Yikes! Snakes Heralding The New Lunar Year At Imm�s Shelter!

In January, 5 snakes heralded the coming of the new lunar snake year.� Unfortunately for the snakes (but fortunately for our furry friends & worker), 4 were killed,� a small one by the cats,� two by Piper and Brownie, and one by the worker.� The large one, an 8 ft python, slithered away when the worker hit it to make it go away

The visit by the snakes to the shelter was probably due to heavy rains in January.� They were looking for a dry refuge.

The first incident was in early Jan.� A small snake (just over a foot in length) had slithered into the new cattery.� The worker said he only knew of the snake’s presence when he went into the cattery to do the morning cleaning.� He saw the cats gathered in a circle.� On inspection, the object of interest in the circle was a dead snake. It looked like the cats had killed the unwelcomed visitor. Thankfully none of the cats were injured.

A week later, when I arrived at the shelter, the worker informed me that 3 snakes had slithered into the common area of the dog kennels.� He was awoken by loud barking at around 4.30am.� He went out to inspect and saw Piper and Brownie attacking the snakes by jumping repeatedly on them with their paws.� P&B killed two of the snakes and he the remaining one.� Thankfully the dogs also did not sustain any bites from the snakes.

When it was brighter in the morning, the worker took pictures of the dead snakes with his handphone.� The pix of the snakes below are blurred because they were pix from the worker’s h/phone taken from my camera.� I tried to send the pix he took to my h/phone but couldn’t get it to send successfully, hence had to use the camera option.

(I’m not pasting any pictures here).

The 3rd incident .. a visit by an 8ft python was past midnight at 12.30am on 30th January.� Again the worker was woken by loud barking from the dogs.� He came out to inspect and saw the black python with yellow markings coiled on the roofing near the old cattery. He took a stick and hit it repeatedly.� The pyhton decided to make an escape.� It didn’t stay for a photo shoot.After the 2nd snake visit, we instucted the worker to sprinkle sulphur round the outside of the shelter. It was when he was clearing creepers from the outside drain to sprinke the sulphur, that he discovered the collapsed drain and the soil erosion beneath the kennel.