A Little Too Much Real Life

[cornerofmadness]

The bug lady was here to do the spring spraying today (roachs, another lovely part of living in Florida). She leans in the living room window to inform us we have a snake in the hibiscus. 'Is it Black?' SJ asks. 'Yep.' 'That's cool. He keeps out rats and other snakes' (our backyard abuts a county park so we have acres of woodlands and marshes behind us).

So, I go out and pick up all the branches that the wind has blown down so SJ can cut the grass only to find out our coachwhip is NOT keeping down the snakes. I look over and tryiing to get into the front door is another snake. I look closer to see if it's a king snake or the deadly coral (SJ lost a dog in Jan to a coral). Oh yeah, it's a coral.

Now I've gotten good at catching reptiles thanks to this eco-driven masters I'm doing. I've no trouble getting coaches or even gators. I know my nerve damaged hand is in no way fast enough to capture a coral and even if I did where would i put it? There are way too many young kids around and that park behind the house has too many hikers and kids in it.

I move him away from the door (long branches involved here). I go inside, 'SJ do we have a hoe? There's a coral snake as long as my arm outside.' (and it was. Corals don't get big. The one that killed the dog was this big too. They must love that park to be doing this well). Needless to say neither of us wanted to kill the snake but there was no other way. It's far too deadly to let live (and now all the Aussie's are laughing at me. Haha, corals can't even compare to the king browns and taipans). Long story short, the snake is unfortunately disposed of. What an exciting morning. It's not even 11:00 am yet.

Comments

[mzzgoddessblue.livejournal.com]

big disgusting cane toad just sitting in the water dish

Yeah. And then you go jump in the pool for a refreshing early morning swim in the summer and find all the toads in there......

Possums may be cute, but they can be nasty little freaks

I hate possums. Nasty feral creatures. Make too much noise on your roof and fight the cats.

I'd be wussy with the taipan too.

Taipans no. Pythons yes. Love em. Used to live at Lake Barrine when I was a kid and got used to dad picking them up off the road, putting them in the car and releasing them at the lake. Lovely creatures. Used ot hold them - feel unbelievable!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Yuck to the toads in the pool. Alligators do that here (but of course you guys have the crocs).

I'm not much on possums either. We have armadillos here.

Love pythons. Used to care for the one the college kept back in undergrad

[mzzgoddessblue.livejournal.com]

Alligators get in your pools??????? Remind me never to jump into a swimming pool if I ever come visit you unless I have thoroughly checked it out first.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Well all pools are SUPPOSED to be fenced in to prevent this and to prevent idiot neighbor kids from falling in and drowning. However in all the springs around here you DO have to check for gators.

[emmyaward.livejournal.com]

Oh god, we used to get cane toads in our pool. It was gross.

We have a pet possum that isn't really a pet that eats our cat's food and bites my feet when I'm trying to watch TV. He likes to come up onto our back verandah, through the louvres in the laundry and run through the kitchen and the living room. A couple of nights ago we found him sitting under the kitchen bench eating biscuits. He's really very annoying, not in the least because I'm always scared he's going to bite my toe, but we can't seem to get rid of him. He's amazingly domesticated.

Bush turkeys are pretty damn annoying. My great-aunt used to get them in her back yard building humungous nests, and then we'd have to go over and dismantle them. It didn't ever dissuade them, though.

I should go before I start bitching about curlews *g* I love this thread.

[mzzgoddessblue.livejournal.com]

curlews!!! aaaaaaaaargfh. nothing scarier than hearing them in the middle of the night close to your bedroom window!!!!

I think we may have hijacked dana's journal....

[emmyaward.livejournal.com]

I think we have, but I think Dana's enjoying it *g*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I was just saying that last night. Hey look, they've taken over :-)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

That is one ugly bird but I can do you guys one better. Sandhill Cranes. These suckers are a few feet tall and sound like someone being murdered. And to think the Native Americans thought they sounded like flutes...I want whatever they were smoking.