Shed of the snake…
Remember how we had a little large snake incident here recently?
(Everyone went into a weird mass meltdown. But not me. NO. I was brave – and a very long way away from here when the actual capture took place!)
And I kind of assumed that our new dear friend, Monty (the Python) must’ve snuck upstairs after Mr I left the door ajar when he went left to work for the day (while we were away for the weekend). Because that was a nice reassuring thing to think. Wasn’t it?
Then yesterday, while I was briefly in town (one of my specialty blink-and-you’ll-miss-me visits where I don’t finish sentences with people unfortunate enough to bump into me) I got a phone call from my husband.
Apparently he had been describing to Lachy (our 18-year-old jackaroo) how a brown snake had tried to come in a window just TWO days after we had moved in (some five years ago)… when he looked down and saw this…
A HUGE snakeskin, tucked behind a stuffed chair in our living room. One with a very similar pattern on it to Mr Monty.
Which kind of blows my ‘he must’ve just popped up into the house for an hour or so‘ theory RIGHT out of the water… I don’t know how long it takes a seven foot snake to shed its’ winter coat, but I am thinking ‘a while’. Actually I HAD noticed my mouse population was suprisingly low considering the season… maybe NOT so surprising if we had an in-house mouse exterminator. Heh. heh…
We (my husband, my visiting sister and I) have had long debates today about whether or not he could have been in the house for very long. I maintain that Middy, the half-wild Angelina Jolie cat would have alerted us to his presence quick smart.
Certainly our scardy-cat Great Dane, Axel, would have been climbing the walls to avoid a slithery interloper.
As his reaction to the empty skin would attest.
OOooooohhhh….
LOOK OUT…
… a gust of airconditioning…
and…
IT MOVED!!!
YIKES!
MAKE IT STOP MUM!
Okay, okay, don’t panic. It’s stopped
NOW… what IS that thing…
Are you MESSING with me, Mum?
Yes, you great galut… I am.
And I am also messing with my OWN mind… wondering how long that great big ol’ Joe Blake was in my house. And where Monty Esq is RIGHT now? Is he in the shed where he was taken earlier this week?
I think I’ll just double check the lounge and bedroom corners before I hit the hay tonight.
Lucky it’s only Axel who’s a bit jumpy round here.
Right?
🙂
BB
21 Comments
CeeCee
My experience with snakes (had one as a pet) is that your Monty could have shed that skin in about a half hour if he was healthy and there was enough moisture in the air. Also, if the place where the skin was located was a mildly tight squeeze (say, between the chair and the wall), he could have wedged himself in there and just slipped that skin off like you taking off a glove.
Poor Axel, teasing him like that. 🙂
CeeCee´s last blog post ..Beep, Beep!
Leenie
I’m trying not to think about how fun it would be to get a BIG plastic snake and leave it in your shower…or where it would drop off a shelf if bumped. Probably wouldn’t normally spook you, but with the above image in your head —it might.
Downside. Said plastic snake would probably cause an incident involving broken things and/or huge dog hysteria.
Leenie´s last blog post ..THE STATE OF IDAHO–Busting the Myth
Mikey
Yikes, BB! It’s kind of a big snake to have running around the house. Let’s hope he hasn’t decided it’s HIS house and comes back.
Mikey´s last blog post ..Random Saturday morning thoughts
Colin (HB)
BB – get a cat poste haste – they are good snake hunters.
This post is “shades” of delightful PNG! Snakes paradise. My cat was an excellent snaker – would even bring her “dead” trophies in for inspection! Sometimes they were not quite as dead as I would like. One morning she decided to wake me early – up onto the bed she jumped with here trophy for me to inspect.
The commotion that resulted was as if a bomb had gone off – cat one way, me one way and snake entangled in sheets!
I hope there are no snakes pictured in your 2012 calendar?????
Colin
Lynda M O
Yikes. Snakes make me into a screaming toddler who just closes her eyes and runs, flailing and frightened, into the nearest door frame.
Mummaducka
I so Haaaate snakes!!!! we had 3 in 2 days last weekend. Yuck! I feel it will be a very big season for the slitherin’ monsters!
Mummaducka´s last blog post ..And then the ears pricked!
Jindivick Wildlife Shelter
Far out!!!
It would have only taken an hour or so BB – they are quite fascinating to watch when shedding their skin and make quite a lot of writhing and rolling movements. He certainly made himself at home – almost like someone sneaking in and using the shower when you are not there.!!
debby
Okay. It only takes an hour. Here’s what happened. He came into your house, just popped in there. And then he shed his winter coat. Which Middy found and dragged into the livingroom and hid it behind the chair.
That’s what happened, by golly.
I’m sure of it. I have to be. Because if I thought that you had seven foot pythons in your house, I’d have to stay the heck away from it because I am a big baby when it comes to snakes.
debby´s last blog post ..My Project
debby
goannas too. Thinking about it, I’m just not much of a reptile girl.
debby´s last blog post ..Stuff
debby
Which shouldn’t be an issue right? I mean, surely, it wouldn’t be a big deal to clear all the reptiles out of Queensland before I get there, right?
(The proper answer is: “Of course not, silly.” Even if you’re lying. I’m very gullible.)
debby´s last blog post ..Stuff
BB
Of COURSE not, silly.
(You can guess which part of your answers I am referring to… whichever makes you happiest!)
😉
debby
Whew. Feel much better.
debby´s last blog post ..Git ‘er done.
Kelly
Awww…poor Axel! You should feel ashamed for teasing him that way! 😉 *says the one who might have goosed him from behind while he was tentatively sniffing the snake skin*
Kelly´s last blog post ..The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies by Susan Wittig Albert
Jane-Kurrajong
Did you hear the snake man on the radio the other day? He said “Leave the Pythons around to protect you”. They only eat mice and rats and keep the deadly snakes at bay.
Margie from New York
Do pythons lay eggs or give birth to live young like rattlesnakes do here? Yes Cat’s are very good at killing snakes, but didnt Mr. Incredible say that snake was seven feet long or meters? Was it big enough to eat the cat? Ugh I just realized these are not good images.
Anywhoo glad he found the snake and let it go outside and it’s not in your pantry anymore.
Fleur McDonald
Have you run around and checked all the door frames, windows and silly little places where he could have got in? I heard yesterday there wasa fatality in NSW where snakes are rife at the moment. Be careful.
Fleur McDonald´s last blog post ..Sometimes, windows are my eyes
Tamsyn
Snakes give me the serious heebie-jeebies. I’m about as brave as Axel!
Tamsyn´s last blog post ..Max’s Big Boy Bed
Katie
Sorry for this: So cool!
I mean really, creepy that something that large was chillin’ in your house for who knows how long and could’ve possible eating your cat/small dog (not Axel of course)…but cool!
Katie´s last blog post ..Chapter 39876…
Jayne
Yep, I reckon the cat and dog would have alerted you to Monty’s presence, even if the meeces had dropped in number…
Hey, just think, it could have been pythons flinging from the overhead fan instead of mice…!
Jayne´s last blog post ..Stuff that canters through my brain while cooking….
debby
I got a question. If Monty eats all the mice at Granite Glen will he be a full monty?
debby´s last blog post ..Happy
Howardhantine
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