reading about snake identification and what they are likely to do.

Whilst I've correctly identified the browns... I'm now terrified to realise that I have a TAIPAN living under my pool gazebo. I saw this snake retreat under the gazebo when I was gardening there very recently but I thought it was a brown. Browns apparently don't retreat when disturbed and this one very clearly retreated & I only saw the last bit of it's tail.

The Taipan makes sense being there because the frogs are all in my house yard and frogs are it's main prey.

I'm a bit confused because I didn't think all these different types of ven. snakes would be able to live so close together ??

About 10 or so years ago a friend of mine lost his nephew to a taipan. He was playing golf with some friends at a park near Beaudesert and the ball landed near a BBQ. He got bitten on the calf and died a few weeks later.

 

[imported_Varanus]

Browns will always retreat if given the opportunity from my experience and large Taipans don't eat frogs to my knowledge, but are rat and bandicoot specialists. I'd suggest what you saw retreating under the pool gazebo was likely another Brown, especially if you haven't seen the head shape. As stated earlier, your best bet would be to clean up the yard and rais everything that has to stay (like wood piles, etc) well off ground level. Your local WIRES (or QLD equivalent) should remove animals free of charge (or for a voluntary donation). It makes their job easier if you are able to locate the snake on their arrival.

Hope this helps.

I'm also assuming another Brownie under the Gazebo, as I thought Tai's are far less common in the Beaudesert area. Where's Jonno when you need him!!

 

[Jeffa]

Hey guys, if you got a snake relocator to move some of these browns and then release a few red bellies located from other jobs, would that help in anyway? I have heard that rbbs eat other snakes. And I would prefer blacks than brown snakes on my property anyday.

 

[imported_Varanus]

Another common misconception,

I have friends who find both species on their 4 acre block, probably because their house is on a dry, grassy hill and they have a creek down the back. Both species are cannibilistic to some degree, with larger individuals including smaller ones of either species in their diet.

 

[quillo]

@imported_varanus.... would you know if those Sentinel Snake Repellers actually work ?

I've got a lot of cleaning up to do & I would like to place them particularly in my horse paddocks to protect them in case the browns decide to take an escape route through the paddocks.

About 10 or so years ago a friend of mine lost his nephew to a taipan. He was playing golf with some friends at a park near Beaudesert and the ball landed near a BBQ. He got bitten on the calf and died a few weeks later.

I'm sorry to hear that... I know we have taipans around here because our local produce store killed a huge one in their front yard which is about 10mins from here. I've also had 2 x dead newborns dropped on my verandah by the butcher birds (well I think it was them anyway).

 

[baxtor]

@imported_varanus.... would you know if those Sentinel Snake Repellers actually work ?

They DO NOT work, save your money

 

[quillo]

Thanks baxtor