Gemfyre
Well-known member
It's one exciting thing after another here at the Observatory. Today all the bluetongue lizards decided to come out of the woodwork, we even found two mating. Then tonight happened.
I just had a nice shower. I returned to my room, opened the door and noticed movement on my bed. I shone my torch on it and was greeted with this.
Looks comfy doesn't he?
That fellow snuggled on my bed is Kenneth. He is a King Brown snake. According to a book we sell the King Brown has "the highest venom yield of any snake in the world". Now I've encountered Kenneth many times while I've been living here, I've even dined in the same room as him but I will not sleep with him I'm sorry. He's a beautiful snake but I draw the line at slumbering with one of the most deadly critters in the world (by the way, no-one has died from a King Brown bite since the 1970's, the antivenene is very successful). Lucky Ricki (my boss) has some vague snake handling ability and a lot of gung-ho so using a broom to hold his head down she grabbed his tail and pulled him out. He did have to tangle himself in a set of binoculars. 1. We didn't want the bins hitting the floor because it's not good for them and 2. as Kenneth fell off the bed the heavy bins fell on top of him, which must have hurt! He also decided he'd latch around my backpack and try to drag that with him too.
Eventually however he came out of the room, I was standing on a chair manning the torch. Stu (one of my co-workers) had clambered onto the roof and was dangling over camera in hand and Chris (my other co-worker) was getting dangerously close and taking photos. He wanted to settle in amongt the shoes but eventually he made his away off the verandah and back into the bush.
And if that didn't freak you out. My door had been closed while I was having a shower. Before then I'd been sitting in my room on the laptop. Which means he was IN my room while I was there and didn't notice him. Little bugger.
I just had a nice shower. I returned to my room, opened the door and noticed movement on my bed. I shone my torch on it and was greeted with this.
Looks comfy doesn't he?
That fellow snuggled on my bed is Kenneth. He is a King Brown snake. According to a book we sell the King Brown has "the highest venom yield of any snake in the world". Now I've encountered Kenneth many times while I've been living here, I've even dined in the same room as him but I will not sleep with him I'm sorry. He's a beautiful snake but I draw the line at slumbering with one of the most deadly critters in the world (by the way, no-one has died from a King Brown bite since the 1970's, the antivenene is very successful). Lucky Ricki (my boss) has some vague snake handling ability and a lot of gung-ho so using a broom to hold his head down she grabbed his tail and pulled him out. He did have to tangle himself in a set of binoculars. 1. We didn't want the bins hitting the floor because it's not good for them and 2. as Kenneth fell off the bed the heavy bins fell on top of him, which must have hurt! He also decided he'd latch around my backpack and try to drag that with him too.
Eventually however he came out of the room, I was standing on a chair manning the torch. Stu (one of my co-workers) had clambered onto the roof and was dangling over camera in hand and Chris (my other co-worker) was getting dangerously close and taking photos. He wanted to settle in amongt the shoes but eventually he made his away off the verandah and back into the bush.
And if that didn't freak you out. My door had been closed while I was having a shower. Before then I'd been sitting in my room on the laptop. Which means he was IN my room while I was there and didn't notice him. Little bugger.
