There's a Python, Where?

Through the magic of Twitter there is someone I keep in touch with, @justjenking, Jennifer King, who is a retired OR nurse who took up journalism and is an obituary writer Down Under, and who I once met in Penn Station as she and her husband were passing through New York on their way to Washington, D.C. where Jen, with press credentials, got to stand at the White House press conference lectern for a photo. A thrill.

Australia is known for its habitation of snakes and spiders. What we here don't realize that while we might expect the average Australian to encounter those creatures outdoors, they are both very much a presence indoors—in an Australian household.

I have seen Tweeted photos of snakes hiding behind refrigerators, and other household hiding places that if they were to occur here, we'd lose our minds. The occurrence would lead off the evening news.

I've seen Tweeted photos of frogs outside the King garden. But a most recent Tweet was a cry of anguish as Jen was mad at their dog for not doing something about the python that gained access to their bathroom at 2 A.M. Just another average day Down Under.

The dog named Postie, apparently is in the dog house as Jen Tweeted:

Our dog Postie has zero awareness of pythons. Walked right by this one just now and slept through another in the bathroom knocking everything off the sink at 2am! He does seem alert to other snakes though…[Something to be said for him, I guess.]

Along with the Tweet was a video of a python slithering its way through their garden. Lovely, colorful creature, but not something you'd like near your tooth brushes.

I was never a fan of snakes. A trip to the snake house at the Bronx Zoo as a youngsters put me off snakes forever.

Before the snake Tweet there was one about the army or frogs (that's what you call a group of frogs) that had taken up a presence as a ribbitting chorus outside their door. They were keeping it up all night. Apparently, there had been a lot of rain, and the frogs come out when it's wet in Australia.

I really don't know what a dog was supposed to do upon seeing a python (if in fact they did see the snake) in the bathroom at 2 A.M. Bark a lot? Call 999?

There are of course smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors that go off if there is a smoke/fire condition, or the leakage of odorless carbon monoxide gas.

But snakes? Snakes are cold blooded, so anytime they can get where it's warm they are appreciative. Some rural, and near-rural households in the states might have a hungry bear problem, but not snakes.

I remember one Tweet that showed kangaroos setting up shop on the King's suburban road. We've had the occasional gaggle of geese that wander up from the park at the end of the block, but the town has a "Goose Lady" who can come around with a very energetic dog who chases the geese.  I don't know what would chase a snake. Another snake?

Despite the disappointment in Postie's ability to inform the occupants of the snake in the bathroom, I can't really blame the dog. Don't pythons eat animals like dogs and cats? I wouldn't go near the damn thing either.

How do you get rid of a snake in your house? Do you call animal control?

Better the Aussies, not us.

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