more dangerous life

A half hour ago I was finished working in the studio for today and came up to the house. Fortunately, as I don't move too fast with this peg leg and crutches, I checked the washing drying on the clothes line before going inside. When I came out of the house a few minutes later I saw sunbaking under our back porch was a red belly black snake at least a metre (3.5 feet) long. I had walked passed it only about 1.5m away!

outside Pearls studio door, March 2012

Rodney was down at the Gallery working on his own art so I immediately called him and he came home straight away. We watched the snake for about 3 minutes then it slivered off about 15 metres away and disappeared into our woodpile! Rodney reassured me they are not aggressive snakes and that particular one must have heard me as I clumped up the back yard and stopped at the clothes line and then decided I wasn't enough of a threat for it to abandon its spot in the cosy afternoon sunshine.

We know there are snakes in the garden not just because its part and parcel of living in a small rural community surrounded by bush. We constantly see evidence of them in the garden; have come across wee baby snakes when mowing (they're a lot slower to escape than their parents) and have had lots of ambivalent sightings. We are also aware that the garden we chose to create is an ideal snake habitat!....see above picture! We have a very large fishpond, tons of natural bush rock landscaping (snakes love to warm themselves on sun warmed rocks) and have planted shrubs, ferns and grasses. This is an ideal habitat for snakes, especially as the pond is populated by hundreds of frogs - the gourmet food choice of snakes!

Unfortunately the camera was down in the studio so I wasn't able to take a picture. I considered taking the risk of "running" (read - fast hobbling) past it and realised I wasn't brave enough - even for the entertainment of my blog readers! Even without the gamy foot I think it was a wise decision because that thing really took off FAST when it decided the suntan was optimal.