More wildlife

[sunnybob]

Opened the side door yesterday morning, and jumped back in surprise, not 10 ft away from me, basking on the stamped concrete, was a 6 ft long black snake :shock:
Glossier than freshly painted railings, even shining in the morning sun.

I'm normally happier viewing snakes though thick glass panels. I rushed back indoors to get the camera (I wasnt scared, honest) but by the time I got back it was on the move. It went in to the pool straight across and out the other side, and up and over the 5 ft garden wall without the slightest effort. I was more than a little relieved.
I managed 2 very poor pictures before it was gone into the olive grove.

We havent had a snake in the garden in the last 10 years (that I have seen of course), and this is the biggest black snake I have ever seen.
The good news is they arent poisonous and they eat a lot of rats.

 

[Steliz]

Pics or it didn't happen. :wink:

 

[marcros]

mamba

 

[Trevanion]

Real footage of sunnybob training for his next snake encounter:

 

[sunnybob]

Looks like mine was only half grown;
https://www.cyprusisland.net/cyprus-sna ... -jugularis


Pics you asked for, but it was too damn fast for me. I really though I was going to get wildlife photographer of the year when I went for the camera. :roll:

 

[MikeG.]

......basking on the stamped concrete, was a 6 ft long black snake........

Superb! You lucky so and so.

I was once taking a pee under a tree in Africa when a 5 foot long boomslang shot down out of the branches above my head and into the leaf litter on the ground at my feet. Otherwise occupied, I too missed the photo opportunity.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

We don't have snakes like that here - do you know the variety? We've had a European glass lizard (4 or 5 feet long, looks like a snake) living on the veranda this year - it sleeps under a dog kennel, which annoys the dog somewhat. Completely harmless, but something killed it and ate half the other day - probably a buzzard is the murderer in question. The other half is getting a bit smelly so I will have to do something about it...

 

[sunnybob]

I posted the link above. Black whip snake.
We have 8 varieties on island, 2 of them dangerous, one very much so. But even though I have working fields on 2 sides of me, its very rare to see any snake.

Lucky.... mmmmm, I'm not a reptile or insect person, although the lizards are quite amusing watching them skitter over the concrete. Biggest lizard I have seen here is barely 10" with tail Theres several varieties of lizard and skink.

Oh, and today I saw a buzzard flying overhead. First time ever in Cyprus. I think the lack of people moving around has made everything bolder.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Sorry - saw your link afterwards: 3 metres is quite a lot of snake. We are inundated with toads this year - really BIG toads. They "sing" all night, so I am a tad irritable currently. Perhaps I need one of your snakes.

 

[gregmcateer]

I was once taking a pee under a tree in Africa when a 5 foot long boomslang shot down out of the branches

Alright, alright! No need to brag!! :lol:

 

[Bm101]

Fair play Bob. I saw a grass snake about a metre long in the first few weeks of lockdown. I was 'exploring' with my lad and it woke up about 30 cm's from my boot. I don't have an inordinate amount of fear but I stood still for a little longer than necessary.! Don't mind saying. Seen tiddlers but for the uk this was a biggun.
Was in Corfu many years ago when everyone got excited on the beach. Throwing stones , beating the water. Was a snake. And if there was a right minded person there Greek or tourist, I couldn't see one. Lots of small boats and I remember thinking just pick it up and drop it off 200m away.
People. They killed it for nothing it and all it wanted to do was escape. Glad you are right minded Bob.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Fair play Bob. I saw a grass snake about a metre long in the first few weeks of lockdown. I was 'exploring' with my lad and it woke up about 30 cm's from my boot. I don't have an inordinate amount of fear but I stood still for a little longer than necessary.! Don't mind saying. Seen tiddlers but for the uk this was a biggun.
Was in Corfu many years ago when everyone got excited on the beach. Throwing stones , beating the water. Was a snake. And if there was a right minded person there Greek or tourist, I couldn't see one. Lots of small boats and I remember thinking just pick it up and drop it off 200m away.
People. They killed it for nothing it and all it wanted to do was escape. Glad you are right minded Bob.

Greeks have a complicated history with snakes. Pre-Christianity snakes were revered and worshiped (the Delphic Oracle etc), so it seems that Christianity demanded a pogrom against all snakes. Your average modern Greek will kill all snakes at any opportunity. I have seen people stop their car to jump out and batter a passing snake to death, just because.

When building (renovating a ruin) my house, we found several snakes in the old walls, and the builders would drop everything to ensure said snake was dispatched immediately, with extreme prejudice. This despite me shouting at them that it was my snake, and I wanted it alive thank-you-very-much, and if they wanted to kill snakes for fun they should bring their own.

Suffice to say I kept up the reputation for foreigners being weird.

 

[sunnybob]

Cypriots are greeks at heart :roll: They will kill all snakes, I have to admit I dont get too upset about it as there are enough snake bites on dogs and often humans that every pharmacist carries live anti venom in their shops.

Cyprus is a land of hunters, but as they "HUNT" small birds with shotguns they dont have many trophy pics, so every workshop I have ever been in here has a picture of the owner holding up a dead snake over a metre long.
The most dangerous one, the blunt nosed viper, is especially prestigious.

One day when I was working here I walked round a corner of the workmens yard, straight into a 4 ft blunt nosed viper on the floor. It took several very long seconds for me to register it had a hole in the top of its head. Some "wit" thought it was hilarious watching people soil themselves. =D> (hammer)

Many years ago in Somerset I was delivering to a house in the countryside, and spotted a grass snake in the garden.Not big, maybe almost 2 ft long. I pointed this out to the lady owner, and she went hysterical. My assistant (another local) ran around the garden, picked up a spade and started smashing the snake to pieces. I'm shouting that its a harmless grass snake and it doesnt bite or kill, but neither of them stopped screaming till the snake was not much more than mush.

 

[Blackswanwood]

A few years ago I was working in an office alongside the Barbican in London. The office had a mouse infestation and there were numerous stories circulating of people getting a surprise when they opened a desk drawer etc to find a mouse tucking into their lunch etc.

After working late I was leaving the office via the underground service area as the reception had been locked for the night. As I came out of the stairwell into the service area coiled up in front of me was a snake. I estimated it to be at least 4 metres long.

I froze and it didn’t move. I backed up and hot footed it to find security.

The security man looked at me with amusement and incredulity clearly thinking I was looking to top all the mouse stories. We both headed back down and opened the door slowly and there it was.

Clearly dealing with a snake had not been taught as security guard school as he headed off to call his boss and left me to guard said snake. By now I had reassessed it’s size as at least 6 metres long. I couldn’t be sure but as it laid there a few droplets of extremely poisonous venom were dripping from it’s mouth ...

Several other witnesses had also accumulated who had been working late.

After half an hour the security man came back with a policeman and two colleagues armed with fire extinguishers. Me and the others were escorted from the building via the reception and all headed off.

The next day the facts emerged. The snake was a 4ft long python that had escaped some months earlier from being kept as a pet by someone living in the Barbican. The RSPCA had been called in and took it away. Presumably our office was warm and well stocked with mice so an ideal place for it to make a new home. I maintain elements of the next days story as false news and it was actually an 8 metre deadly poisonous viper that I personally wrestled into submission after a long day at the office!