Shower with a Snake

I woke up after a strange night, having over indulged in whiskey around the braai, no I was not drunk but we finished a bottle of some awesomely smooth whiskey. I was just dehydrated. This morning while everyone else was still asleep, I decided a lovely shower outside will do me the world of good.

The sun had just peeped over the flat fields when I stepped into the outside shower. So there I was in all my nakedness standing in the shower trying to get the water to the right temperature when I glanced at my feet an saw what seemed to be a rolled up rag right next to my feet. Strange I never saw that before and in the fogginess of my eyes, not wearing glasses as one does when one showers I saw that it could be a snake as it had patterns. So I bent over to get a better look.

Yes it was a snake but what type. Without my glasses on it could be a baby python or horror a large puffadder. Grabbing my towel I quickly stepped outside into the garden and went straight for my glasses and cellphone back in the house. Carefully I crept back into the shower and sure enough, it was a large, a very large puffadder.

Okay, that was close, I mean thank God that it was cold and the puffadder which was about 10cm from my naked foot was very lethargic. The whole situation this morning could have turned out for the worse but God must have been looking out for me.

Off I went to wake up the farmer's son to kindly remove the snake as I needed my shower and a strong cup of coffee. Martinus arrived with a golf club, and his first words after seeing the puffadder, was on how big it was. Oh well after finally coaxing the beautiful puffadder into a basket, it was relocated far on the other side of the farm and I could continue my shower.

Snakes Alive

Oh my goodness, Paddy is turning out to be quite a snake catcher as this is his 2nd snake that he has brought home in as many days. It is a fully grown Centipede Eater snake that he has brought home this evening as a gift for us. Can't he like a normal child for once.

This little chap is non lethal but what happens if he tries to bring home a Night Adder, or God forbid tries to tackle a Rinkals or Puff Adder. This is starting to worry me. Do I need to find out what anti-venom there is for cats? 

Thankfully this little snake was a catch and release.

Night Adder Rescue

After waking up on this rather chilly morning, while I did my rounds in the garden filling up the bird feeders, I noticed a baby Night Adder only 20cm long in our pool. These snakes come out at night to feed on the frogs and toads, and I am not sure how long this little one was in the pool but she must be so cold. Using the pool net, I rescued the poor thing and released it back into the veldt.

Red lipped Herald Snake

Yes I know it is a sad day to come home and find the dogs yet alone the cats have caught and killed a harmless snake.

Today started unlike any other with my wallet along with the drivers licence was left in the car which went off to Rivonia this morning and I only found out when it is nearly halfway there and I had to ride out to fetch it without getting stopped by the traffic police before setting off to work.

As I was leaving our neighbour Abi stopped me and asked for help to cut his grass on his plot as he had a close encounter with a large cobra over the weekend in his garden. He described the cobra similar to an Egyptian Cobra but we don’t have those down here in South Africa, surely not. I asked him if it wasn’t a Rinkhas as we have many in the area but he said no, he knows what a Rinkhas looks like and this one had what looked like a Chinese symbol on the back of the hood. Uhmmm after some research the closest snake which could be in the area near the river, is a sub species of the Egyptian Cobra, the Snouted Cobra, or it could have been a Mozambican Spitting Cobra. Not having seen the snake and thrown by that is described as a Chinese symbol, well your guess is as good as mine.

And now coming home, I went over to my other neighbour, Gerhardis to speak to him about the cobra issue only to be told that the dogs had killed a baby Black Mamba. Regretfully it turned out to be a Red Lipped Herald that was killed. I remember having one as a pet way back in high school. Tragic day indeed as this is one dead snake that doesn't need to be dead.

Snake in the Office

From the shrieks coming from the print section of eKayaMedia, something terrifying was up. News quickly spread like wild fire that a snake had slithered into our offices. I quickly rush across with my cellphone camera in hand and there petrified in a corner was this baby brown house snake not even 20cm long. Shame, poor baby, it must have been trying to escape from the cranes only to land among the squealing graphic design ladies. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The poor baby, after a quick photo shoot, I caught the frightened little snake and released it outside in the garden. Let us hope that it survives all the dangers outside and grows up to beautiful adult.

First Day at PRO

Not to have anytime slacking, I jumped start into work at PRO Designs. I am still hoping PRASA comes to the party. Today's photo is one of the pets at PRO Designs.