Snakes in Australia in July?
May 7th, 2005, 03:55 PM
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Snakes in Australia in July?
I'm considering extensive hiking in July but am a bit snake-phobic! Anyone know what part of Australia snakes will be hibernating vs active at that time? I'm aware they will be more inactive in colder temperatures, but how about specifically in Australia in July? Thanks
May 8th, 2005, 12:58 AM
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In any event, at any time of the year it's fairly rare to actually see a snake. Always possible, and it depends on the area, but as a rule they hear (feel?) you coming and make themselves scarce. We walk in native bushland thta's inhabited by many snakes, almost every day and in all seasons. Around Canberra I've seen only one in 20 years, and it was moving as fast as it could to get clear of our path. Faster, indeed, than his cousin the Prime Minister, sometimes to be seen scuttling for his VIP plane to get back to Sydney on a Friday afternoon.
May 8th, 2005, 09:48 AM
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I've done a lot of hiking (bushwalking, as the Aussies call it) in Australia and I've seen a fair number of snakes, though I agree with Neil, seeing one is a pretty rare event. However, they can still be seen in "winter" in the warmer, tropical north. Thus, to maximize the likelihood of not encountering snakes, stay south.
But should you really adjust your itinerary around snakes? I'd say no - the worry over Australian snakes is overblown, probably fueled by shows such as the Crocodile Hunter, etc. If you see one, keep your distance, move on and you'll be fine.
But should you really adjust your itinerary around snakes? I'd say no - the worry over Australian snakes is overblown, probably fueled by shows such as the Crocodile Hunter, etc. If you see one, keep your distance, move on and you'll be fine.
May 13th, 2005, 09:17 AM
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These kinds of questions make me laugh because I am deathly afraid of snakes. I have actually planned vacations around the idea of seeing them, although I just returned from Costa Rica and they are not unusual there (thankfully I didn't see one). I've been to Australia 3 times and while I didn't go to the bush I have never seen one. One time I toured from Cairns to Sydney and nada. I can't tell you that you won't see one, but just know you're not alone with this fear!
May 14th, 2005, 06:01 AM
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XXXXX and Abby43, I also am deathly afraid of snakes. So there are a few of us around. However, I'm obviously more deathly afraid than either of you. I would never dream of visiting Australia or Costa Rica, knowing there are so many snakes in these countries. SO if you are willing to go there, I'm sure you will be fine if you do see one. I'm so much worse, that I won't even go. I know that doesn't make sense, but then no phobias make sense.
I do believe your chances are fairly good of seeing one. In my case they seem to come out of the woodwork when I'm around.
SO, xxxx, although your chances may be slim, do be prepared to see one.
As for me, I'll stick to New Zealand and such places. There I can hike without worry at all....and it's wonderful.
Good luck.
I do believe your chances are fairly good of seeing one. In my case they seem to come out of the woodwork when I'm around.
SO, xxxx, although your chances may be slim, do be prepared to see one.
As for me, I'll stick to New Zealand and such places. There I can hike without worry at all....and it's wonderful.
Good luck.
May 14th, 2005, 05:43 PM
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Whilst minisicule in both countries, there are actually more snake bite fatalities in US than Australia. http://www.member.iinet.au/~bush/myth.html. You folks better not visit some of the Asian countries, in South Vietnam every second tourist souvenir features a pickled snake and snake meat appears on many a menu. As native animals snakes are protected in Australia by law, xxxx as a tourist you're unlikely to come across one. I've seen many a snake, both around my last home in Sydney metropolitan bushland and now in rainforest/canefield area near Cairns. Only the other day there was a beautiful carpet python in our back yard, German tourists said it "made their day".
May 14th, 2005, 08:50 PM
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Just watch out for the hoop snakes in mountainous areas - they are known to put their tail in their mouth to form a hoop, then rush down the hill and bowl you over!
In July, however, most of them are dormant.
In July, however, most of them are dormant.
May 15th, 2005, 01:44 AM
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Fortunately, hoop snakes are not so common in heavily forested areas, as the drop-bears keep their numbers down. From its lookout in the branches of a leafy eucalypt a bear can spot an approaching hoop snake from some distance, and fall on it from heights of up to 6 metres, even when it's travelling at high speed.
The snakes represent an important food source for the bears during the periods in which bushwalkers aren't prevalent. Bushwalkers, however, should note that staying out of such areas will increase the likelihood of their being pursued by a hoop snake.
Normally they're impossible to outrun, but scattering thumbtacks in their path has been known to work.
The snakes represent an important food source for the bears during the periods in which bushwalkers aren't prevalent. Bushwalkers, however, should note that staying out of such areas will increase the likelihood of their being pursued by a hoop snake.
Normally they're impossible to outrun, but scattering thumbtacks in their path has been known to work.
May 16th, 2005, 07:55 PM
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Now I have read everything! Where the dicken's do you live Kodi? I have read some ill informed things in my time but your effort takes the cake.
Whilst there are snakes all over the world with the exception of Ireland and New Zealand in the 18 years of growing up in a provincial coastal town in Queensland I never saw one snake - ever! I used to ride horses into the bush and go fresh water fishing in the bush and never once did I see a snake.
You talk about NZ, this is an extract from a NZ Police report in 2000 talking about the comparison of crime in Auckland compared to New York. Now that would bother me more than any snake because it is more likely to happen and more often as well. This was at a time when Auckland was just behind Jo'berg in crime statistics.......
The achievements of the NYPD under Governor Pataki and Rudy Guiliani and others have been nothing short of astonishing. Take a look at these statistics here. . Per 100,000 head of population their rape figures are about 25 per 100,000 compared to our 35 odd, and they have acheived a 36% reduction since 1993.
Their assault rate has been cut by 37%, and is now at 323 per 100, 000 a third of ours more or less. Burglary has been cut by a spectacular 62%, and is at about 478 per 100,00. Ours is around 2300-2400... Their rates of robbery and murder, although still higher than ours, has been cut by 62% and 65% respectively since 1994, and are still dropping fast
...............
Now that is what I call scary and something that should make any tourist phobic to say the least!
Whilst there are snakes all over the world with the exception of Ireland and New Zealand in the 18 years of growing up in a provincial coastal town in Queensland I never saw one snake - ever! I used to ride horses into the bush and go fresh water fishing in the bush and never once did I see a snake.
You talk about NZ, this is an extract from a NZ Police report in 2000 talking about the comparison of crime in Auckland compared to New York. Now that would bother me more than any snake because it is more likely to happen and more often as well. This was at a time when Auckland was just behind Jo'berg in crime statistics.......
The achievements of the NYPD under Governor Pataki and Rudy Guiliani and others have been nothing short of astonishing. Take a look at these statistics here. . Per 100,000 head of population their rape figures are about 25 per 100,000 compared to our 35 odd, and they have acheived a 36% reduction since 1993.
Their assault rate has been cut by 37%, and is now at 323 per 100, 000 a third of ours more or less. Burglary has been cut by a spectacular 62%, and is at about 478 per 100,00. Ours is around 2300-2400... Their rates of robbery and murder, although still higher than ours, has been cut by 62% and 65% respectively since 1994, and are still dropping fast
...............
Now that is what I call scary and something that should make any tourist phobic to say the least!
May 20th, 2005, 04:11 PM
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I think now and then Australians become irked when the country is depicted as a place crawling with deadly wildlife, be it snakes, crocs, spiders, sharks, jelly fish etc. Have already mentioned that I have seen snakes in gardens of homes have lived in in both Sydney and near Cairns and in Cairns' case only pythons and tree snakes. But have also lived in Adelaide, Brisbane, Noosa Heads and have never clapped eyes on a snake there, which probably means they were about but not to keen to reveal themselves, which is normal behaviour for a snake. I do remember there were snakes in the school yard at high school (1100 kids and none bitten), there were also koalas, bandicoots, possums, wallabies, goannas and bluetongued lizards. Australia just has a lot of wildlife and snakes are a small part of it.
May 21st, 2005, 12:36 PM
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Anyway, to continue. Yesterday I was disappointed with what seems to be an ongoing anti-New Zealand thread coming from Liz, and her attack on other people's very real phobias.
I would like to reassure xxxxx that on many trips to Australia during various seasons we have never yet seen a snake in 'the wild'. Don't let it put you off visiting a great country.
I would like to reassure xxxxx that on many trips to Australia during various seasons we have never yet seen a snake in 'the wild'. Don't let it put you off visiting a great country.
May 21st, 2005, 03:23 PM
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dotty, you're not dreaming. You did post, and so did Liz, again, and it seems that the Fodors censor grew alarmed at the appearance of a whiff of controversy, took a sniff of smelling salts and wielded her electronic blue pencil.
May 21st, 2005, 03:46 PM
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Just some further FACTS to ponder on.
10 people per year in Australia die from the bite of the Honey Bee and as a comparison today in Australia we have 0.13/million deaths each year from snake bites which must add up to a couple per century at that rate. Hardly anything to write home about.
10 people per year in Australia die from the bite of the Honey Bee and as a comparison today in Australia we have 0.13/million deaths each year from snake bites which must add up to a couple per century at that rate. Hardly anything to write home about.
May 21st, 2005, 06:50 PM
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xxxxx confessed to a fear of snakes and Kodi to a full-blown phobia. I wouldn't criticise them for that - except perhaps for kodi's statistically baseless and alarmist view that xxxxx would stand a good chance of seeing a snake if she visits Australia.
For the record, as far as I can remember I've seen five snakes in my life (which includes a lot of bushwalking) - this equates to less than one every 12 years. One I found in our laundry in the Blue Mountains - using a broomstick, I cautiously coaxed it into a large biscuit tin, slammed down the lid and released it in the nearby bush.
Unlike Liz, I don't see Australia and NZ as "chalk and cheese", except in their physical environments. Culturally the two countries are very close, albeit not identical, and surely make a natural pairing. And, while we're certainly not alone in this, some of us are very thin-skinned about even the mildest criticism of our respective countries. You will read much more self-criticism by Americans, thoughtful and otherwise, on the Europe board than you will ever see practiced by Australians here.
The whole of Europe has one forum, as does all of Asia - each a far more diverse region than Australasia. Each attracts a great many more American tourists than does Aust-NZ - and it is a fact that Fodors is run by (and mostly for) Americans.
The USA is the biggest "destination" for American tourists, and its population is 15 times that of Australia. For obvious reasons, Canada is perhaps the second biggest destination, and has about 12 times NZ's population. Australia and NZ combined have a much smaller population than Canada, or for that matter the state of California. This is really "chalk and cheese" material.
Having said that, I think Liz's citing of Auckland's crime figures vis-a-vis NYC's was not meant to deter visitors so much as to point up the risks of stoking one's fears by a non-selective reading of statistics. Personally, I didn't feel remotely threatened in either city.
To be pedantic, a snakebite fatality rate of 0.13/million equates to about 2.6 per annum. Still ridiculously miniscule when compared with the risks of getting behind the wheel or climbing a ladder, though.
For the record, as far as I can remember I've seen five snakes in my life (which includes a lot of bushwalking) - this equates to less than one every 12 years. One I found in our laundry in the Blue Mountains - using a broomstick, I cautiously coaxed it into a large biscuit tin, slammed down the lid and released it in the nearby bush.
Unlike Liz, I don't see Australia and NZ as "chalk and cheese", except in their physical environments. Culturally the two countries are very close, albeit not identical, and surely make a natural pairing. And, while we're certainly not alone in this, some of us are very thin-skinned about even the mildest criticism of our respective countries. You will read much more self-criticism by Americans, thoughtful and otherwise, on the Europe board than you will ever see practiced by Australians here.
The whole of Europe has one forum, as does all of Asia - each a far more diverse region than Australasia. Each attracts a great many more American tourists than does Aust-NZ - and it is a fact that Fodors is run by (and mostly for) Americans.
The USA is the biggest "destination" for American tourists, and its population is 15 times that of Australia. For obvious reasons, Canada is perhaps the second biggest destination, and has about 12 times NZ's population. Australia and NZ combined have a much smaller population than Canada, or for that matter the state of California. This is really "chalk and cheese" material.
Having said that, I think Liz's citing of Auckland's crime figures vis-a-vis NYC's was not meant to deter visitors so much as to point up the risks of stoking one's fears by a non-selective reading of statistics. Personally, I didn't feel remotely threatened in either city.
To be pedantic, a snakebite fatality rate of 0.13/million equates to about 2.6 per annum. Still ridiculously miniscule when compared with the risks of getting behind the wheel or climbing a ladder, though.
May 21st, 2005, 08:49 PM
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We had and probably still have snakes living in our yard. I know this because over the years , I have found shed skins hanging from a tree in the front garden. Got a bit worried, but more emabarrassed (I wonder why I felt this way!) that they were living in the roof, but the advice from experts was that, if they were, they would stay till all the mice were gone and then depart for richer pastures. Though I'm not really afraid of snakes,I am ashamed to say, I got my husband to cut the tree down.
Forty years ago, on my very first overseas trip, 5 weeks by ship to Europe, I met a Dutch family who had emigrated, but were returning home because they couldn't cope with the spiders here. It's really all in the mind, isn't it?
Forty years ago, on my very first overseas trip, 5 weeks by ship to Europe, I met a Dutch family who had emigrated, but were returning home because they couldn't cope with the spiders here. It's really all in the mind, isn't it?
May 25th, 2005, 12:00 PM
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Abby43, I really think the situation is not as dire as you suggest. If you review all the posts in this thread I think you will see that the great majority of contributors, albeit in some cases lacking strict relevance, have been positive, or neutral at worst, or humorous. "Disgust" seems to me a considerable over-reaction to what after all was one poster's over-reaction.
May 25th, 2005, 02:28 PM
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dizzy1, I'm sure it's not a matter of smarts - more one of different national experiences.
Australia has a small population and is a predominantly European outpost on the edge of Asia, a long way from Europe and North America. Until 104 years ago we were a collection of British colonies. This has caused us to look outward, one result being that we tend to travel a lot (in fact at any one time 5% of our population lives, not just travels, overseas).
The USA in contrast is a superpower, culturally more diverse, and for one reason or another, its people have tended to look inward. Many foreigners, myself included, are surprised at how little foreign news is presented in the US media. I think this accounts for the fact that questions posed by some American travellers may appear a tad naive.
But at least they're showing an interest. Many (of all nationalities) don't bother asking, and often it's not because they know it all but because they're pig-ignorant and happy to stay that way. I'm often struck by the number of people I meet who seem to have learned nothing at all of the cultures of the countries they've visited.
Personally, I'd rather share the wilderness with snakes than bears, any time.
Australia has a small population and is a predominantly European outpost on the edge of Asia, a long way from Europe and North America. Until 104 years ago we were a collection of British colonies. This has caused us to look outward, one result being that we tend to travel a lot (in fact at any one time 5% of our population lives, not just travels, overseas).
The USA in contrast is a superpower, culturally more diverse, and for one reason or another, its people have tended to look inward. Many foreigners, myself included, are surprised at how little foreign news is presented in the US media. I think this accounts for the fact that questions posed by some American travellers may appear a tad naive.
But at least they're showing an interest. Many (of all nationalities) don't bother asking, and often it's not because they know it all but because they're pig-ignorant and happy to stay that way. I'm often struck by the number of people I meet who seem to have learned nothing at all of the cultures of the countries they've visited.
Personally, I'd rather share the wilderness with snakes than bears, any time.
