Shamus the Sheep goes Walkabout - Part 5

Shamus the Brave!

Tonight I am feeling extremely proud of myself. The reason being that today I faced my biggest fear. SNAKES!

Here I am meeting two snakes that are commonly found in Queensland. I hope that you are impressed! This snake is a brown tree snake.

In Islay, there are not many things to worry about, but my biggest fear has always been coming face to face with an adder. Adders are snakes native to Scotland and in Islay they are surprisingly common. They like to live in the ferns and our farm is covered in this type of grass. However compared to the snakes over here that means nothing.

This snake I was assured was not poisonous! It is a corn snake. I was just hoping that it wasn't hungry. Funnily enough Ewan was nowhere to be seen when it was his turn to meet the snake. Hmmm!

Australia has more venomous snakes than any other country in the world. In fact some of the most deadly snakes in the word live in Australia. Great!!

There are around thirty poisonous snakes in Australia. One of the most poisonous of these being the Taipan. They can grow up to 2.5 metres long. They have enough venom in their bite to kill over 100 fully-grown men. The Taipan strikes its prey at lightening speed and then draws back to watch the poison to take effect. It then eats it's prey.

The Eastern Brown snake is the second most venomous snake in the world. They are very aggressive snakes and can grow up to 2 metres long. The Eastern brown snake lays eggs and feeds on lizards, frogs, small mammals and birds.

Some of the flock have been really worried about being bitten by snakes and wondered what they should do if they were bitten.

Ewan said that the best thing to do on seeing a snake was to run as fast as you can in the other direction. I suggested that he might want lose a few pounds if this tactic was to be a success.

We did some research and found out what you should really do. If a snake bites you you should seek medical assistance immediately. This is because if the snake is poisonous you need to take an antivenom injection to help your body fight the poison.

We were amazed to learn about how they make this antivenom. The actual venom from poisonous snakes is injected into horses. But don't worry, the horse does not feel anything. It is only a tiny amount of venom and the horse is given it very gradually. The horse then produces antibodies to fight the poison. These are then used to treat poisonous bites.

Ewan and I of course wanted to know more. How do they get the venom in the first place? You will never believe the answer! They milk the poison out of the snakes but that's another story. Anyway bed time now. Tomorrow we are going to meet some crocodiles. I hope we all make it to New Zealand in one piece! I'm off to count some sheep!

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