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PROTECTING PETS FROM SNAKES IN YOUR BACKYARD · The Real Estate Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, Cam, last week on The Real Estate Show, we
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: had an awesome chat with Gavin Smith from ACT Snake
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Removals about, you know, more snakes being out and about
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, what kind of snakes we're seeing and
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  Speaker 1: why we're seeing more of them and, you know, what
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  Speaker 1: it means for him and his job as a snake
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  Speaker 1: catcher and all of that. It was a great chat,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: but we didn't get time to... dig down on all
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the things we wanted to chat about, one of which
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  Speaker 1: was how do we protect our pets? Because this is
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  Speaker 1: a very, very real concern for many people in Canberra.
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  Speaker 2: And so you know what we can do?
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  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: We can just have Gavin back on the show.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Let's get him back on. He's on the phone right now. Gavin,
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  Speaker 1: good morning.
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  Speaker 3: Morning, Renee. Morning, Cam.
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  Speaker 1: Now, thank you so much for your time last week
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  Speaker 1: and coming on again today. Can we briefly recap last
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: week's chat? What are the most common snakes found in
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  Speaker 1: Canberra and the Capital Region?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so eastern brown snake, about 80% of calls we
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  Speaker 3: get for that guy. So that's the absolute dominant snake,
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  Speaker 3: highly venomous species, very nervous, very agile, very shy. And
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  Speaker 3: then red-bellied black snake is the number two snake we get,
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  Speaker 3: about 15% of call-outs. Also keen to avoid a conflict,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: keen to avoid confrontation. Black top, kind of red flanks,
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  Speaker 3: so lovely, lovely snake. And then the odd tiger snake.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw a picture that someone posted from Queanbeyan
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  Speaker 2: of a big, big red-bellied black snake that was sort
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  Speaker 2: of just basking in the sun on the grass. So
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  Speaker 2: they're around, mate. Let's talk about an encounter because what
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  Speaker 2: we didn't get to last week was pets and snakes.
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  Speaker 2: And so, again, we're talking about people who are backing
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  Speaker 2: onto bushland. There's lots of people who back onto parkland
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  Speaker 2: as well in the ACT and then people who live
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  Speaker 2: in the regional areas. So what will usually happen is
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  Speaker 2: if a dog in the backyard or out and about
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  Speaker 2: sees a snake.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, this is the biggest conflict for me and
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  Speaker 3: the biggest issue I sort of work with. So the
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  Speaker 3: dog sense or sees the snake, runs up to it,
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  Speaker 3: thinks it's either a moving rope or, you know, is
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  Speaker 3: in that kind of high prey drive mode, the turf defense,
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  Speaker 3: whatever you want to, you know, whatever it is that
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  Speaker 3: is the orientation, and then basically grabs the snake that's
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  Speaker 3: trying to usually get away from the dog by the
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: back end and the snake spins around the And might
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  Speaker 3: bite the dog around the snout area or on the
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  Speaker 3: paws or whatever. And sometimes snakes will, you know, try
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  Speaker 3: and defend themselves. They realize they can't outrun and outmaneuver
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  Speaker 3: a dog. So they'll get into that S-shaped pose and,
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  Speaker 3: you know, like an eastern brown snake and just hope
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  Speaker 3: they can intimidate the dog off. But that generally doesn't
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  Speaker 3: work with a dog with a high prey drive. And, actually,
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  Speaker 3: just the other day in Canberra, I had exactly that
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  Speaker 3: scene where a small dog approached a very large brown
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  Speaker 3: snake and went right up into the snake's personal space.
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  Speaker 3: The snake got all defensive. And, thankfully, the dog didn't
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  Speaker 3: get bitten, and the snake did receive a couple of
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  Speaker 3: bites from the dog, but was okay. So this happens
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  Speaker 3: just all the time. So, yeah, it's a big issue
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  Speaker 3: for us.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So, and like Cam said, you know, people who are
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: back onto reserves and all that, but also just people...
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  Speaker 1: In regular suburbs, you hear of this happening as well.
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  Speaker 1: What can we do to protect our pets in these situations,
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  Speaker 1: particularly dogs?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, so it's just really important to say, and
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  Speaker 3: I mentioned this last week, you can't prevent, completely prevent
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  Speaker 3: entry from a snake. It's just impossible. I did advise
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  Speaker 3: that people could think about sunshade cloths being affixed to
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  Speaker 3: fences from the bottom, quite high up, so the snake
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  Speaker 3: basically can't get through and slides down the cloth. But
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think you've got to understand and people
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  Speaker 3: need to realise that You know, snakes don't want a
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  Speaker 3: confrontation with a dog. They see a dog as a threat.
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  Speaker 3: So there is a lot of misconception out there about
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  Speaker 3: these creatures that, you know, they're aggressive and they'll have
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  Speaker 3: a go at dogs, but they really are trying to
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  Speaker 3: get away from the dogs. So a couple of things
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  Speaker 3: I would say, practical things, is certainly, you know, don't
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  Speaker 3: use rope toys with your dogs. That's really, really important.
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  Speaker 3: I also think it's important to note that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: dogs are not a deterrent to snakes. So I hear
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people saying to me, oh, yeah, I've
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  Speaker 3: got a dog. You know, there's not going to be
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  Speaker 3: a snake in my yard, is there? And I'm like, no,
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  Speaker 3: absolutely not true. And you can look into sort of
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  Speaker 3: dog training options. There are different providers around ACT in
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  Speaker 3: New South Wales. And I'd advise people to do some
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: research on that and work out. You speak to some
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  Speaker 3: of the trainers, learn what their techniques are. I have
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  Speaker 3: heard some really good success stories from people that have
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  Speaker 3: trained their dogs. So it can be done with some. breeds.
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  Speaker 3: Keeping yards tidy, obviously, is really important to say. And
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  Speaker 3: then I think a snake-proof dog run is where I
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  Speaker 3: would like to see people go more with, which is
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  Speaker 3: built off the ground and has, again, sunshade cloth around it,
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  Speaker 3: fixed to it. I mean, I can certainly help people,
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  Speaker 3: advise people on that front if they want to contact
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  Speaker 3: me about how to go about doing that, because I
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  Speaker 3: think that's a really good method this time of year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. And all right, Gavin, well, any last bits
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  Speaker 1: of advice or bits of gold you want to mention
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  Speaker 1: to people in Canberra who might be in these situations?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think just know what the symptoms of snakebite
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  Speaker 3: are in dogs. It's really important to do some research
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  Speaker 3: on that. There's lots of great stuff in veterinary websites
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  Speaker 3: and social media pages. I think, you know, really think
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: seriously about the snake-proof dog run idea that I'm talking about,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: particularly September, October, November, busiest peak times for snake movement activity.
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  Speaker 3: And I just, yeah, I see this so often in
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  Speaker 3: this situation. It's so tragic. So I'm also going to
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  Speaker 3: be doing more research on this. I'm actually doing research
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  Speaker 3: on this right now, this topic of dog-snake conflict. So
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  Speaker 3: I'm very keen, and I've done a bit more research
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: on it, to come back on and talk about some
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  Speaker 3: things we've found and things I can suggest. the track
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  Speaker 3: as well. Confirmed. It's done.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you just name a date and we'll make that happen. Gavin,
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  Speaker 1: thank you so much. I love all the work that
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: you're doing around. You know, last time we spoke to
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: you out at Royala, about to catch a snake there.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And yeah, thank you so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, both. Great to speak to both
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  Speaker 3: of you, as always.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Cheers.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Gavin Smith from ACT. Snake removals there. Gosh, it's an
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: interesting topic, isn't it?