The business portion of the meeting was quickly dealt with and the floor opened to our guest speaker.
With summer on the way and the temperatures on the rise our guest speaker, Vanessa Bull gave us some useful information on the snakes likely to be encountered on the mountain and how to deal with them.
Snakes on the Mountain
The majority of snakes on the mountain are carpet snakes and tree snakes - these are pretty harmless and not interested in you at all. Venomous snakes can be found on the mountain, but are not as common.
Generally snakes will be either looking for food or just sunning themselves and will make themselves scarce if given the opportunity.
If working in the garden, try to wear long trousers, shoes and gloves - a frightened snake may strike, but even the venomous ones are less likely to penetrate the skin if you are wearing protective clothing.
If you find a snake in your home or garden and it worries you there are snake catchers listed in the local phone directory. While waiting for a snake catcher to arrive, try to keep an eye on where the snake is (from a safe distance!) as the snake may have scarpered by the time anyone arrives to relocate it.
Vanessa with a small carpet snake she was relocating:
Snake bites!
The majority of snake bites are on limbs, and far too many are obtained when people try to handle a snake - there is no need to try to catch a snake, identification can be done using a swab, and the snake is usually trying to get away anyway. If a snake does need to be moved on call a licensed snake catcher!Demonstrating bandaging a snake bite - the bandaging is to limit movement of the limb, not to cut off blood circulation.
Note the "relaxed" state of the patient - they should move as little as possible as muscle movement will help the venom move around their body. In this case the patient has already been lowered into a chair to keep them comfortable and stop them from moving around. Vanessa is supporting the arm to bandage it - the patient should try to stay as much like a rag doll as possible.
- Do not clean or touch the wound, the snake can be identified using a sample of the venom left on the skin. If possible mark the site of the bite so a doctor can find it later.
- Remove any jewellery, rings or watches on the limb as the the limb may swell.
- Start bandaging at the bite, down to the fingers or toes(leaving the tips uncovered) and bandage back up the limb past the bite.
- If the patient is wearing heavy clothing(eg jeans) bandage as best you can over their clothing.
- Remember that the bandaging is only to immobilise the limb, not to stop circulation!
- Call an ambulance(000, triple-0) to collect the patient as soon as possible
It is better to leave the patient where they are, and have an ambulance come to them rather than moving them and risk moving the venom around their body.
More information
Vanessa had a small number of copies of an information sheet about snakes produced several years ago by the Scenic Rim Council - we couldn't find this on their website so have scanned it here as a PDF(may require Adobe Acrobat) and here as an image(larger file size).
Representatives from Landcare had copies of their book "The Snakes of Tamborine Mountain" at the meeting, but you can still buy a copy at the Piccabeen bookshop(down the alleyway beside "The Talk of the Town" cafe in Main Street).
Thank you Vanessa for a very informative talk!
