Look who moved in to my workshop

[JamesD]

My crazy girlfriend caught a snake last week as well, she said she didn't know what it was but its mouth looked too small to bite her, Thank goodness it was only a little red lipped herald
Gave her a quick scolding and explained that I at least look up the snakes i dont know before i catch them
She also catches scorpions but refuses to go near spiders, weird woman, but i love her all the same

[Farhaad]

WTF
not sure how it works, but i have heard that moth balls repell snakes. a buddy saw it on national geographic. tried it out when he was living up the west coast (yserfontein, snake heaven). since he started scattering the moth balls around his property be stopped having the snake problem.
not quit keen on doing a test trial

[Ron&Gill]

Oe-Gotta, julle gee my nou net die rittle-tits... Nee-wat, hulles plat as hulle naby my kom, onbeskaamde. onbedagte, onmiddelikke, kak-bang, reaksie.

[fig]

WTF
not sure how it works, but i have heard that moth balls repell snakes. a buddy saw it on national geographic. tried it out when he was living up the west coast (yserfontein, snake heaven). since he started scattering the moth balls around his property be stopped having the snake problem.
not quit keen on doing a test trial

I can believe that. I use moth balls to keep rats out of my stored cars. The fumes apparently hurt their little noses and they move elsewhere. Keeping rats out also helps keep snakes away.

[Sambabus]

Baron,there is no point in killing them,they are one of the least aggresive venomous snakes and will try several different meathods of avoiding confrontation,firstly they try and run away,then if that doesnt work they rear up,spread thier hoods and hiss,if that doesnt work then they play dead,if that doesnt work they spit or get either a dry bite or a very mild bite,...unless they have decided youre posing a serious threat to them and then as a last resort they will deliver a serious bite making it absolutely clear theyre tired of youre shit! People that get bitten by snakes 9 times out of 10 deserved it,....how many times must I come and threaten you before you snap and take action against me?

Snakes have never seen humans as a food source,and they dont go out and look for people to kill. have some sympathy for them,...im sorry to hear about youre relative Baron,...but dont hold the snake accountable,it did everything in its power to avoid biting,but got pushed to the point were it was life or death.

[Barry]

what he said ^^^^ x2

BTW the travelling in pairs is a fallacy. They'll generally only pair up to mate. We get the occasional Cape Cobra on the farm. Supposedly puffies around too which is the only one I worry about because of their behaviour - lazy f%*kers won't move off when they hear/feel you coming.

[Ron&Gill]

That's because they don't hear/fee you coming. I was taught in Veldskool in Schoemansdal in 1978, that they are "deaf" which is why they don't move out the way. But it is soooo long ago, maybe evolution has provided them with a hearing aid by now...

[Barry]

.......I was taught in Veldskool .......

mmmmm Veldskool........only thing I learned there is that they would just top up the barrel of jam sarmies I was living on every day(other food was too kak to eat). On the last day they didn't top it up. The ones at the bottom had some interesting colonisation by then!!

[ZeroAxe]

Oe-Gotta, julle gee my nou net die rittle-tits... Nee-wat, hulles plat as hulle naby my kom, onbeskaamde. onbedagte, onmiddelikke, kak-bang, reaksie.

That is the funniest reply to a thread I ahve read this morning!!!!

[bugspray]

I've also been told by a host of older (smarter with age) ladies and mosr recently my moms Domestic, that "ship dip" or as I foound out is really Jeyes Fluid, sprayed/sprinkled around the yard also repels unwanted "boojies" aka pests.

[Ron&Gill]

Ja-ja, it was an experience of note. My first introduction to what I was later to find out was army tea. 15 tablespoons of sugar and a healthy lashing of condensed milk per gallon. You should've seen our night-navigation... Haha! They just about had to bring SAAF out in the morning to round up these townies. I remember passing out when they made me sing "Die Stem". (Genuine!)

Thanks Zero... They give me the heebie-jeebies, well what do you expect, I come from Rotterdam!? They got little grey spiders there and little black ants wot eat sugar. Not like that fcuking red Julius Ceasar -cum- Mussolini thing. Just check how close it's eyes are together. That never bodes well for a civilized discussion on sanctity of territory. He can have the telephone directory, thanks.

[Sambabus]

Puff adders are sneaky bastards,they will lay ambush on paths or in leaf litter,but once again only were prey items pass through freaquently,they know what size whatever it is thats approaching them is and were it is in relation to themselves way before they have even been seen,and will genrally hiss loudly if you get to close,...but that isnt a rule,sometimes they will lash out and strike first.

A few interseting facts about venomous snakes

They hunt with the use of 3 different mechanisms,firstly they can feel vibrations so small a Richter scale couldnt pick them up,this tells them the size,location and heading of potential prey,and they use thier sense of smell to identify prey and once again direction and proximity.Once the prey item is closer they can swich between eye sight or the use of thier heat sensitive pits on the sides of thier heads,giving them 3D vision in Infra Red.

Then if the prey item passes the snake by it can pick up the preys heat signature left by its feet/paws on the ground,(heat sensitive pits can differentiate tempreture differences as small as 1 thousandths of a degree!) And can follow the scent trail of prey over great distances,...even under water and across rivers!

The Rinkhals is oviviperous,giving birth to live young,...one of the reasons why it is considered a "false cobra,"but on that chord it is also one of the few cobras to be labeled a "true spitting cobra,"along with the Mozambiquen spitting cobra and Egyptan spitting cobra,the Cape cobra can spit too but does not fall into this catagory.

[calooker]

While on the subject of repelants .... The first day in my new house found a scorpion in the bath, about 3cm long. The wife didin't use that bathroom for weeks. good wife repelant. Found a shit load of them on and under the many rocks in my yard the biggest a 4cm long, black one.
One thing I know about them, the smaller the pincers the more punch they have in the tail, the ones in my yard all have tiny pincers
My gardner found a huge spyder in my Lapa a few months back, about 10cm across, spade 1 spider 0.

[Sambabus]

The spider was most likely a rain spider,did it have long thin legs with a red or orange tint at the knees?And mousey brown in colour?

As far as the black scorpion is concerned,it sounds like a pet that escaped,SA has (if im not mistaken) only 2 speicies of proper scorpion,One is a dirty red colour and has really small pincers and a nasty bite,and only measure about 4cm in length (tip of the tail to tip of pincers) and the other specie is bigger,+-8cm long and is a very dark brown colour,and from what Iv herd is the only dangerous scorpion in the country.

We do have another speicie of scorpion,..its called a false or whip scorpion,it looks bassicaly the same as a regular scorpion but has a long,very thin tail that looks more like a whip than a tail,and are very dark in colour.

[JohnHoffe]

While reading this thread I've lost a number of toe and finger nails that simply curled up and became dis-lodged!!

I will SO myself if I have to bump into a Rinkhals in my garage!!