They dont worry me one bit, just leave them alone and walk away the vibration from your foot steps will make them move anyway. I know that people get scared when they see them, but the poor snake is probably more scared that us...... What I hate to read about is people attacking them with a spade or a lump of wood then they moan when they get bitten, after all its their backyard too, and they were probably there a long time before we came so just be carefull....Cheers..MM.

yep wattleblossom walk away have a drink when you come back the snake will likely be gone and you may never sight it again.........also the downside of having frogs etc.,. in the garden is they are food for snakes as are rodents.........len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Wattle blossom, I am the first to say I hate snakes but am in awe of them when I do come across them...even when they have scared the absolute daylights out of me. If you have a snake in you garden remember to wear gloves and stout shoes when out there.I have to be careful on my farm with a vegetable garden next to the chook yard.I quite often carry a rake or a tomato stake when I am poking around.Just in case.HAving said that I have noticed an absence of mice in the chook house so I have to keep my eyes open.

They are everybodies friend and they are economical, they don't eat much if they are silly enough to bite you. Doug.

I saw for the first time ever 2 dugites mating...it was almost hypnotic to watch, quite facinating!!!!!!!!!! I always wear gumboots, summer and winter and we don't see terribly many although of course they are out there....just keep around the house tidy and grass short and be aware I guess...TIna

I saw a brown snake just before Christmas, but that was OK because I was a few metres from it and standing up at the time, so I just walked away. Yesterday was different, I was on my knees, cutting away the geraniums which were scorched last week, and there it was, a red-bellied black snake about 50cm from my face and much closer to my hands and knees. I'm sure it was just as concerned about getting away from me as I was of it, but I didn't wait around to find out. I don't hate snakes and would never wish them any harm, but yesterday's experience was just a little too close for comfort. It was also only about 5 metres from our front door!

they're good if you can see them. I was bitten by something last friday evening - gave me terrible pains in the foot and ankle for about 24 hours, just like a very badly sprained ankle. No swelling just the pain. I didn't see whether or not it was a large spider or a small snake - the doctor was none the wiser either. Needless to say I no longer wander around bare foot - I'm a bit nervous about that. Though I do have a lovely set of fang marks on the outide of one of my feet.

Most of you don't sound like you have dogs. Our dogs are our kids and snakes here are a no no. A good snake is a dead snake here - you would feel the same way too if your 'kids' were outside with the snakes a real threat to their lives - dogs don't how that you walk away from them. Needless to say in suburban southern Sydney they are not a big threat, however we are near national park, also near the railway line (they love the long grass) and are coming out looking for water. With an aviary and the rodents it attracts, they are a real worry. They have a place - and that place is not suburbia.

I absolutely hate the dreadful things. Over the years they have killed so many of our pet and working dogs for no reason at all as they were too big for them to eat... I am forever thankfull for the dogs though, as they were the front guard to our children on many occasions and sadly payed the price for being so faithfull..... One of the things that really gets my Dander up is to see some idiots on a children's T.V. programme playing round with a safe snake and telling the children how wonderful they are,.....I wonder if they have seen a child trying to catch a brown snake to have a little play with it..As I said, Thank God for the wonderful dog we lost who saved our child from the snake.. Marion

yes marion,

those wildlife shows have a lot to answer for i reckon, kids should not see images of someone playing with snakes and even spiders, even an an other wise non-venomous snake like a python can cause very young children problems.len

Yes we have some land a couple of hours out of Melbourne and I wont even take our 2 beloved dogs there in spring and summer because the area abounds in brown snakes. We used to have a tiger snake that lived in the veggie patch, that was fun.
Actually to get off topic a bit , one of our friends had a dog very badly ripped by a kangaroo. Nasty. He did recover but required stitches.

So far this summer we haven't seen any snakes - touch wood - but usually have a few around the house yard. I have no doubt they are there - maybe it is too hot for them :-)(well, it is for every thing else). We usually see whip snakes, green snakes, carpet, keel-backs, red-bellies and browns in the yard and we have had a young brown in the house and I've surprised a green tree snake trying to get through a hole in the screen.

My son stood on a red-belly black, back in August. It was lying in long grass on a slope when my son was going down to turn the pump on at the dam. He actually stood on the snake, thought it was an old fallen branch, and the snake rolled under his foot. If the snake hadn't rolled it probably would've bitten my son but I think it confused the snake. That is the fastest my son has ever moved :)

Luckily my dogs seem to avoid snakes, if they see one the dogs just take a wide berth.

Saw a black snake at Marysville on Wednesday last. Noise of the whipper snipper flushed him out and it raced across the path and down towards the house into bushes. Put on the gaiters and jiggled the wsnipper around to now avail. House is a block from the forest so not surprised.
Believe it or not the next day at another house in 'suburbia' at Marysville, the better half heard a rustle in a bush, thought nothing of it, went to the tap, turned around to be confronted by a brown , (head in the air, tongue out) heading down the path towards the back door and the water tap. Lesson here is get rid of the water source, clean out the wood heap, keep the dog in, wear the gaiters, don't poke around under bushes with bare hands as I do and if I see it again then .......! I know they are protected but I rent the houses out and don't want guests or their children bitten. Hopefully they are in transit.