AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 11 January 08 Oooh ah! Look at Spencer's snake! (Spencer Howson)
Spencer Howson arrived home to meet a rather unusual visitor on his steps yesterday afternoon. Admitting his knowledge of snakes isn't what it could or should be, Spencer asked listeners for advice.
The Queensland Museum's Steve Wilson was on the phone instantly, asking Spencer to send him a photograph. Luckily, Spencer had snapped the snake: "I shouted up to my wife inside the house that there was a photo on the camera, in case I was bitten and they needed to identify it!"
Steve Wilson told Spencer the museum runs an identification service, identifying snakes and spiders and the like, "that is definitely a green tree snake, often called a common tree snake because they come in such a variety of colours. The pale bluish flecks on your snake become visible when the snake is agitated. By inflating its body, the scales are slightly parted revealing bluish bases to the scales. Sudden flashes of colour are handy strategies to startle potential adversaries".
"If you have a digital image, and this goes for anyone else who has something they want to identify it, email it to inquirycentre@qm.qld.gov.au. We'll have a look and tell you what it is.
It still came as a shock to Spencer to find a friend climbing his steps, "it looked harmless and it looked cute, yet it was a snake. This is the first time in thirty years living in Brisbane I had ever come home and been greeted by a snake".
Steve Wilson said they're in every backyard across the city. "Loads of different species, all the way through Brisbane and most of them are harmless".
However, not all snakes are harmless. "The dangerous ones become dangerous when you tinker with them. I had a large brown snake in my garden as recently as yesterday afternoon but it's still out there under a piece of tin. I'm quite happy for it to be there because the last time I looked there was a rat there. Now the rat's gone. Fine by me.
"If it bit me, it'd kill me. But it's just in the garden doing its thing.
"These things don't go rushing around madly biting things that are hundreds of times their own size. That's not their survival strategy. Their survival strategy is to stay out of the way....But if they're attacked, they've got Plan B which is to bite back", Steve Wilson.
Oooh ah! Look at Spencer's snake!