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by phillc73 3085 days ago
One doesn't have to be "dumb" to be in some danger from the fangjectors.

A friend of mine was driving around his property and found the track blocked by a fallen tree. He started pulling branches off the road and trod on a tiger snake in the grass. He was bitten and survived after administration of anti-venom. He wasn't doing anything particularly dumb and probably 99.9% of the time wouldn't have trodden on a snake.

I used to work on a farm. One day after moving the irrigation sprays I went to the well to turn the pump on. Around the well was about a 3 foot high concrete wall, maybe 3 inches wide. I sat on the edge of the wall to wait until the pressure came up and sprays started working. As I turned to leave I happened to notice on the wall, about 30cm from my hand, was a red-bellied black snake sunning itself. Close call.

I remember as a child, my mother chasing brown snakes out of our front garden so they wouldn't be a danger to us children.

If you're outside of a major urban environment in Australia, snakes are around. One just needs to be a bit careful.