More words from Nick: Sunday morning snake ...

Sunday morning and we were all quietly enjoying ourselves.

Vaughan and I had been reliving memories of our previous day's rocketry adventure and had started construction of the next rocket to be fired. We were working on the large table out the front and Vaughan had gone inside. Next thing he started yelling about a snake at the back door.  I started to move around to the back but had to get my other glasses.

Once I had the right glasses on, I could see there was a mulga snake in the grass between the end of the house and the garden area. I left Rebecca and Erin to watch it while I gathered some equipment.

I didn’t have my trusty snake bag and hook as the bag had been shredded by a large goanna before we moved to Melbourne - and there is not much call for reptile handlers in Southern Victoria ‘cos it’s freezing down there.

I improvised by using Louie's broom and the bag from last week's snake relocation.

Today's snake was a little over a metre long and quite calm. He just wanted to get in out of the sun. Into the house that is. I tried to coax him away from the wall but he was not keen. The corrugations offered plenty of access to the wall cavity and it was my opinion that he would not be a welcome addition to the household.

I ended up using the broom to toss him about two meters into the grassed yard. (Rebecca just happened to be in that direction but my attention was firmly fixed on the snake).  He immediately tried to get back to the cover of the house.

These snakes are much like the red- bellied black snake in temperament and behaviour, so I continued to move him gently and he remained calm.

I tossed him over to the grass a little further then managed to keep him herded in the open area with the broom.  He was hard to tail as he kept moving back over his own length.  I laid the bag out with a small opening and managed to convince him it was the safest place to be, then fastened up the end.

Everyone was feeling a lot more relaxed when the bag was tied off, so we went and made a release video. You can watch it if you like.