Snake season starts early

AS the temperature begins to increase, so is the amount of snake callouts across Bass Coast and South Gippsland.

Local snake catcher, Kevin Girstun, believes the snake season has started early, as he’s receiving a call every two or three days.

The licensed snake catcher and relocator, who operates Snake Catching by Kev, said snakes appeared to have emerged from their winter brumation about a fortnight earlier than last year.

“I believe it actually started earlier this year, with our temperature and climate being that little bit warmer than last year,” he said.

He’s experienced recent callouts to Wonthaggi, including behind the Wonthaggi Hospital, as well as Venus Bay and Kilcunda.

He says there’s no single hotspot.

I’ve sort of been all over the place,” he said.

Snake sightings have also been noticeably more prevalent on social media feeds, including a recent sighting beside the beach-side path opposite Abbott Street in Inverloch.

Mr Girstun said warmer conditions allowed snakes to warm themselves, while the emergence from brumation also marked the start of feeding and breeding activity.

“Now they’re waking up to breed basically, so they’re coming out of brumation, breeding and feeding now,” he said.

For anyone encountering a snake along a track or in the garden, his advice was to give it space.

“They’re a defensive creature, not an offensive creature,” he said.

“So, if you get too close, it just tries defending itself.”

Mr Girstun urged residents to be particularly mindful around waterways, recounting a report from a Wattle Bank client whose children had encountered tiger snakes while swimming in a dam.

“Be very careful around any waterways,” he said.

Dogs should be kept on leads rather than allowed to run through grass where a snake could be concealed.

But encounters can also happen indoors.

Mr Girstun had to remove a snake from a bedroom earlier this year after a resident briefly left a sliding door open to let her dogs outside.

He advised residents to keep doors closed and check for small gaps through which snakes could enter, saying they sometimes look for shelter indoors to get away from excessive heat.

If a snake is found near a home, people should move children and pets well away and avoid trying to catch or kill it.

Watching its movements from a safe distance can help a catcher locate it.

If someone is bitten by a snake, they should call triple zero immediately, while staying completely still.

Ambulance Victoria also advises applying a pressure immobilisation bandage to an affected limb and splinting it to prevent movement.

Do not wash the bite site, as venom left on the skin can actually help identify the snake and thus, the required antivenom.

Although, Mr Girstun said there were only two species of snakes that local residents were likely to encounter, the lowland copperhead and the tiger snake.

Speaking with the Sentinel-Times earlier this year, he said one of the reasons we have so few snake species is because lowland copperheads are cannibalistic and eat a lot of the other snakes.

“Lowland copperheads actually eat all the other snakes, that’s why we’ve got nothing else here. They’re cannibalistic.”

A pet with a suspected snakebite needs immediate veterinary treatment. Keep it calm and quiet, and call ahead so the clinic can prepare.