I really did have to look twice in order to believe my eyes, even though snakes are prevalent around her and we do live in the bush so it's not really surprising to find one. But the big problem was then, what to do? I know nothing about snakes! Ella jumped onto my bed and was told to stay there; I put on my knee-length Ugg boots (recalling that I'd read many people get bitten on the ankles, I figured it would be wise to protect them), and then followed the snake, armed with a heavy pillow.
It wasn't a big snake: about 40 - 50 cms long, with a light tan body, markings along its back, and a small head. I guessed it was a juvenile, and hoped that if I could drop the pillow on it, I'd be able to trap it... but it got upset at me following it, and from a position under Ella's bed it bent up into an 'S' shape and looked as if it was thinking about striking me, so I stayed very still and we eye-balled each other for about 20 minutes until it relaxed a bit and I moved gently away to get the phone book and a phone. What do you do when you've got a snake under your daughter's bed at 2:30am on a Saturday morning??? I decided to ring WIRES, which is a national wildlife rescue service for which I've seen posters... the number didn't say it was 24 hours, but they must have an overnight 'on call' service because eventually a groggy female voice answered and the lovely Donna helped me out. I explained that I was an ignorant pom, described the snake, commented that I couldn't secure the room because we have sliding internal doors and it could easily get out, and she said she'd get a reptile expert to ring me back. So about 15 minutes later, during which time the snake decided to move towards the back of Ella's room out of sight, Tom rang me from Nana Glen which is about 25 kms away.
He made me describe its appearance and manner, and then said 'Oh f^%$, I'd better get down there', and asked me to station myself in the corridor to monitor the position of the snake, which I did for half an hour until he arrived. Bless him, he managed to catch the snake and took it away, tied into a pillow-case. Apparently not many people notice the 'S' shape in the neck, but that told him it was either a tree snake or an Eastern Brown snake, which was what was worrying him. The tree snake is venemous but a bite would be the equivalent of a horse-fly sting: unpleasant but not dangerous, whereas a bite from an Eastern Brown snake would mean a visit to hospital - I can't believe Ella trod on it and wasn't bitten!
By the time Tom arrived, Patrick had got back from his Hallowe'en party (earlier that evening I had the pleasure of making him up to look like a ghoul!) and all had been explained. Patrick looked after Ella while we hunted the snake, and once Tom and the snake had gone we all sat down and phoned Michael, whom I knew was in the lounge at LA airport waiting for his plane. I'd badly wanted to phone him while I was sitting in the corridor waiting for Tom to arrive but didn't think it was fair to tell Michael all about it when he would have worried and not been able to help.
So anyway, it was past 5am by the time we all got back to bed, and the phone rang at 8am, 9:30am and 10am, so I can't say I've caught up on much sleep... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Did Tom identify your visitor or did he not stop to introduce himself to your visitor?!!
Coffs features on a really funny Sky programme called Australia's Deadliest Destinations because of the brown snake. Unfortunately the snake catcher they followed on a call out was showing off for the camera and the brown snake managed to get up the inside of his trousers - certainly upped the drama!!
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