Let the Darwinism commence.

[den]

I received a call on the rescue line today from a lady in Parkes. Her son had brought home a baby snake. I asked her to describe it to me, and she said it was 12" long, almost white on the stomach, pale brown on top and had a dark brown head with orange markings.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"My son is playing with it in the kitchen."

"It's a baby eastern brown snake."

"Oh! They grow up to be poisonous, don't they!"

I almost told her that of the world's 14 most poisonous snakes, it's number 14. Instead, I said "They're venomous when they hatch. You're lucky the mouth and fangs are too small to bite a finger, or you'd be up in the hospital now."

"Why"

"Your son would be getting antivenein there."

I heard her put the phone down then scream out "DAVID PUT THAT BLOODY THING DOWN NOW!" She came back and asked me what to do. What I wanted to say was the eastern brown snake makes an excellent pet and enjoys being cuddled. I told her to take it to the edge of town and let it go. I had to.

Comments

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

Good lord! I've heard enough to know by now that when you go to australia, you don't pick up anything, let it fall on you, or rub up against your legs even if you think it's benign;). You just wear full body armor and run a lot:D.

Too bad the snakes don't have markings that read venom scale from 1 to "can kill an entire village just by looking, you'd be stupid to handle me without a special suit and goggles, mate." Maybe dumb people would leave them alone, but with our luck, they couldn't read either8/.