THE OBSERVER (Gladstone, Australia) 01 November 10 Snake handler kept busy (Rob Black)
He’s the snake handler of Agnes Water, but Steve Foster got his start with the slithery reptiles under one of Australia’s best-known herpetologists, Eric Worrell of Australian Reptile Park fame.
“I used to catch death adders for him (Eric Worrell) when I was a kid and take them down to Gosford (NSW), about 20 miles away from my place by train,” Steve said.
“I’d have this bag with about 20 death adders in it on the train.
“He used to pay me two dollars a foot – so the bigger the better.”
And as a kid brother Steve also liked scaring his sister with his snakes – sometimes putting them in her bed.
Steve grew up and moved to Queensland and has been the go-to man for snakes in Agnes Water for years.
“Yeah, I get calls from people all the time when they find a snake at home,” he said.
“I try to encourage people to live with the snakes rather than try and harm them or move them out.
“If you move a snake out of the roof of the house it will just come back. So you just have to find where it is getting in and block that up and then it has to find somewhere else to go.”
Steve said 2010 has been a big year for snakes, with plenty of wet weather and not much in the way of a winter, the snakes have remained active pretty much the whole time.
So he has been busy – although things are hotting up now – in more ways than one.
“Normally this time of year is when they are about and I get a lot of calls,” he said.
“But this year the snakes never really slowed down.
“I got a call this morning (Friday, last week) and first I try to solve the problem over the phone.
If it’s not dangerous I try and get the people to live with the snake rather than try and get rid of it.
“This Aboriginal bloke told me the best way to keep them away from your home or your camp is to urinate around the perimeter.”
Snake handler kept busy