As everybody knows , strange things happen in Darwin’s rural belt, what with frequent sightings of UFOs. Humpty Doo was the venue for a recent extremely close encounter . Just when an electrician was about to drill a hole to run a cable for an extension light, he discovered a large, sleeping snake, piled up inside the roof of the Arnhem Nursery bungalow. It was Mr Hissy , above , a carpet snake, who has resided in the ceiling for at least 10 years. He was having a quiet kip, digesting something about as big as a football, when the electrician spotted him and freaked out. The sparkie insisted mild mannered nurseryman , Kerry Byrnes , remove the snake , about three and a half metres long, before he would continue with the job.
Kerry, a tough Taikwondo exponent and a fully paid up member of the Australasian Limp Fallers’ Club , NT branch, chickened out and called in an experienced snake man . According to Byrnes, 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 .
