Not good news, but need information

[Beano05]

Today a bloke had killed a python in his house that he honestly mistaken for a King brown (Mulga snake). He has a 1 year old and 8 year old kids and his wife so he was doing it purely out of protection for his family. He killed by spraying some type of acid on it. He said it was originally a straight sandy / light brown colour with a cream belly no markings on it. It had eaten the kids guinea pig so he cut it out to bury it.

By the time I had seen it, it was dark grey closer to black in colour ( he said that it changed colour since he sprayed it) about 1.7m long. no markings on the body. I know the Oenpelli python turns grey but does the markings disappear as well? I know that we can have patternless childrens pythons could it be possible for the Oenpelli to be the same? most wild childrens pythons I see are or near patternless. The local Indigenous poeple all aggree is rock python (Oenpelli Python)

I own the Complete guide to Reptiles of Australia by Steve Wilson & Gary Swan but there is no other python listed to match this with pictures or Info.

I do live in Oenpelli

 

[Jonno from ERD]

Post a pic?

 

[FNQ_Snake]

The acid spray probably changed the colour. What a cruel way to kill an animal. He shouldn't be killing them anyways. I hope you slapped him in the back of the head. How would he like to be killed with acid?

The clown should be dobbed into the RSPCA.

 

[swampie]

Could have been an olive or water python.

 

[mebebrian]

A slap in the head? yeah with a large shovel!
What an ***! I can think of a million more humane ways to deal with that situation.
Like call a professional snake catcher for starters.... And i cant see how acid was a safer option either, i cant think of a more painful way to die it'd have to be up there with burning alive

 

[mebebrian]

Karma, he'll get his...

 

[MoreliaMatt]

Karma, he'll get his...

lets hope so

 

[rockman]

The acid spray probably changed the colour. What a cruel way to kill an animal. He shouldn't be killing them anyways. I hope you slapped him in the back of the head. How would he like to be killed with acid?

The clown should be dobbed into the RSPCA.

What did it read ???

The bloke had a 1 & 8 year old child in the house and his wife . By the look of it , he thought he was protecting his family . How many people here , that called him a clown or a a.r.s.e. , have got kids ?? , just curious what you would do to protect your 1 year old ? .
Yes , maybe he could have called a catcher to relocate it : it was IN his house and how long do you think it would take to get someone there to remove it ???? .
How quick can you get to some-ones house and relocate a snake for them ? . Do you relocate stuff FNQ ??? , be handy to know next time i have an 1.8MTR eastern brown around my place . LOL See how quick you to help out . LOL

Yes , its not nice that he sprayed it with acid .

What i find funny is that people here will carry-on about what he did , but forget that people that like snakes are still in the MINORITY !!!! , last time i looked .

If you want to do something , go do a relocation course and go save the world from all the snakes .

 

[Cheyne_Jones]

Even if it wasnt an elapid as you suspect, anything that is that size could seriously injure a child, you can't hate the guy for looking out for his own.

On the species thing, i am with swampie it is most likely an olive or water from what you have described.

 

[cobrajet]

Before I owned snakes, I didn't even know that there was people who removed snakes from your place, Also if you do know about it, your first thought would be 'how much' and a family does not have money just laying around to get rid of a snake.
Yeah ouch that he used acid, but that would probaly be the first thing that he grabbed and thought of. Give the father a break for protecting his family. Most people raise the eyebrows when you say that you own a snake, because most people have NO idea about snakes, they all think that they are deadly, that they kill all things.
And back to the original question, could it be a python that has no markings, and as it has died from acid, and also being cut open, (maybe blood loss dulled it) could the patterns have faded? Could you try a black light to see if there are any markings?

 

[caustichumor]

Protecting his family, (yet he has a large supply of acid at hand) Killing an animal that is endangering your family is accepted, but to have time to go and retreive chemicals to kill it, then it doesn't sound like it was posing more of a threat then being in the vicinity of his house?

 

[Jewly]

I understand he was only protecting his family but there is no reason to be cruel.

 

[Earthling]

What did it read ???

The bloke had a 1 & 8 year old child in the house and his wife . By the look of it , he thought he was protecting his family . How many people here , that called him a clown or a a.r.s.e. , have got kids ?? , just curious what you would do to protect your 1 year old ? .
Yes , maybe he could have called a catcher to relocate it : it was IN his house and how long do you think it would take to get someone there to remove it ???? .
How quick can you get to some-ones house and relocate a snake for them ? . Do you relocate stuff FNQ ??? , be handy to know next time i have an 1.8MTR eastern brown around my place . LOL See how quick you to help out . LOL

Yes , its not nice that he sprayed it with acid .

What i find funny is that people here will carry-on about what he did , but forget that people that like snakes are still in the MINORITY !!!! , last time i looked .

If you want to do something , go do a relocation course and go save the world from all the snakes .

Rockman many snake relocators are very quick. In the town out here for me, its usually a maximum of 5 minutes for me to be at a house on the far side of town. If theres a need, Im their.
Snake relocation is definetly one way people can assist in saving snakes from humans. Another way, which I have employed, is using community newspapers. Our local paper here allows me a free one page writeup on reptiles each fortnight. Education, awareness, knowledge and respect is the key to getting people to stop shovelling snakes. If we're serious about stopping shovelling we can all do something to address the issue.

As Jonno asked, have you got a photo you can post to assist ID?

 

[rockman]

Earthling , up here in the bush ( CAIRNS ) , i've had a couple of people say that they have waited nearly an hour for someone to show up , and then get hit up for $ 50 to remove it .
I've moved some stuff here before , but with no permits and no wish to play with bitey stuff , i wont do it anymore .
Good for you for taking the time to do something within your comminity . If more people done things like that , you may slowly start to change peoples ideas of reptiles .

Cheers

 

[Earthling]

I understand he was only protecting his family but there is no reason to be cruel.

Have you ever protected with violence someone or something? If you have, you will understand that (without training) you will have reacted without thought. Pure emotion.
You just do whatever is necesary. If that means pouring acid over your adversory, so be it. Do not underestimate the power of love in stopping all thought processess.

 

[-Peter]

yeah, get the relocator in(rolls eyes), Tell tem where you are again Beano.
In a perfect world this would not occur but there are people who dont know squat about snakes(looks dismayed and shakes head).
Its like the dog or cat that comes in my yard and goes out in the rubbish bin, might be safe enough but I wont take the risk.

 

[Earthling]

Earthling , up here in the bush ( CAIRNS ) , i've had a couple of people say that they have waited nearly an hour for someone to show up , and then get hit up for $ 50 to remove it .
I've moved some stuff here before , but with no permits and no wish to play with bitey stuff , i wont do it anymore .
Good for you for taking the time to do something within your comminity . If more people done things like that , you may slowly start to change peoples ideas of reptiles .

Cheers

Its worth doing a relocation course if interested if any are up your way. Trains you how to not get bitten by those bitey ones. In my opinion, the key (like any activity you get good at) is to not get complacent with the snakes...or you get bitten.
Charging and wait time is a problem in some areas. Im doing it for free, otherwise more people out here would just use the shovel, plus my costs arent exactly huge. Busineses can give a dontaion if they like. I enjoy doing it.
Thankfully more people are doing things like writeup in community rags, docos etc...just look at the ignorance towards snakes just 20 years ago...the times are a changing.

 

[Jungletrans]

Most snake bites are from people trying to kill or capture vens [ YAY snakes ] . The most stupid way to deal with [ he thought it was a Brown ] would be to really piss it off by spraying it with acid . Natural Selection will get him eventualy .

 

[Jonno from ERD]

Earthling , up here in the bush ( CAIRNS ) , i've had a couple of people say that they have waited nearly an hour for someone to show up , and then get hit up for $ 50 to remove it .

Our minimum charge for a call out is $70. We don't budge on this as we are trying to shake the stigma that snake catchers should work for free. Once you factor in time, equipment, permits, insurance, fuel, vehicle maintanence, advertising, phone costs, website hosting and enough to put food on the table, it all adds up. At the end of the day, you wouldn't expect a plumber or electrician to drop everything, jump in his ute and come out to your place for free - they will charge you significantly more than $70!

 

[slim6y]

Positive number one: He didn't use a gun to kill his family, I mean snake...

Positive number two: You can now tell him how he can safely and cheaply remove any snake from the house - $50??? That's not too bad to save your family.

Positive number three: It can't be a childrens python at 1.7m (can it???)

Negative number one: Household acids etc - unpleasant to say the least - far more dangerous to have in a house than a brown tree snake or python...

Do the right thing first - help family into safe location, call the appropriate authorities and have the snake safely removed for everyone's protection - an angry snake is a dangerous snake no matter what flavour they are!

And I have children (or child) and I live in a supposed high density snake area (though I barely see them).

And I have a healthy fear of venomous snakes.