Pockets full of bugs, stones, feathers, grasses and rescued birds are part of homesteading childhood. Snakes?! Snakes?!!!!! Give me a minute while I run up the mountainside screaming....
Where we live there is a lot of wild life. A lot. Of Wild life Among the magnificent animals and birds we see there are also the far more dangerous variety. Most we don't see. Many we do. I'm not easily rattled. But a snake? I. DON'T. LIKE.
In a decade we have yet to see leopard - or not. We have occasionally had Scorpions in our house - thankfully we always see them when they see us and not after! And then there are snakes. We've had far too many - and far too many close encounters - for my liking. We have among the most venomous in the world. The first two years while we were taming our new homestead we came scarily close to snakes: The lazy but deadly Puff Adder as well as the famous Cape Cobra. We also occasionally see a Boomslang but he is always safely sailing through the trees. The reason we have so many cats is twofold. Rats is one of them. Snakes is the other. Sadly we still lost one of our cats to a Cobra.
Dealing with the reality of snakes is part of homesteading life. Having small children we are extra cautious. Educating them about potential dangers in the country is more important than teaching them ABC. Before they could walk they knew that those slithering things were not to be touched! Although they have seen venomous snakes it has never been a close encounter - HalleluYah - and will never be. Then yesterday on our return home we met with a massive Cape Cobra.
He was nearly two metres in length, stretching across the dirt road. As we slowed to show the children he reared up, flairing his hoodie in anger at us. We were safe in the vehicle but it felt like he would chew through the metal to reach us. Relieved to get home we then tended our animals. Underneath one of the water bowls, blissfully curled up, was this beautiful snake. At the time neither I nor FarmerBuckaroo saw the beauty part. Just the snake. Without awaiting our instructions the children backed slowly away. And then our neighbour arrived.
He is a retired wildlife specialist. He spent most of his life working for the parks board in a game ranging and anti-poaching capacity. He knows his stuff! Happily for us he always comes to our rescue when we are overwhelmed by the Wild of the area. He nonchalantly reached down, cooing as if the snake was a little chicken. "A spotted Skaap Steeker! And he just shed his skin." He smiled. "Here you can hold him"; he said to the children "He's safe. Not venomous. Just be gentle!!!" While the fascinated Buckaroo Babies carefully held the beautiful snake they were given a brief lesson; "Old farmers wrongly named this little guy 'sheep stabber' because they often found them near a dead sheep that had been bitten by a snake - probably the Cape Cobra. But the Skaap Steeker has tiny teeth set far back in his jaw. His neurotoxic venom is so mild, that he's incapable of killing any large animal, only frogs or mice. Which he eats. They're really gentle natured and don't want to bite even when provoked. He's one of the few snakes in our area that you can handle. But! You NEVER pick up a snake unless you know it is safe!!"
After the impromtu homeschooling lesson, we took a walk to a safe and undisturbed rocky ledge and let the spotted Skaap Steeker go. I then reiterated that they were to NEVER pick up a snake because most of those in our area are venomous. And not friendly.
