The removal of some storage bins from a stack in a shed disturbed a python , above , which had been residing in there and it slithered out into the garden.
As if that was not enought reptiles for one week , out of the computer crawled another , an old Mr Hissy email .
Opened up , it revealed this large carpet snake , about three and a half metres long, named Mr Hissy , because it hissed at people, including the electrician who got a helluva fright and nearly fell off a ladder while trying to cut a hole in the roof of the house at Arnhem Nursery , Humpty Doo, Darwin , where the said Mr Hissy had been a longtime resident.
The photograph was sent to us in 2011 by the late Kerry Byrnes who, with his wife , Sandra, ran the nursery, and he also gave an ABC gardening talk.
He said the frightened electrician demanded the snake be removed before he would resume the job . The following is an extract from our blog entry about what transpired .
Kerry, a tough Taikwondo exponent and a fully paid up member of the Australasian Limp Fallers' Club , Northern Territory branch , chickened out of the eviction and called in an experienced snake handler.
According to Kerry , the hero herpetologist clambered into the confined hot roof space, just above Kerry’s bed !!!, and TALKED ??? to the reptile , obviously a snake whisperer , for 15 minutes .
Sleepy Hissy raised his head, as if listening to an Indian snake charmer, sniffed the intruder , then put his head down and appeared to resume Forty Winks .
Two towels were then gently placed over the somnolent serpent's head so that the snake man could get a firm hold.
Hissy literally hit the roof . The aroused snake wound itself around the arm of his captor about eight times and applied the big squeeze, with associated painful Indian wrist burns . It developed into a fierce rumble in the jungle .
Hissy regarded the episode as a gross home invasion, he having lived there unmolested for at least a decade . The brave snake man sought Kerry’s help to unwind the snake , otherwise he ( by now a shouting whisperer) could have passed out through loss of blood circulation!
Kerry manfully squeezed himself into the confined wrestling ring , with an atmosphere like a Turkish bath, and helped drag the powerful critter out. To make amends to his star boarder, Kerry is planning a special luxury pad for Mr Hissy in the ceiling to atone for disturbing his sleep. He may also present him with a brace of possums stuffed with a secret recipe of herbs and spices from the nursery’s kitchen garden .
Mr Hissy subsequently took up residence in an old car body and fed on tasty a la carte possums .
