The last thing most people want on their honeymoon is uninvited guests in the middle of the night.
The newly married Mr. and Mrs. Schrader of Shoal Creek got the worst kinds of guests imaginable on their honeymoon in 1894, a room full of annoyed snakes. Perhaps the only thing less welcome would be a knife-wielding maniac.
I wonder who decided that cosy little spot by the bluff would be a good place for their marital home? Clearly it was a nice place to live, the only problem was that others had already earmarked it as home.
I have heard of large amounts of snakes hibernating together, I even heard of a person who bought a country property only to find the walls of the house were packed with sleepy reptiles… eeek! Not sure if different species of snakes usually choose to hibernate together as suggested in this story though.
Either way, the reptiles tolerance of other species obviously didn’t spread to creatures with legs, with the dog and the newly-wed humans in this story all succumbing to the venom of their unwanted visitors.
The rest of the humans showed just as little tolerance. The day after the funeral they blew the side off the bluff to reveal the den, then killed all the snakes inside.
The Mercury 10 Feb 1894 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13269199
Buried words and Bushwa. 
Argh…I know I should be a lot nicer than this but…I’d have been there holding the match! Apologies to all animal lovers [my conscience included]. Snakes scare me silly.
Yeah, I want to feel sorry for the snakes, but I just can’t…
Why or why did Noah have to bring them?
I actually do like snakes, those pet ones people have. If they are out on the loose though… that is where my appreciation for them goes out the window!
I once patted a teeny tiny one that a friend had as a pet but as far as I know it wasn’t poisonous or anything. I just… can’t warm to them [yes joke intended :D]
I have a fantastic photo taken of number 2 son at Alice Springs reptile centre. We were at a presentation and when they offered the crowd the chance to hold the 3 metre python number 2 jumped up immediately. The crowd gave a collective gasp as he is quite a small person.
The handler had to wrap and wrap and wrap him in snake to keep all of the coils off the floor, the photo is pretty much a smiling head sticking out of a snake with legs at the bottom, it was probably one of the best days of number 2’s life! (yes we all had a hold of it, non-poisonous, I like those kind!)
Gah! I think I’d have been peeing myself 😦 I keep thinking back to Swiss Family Robinson and the bit where the anaconda wrapped this poor donkey in its coils…. You can tell it made a big impression on me 😉
Do you suppose you could maybe post something about possums next time? I really haven’t been sleeping well lately :p
🙂
Well this is serpently one of the worst stories I’ve read in a while. I’m afraid I’d have been as much use as a chocolate teapot in knowing which were venomous snakes and which were safe, so I’m afraid I’d have been helping you strike the match that despatched them all to snake heaven.
🙂 I’m the same, if it has no legs and one bitey end it has to go!
Many snakes have venom but their fangs are so small they can’t get through jeans etc, so even if it looks like you have been bitten you haven’t necessarily got any poison in your system. Even though I know this I still don’t care. Snakes begone!!
Reblogged this on Chad's Commonplace Book and commented:
This is about the worse honeymoon story I have every heard. There is a parable here somewhere.
Not sure what that parable might be though.
No dogs in the honeymoon suite? (If the dog hadn’t been bitten and whined they would not have got up.)
Stay busy all night on your honeymoon? (If they had been…ummm…how can I put this… making a commotion… the snakes would have stayed well away.)
To me this is something of a cautionary tale. The lesson seems to be; if your man gets up in the middle of the night and cries out in pain, don’t get up. Just leave him to it. Nurse his wounds later, just don’t jump out to help him. 😉
Yiiikkkeeeessss…. I think I would have died out of shock, even before being bitten. Snakes… ewww!!
I’m with you, it is bad enough to have a spider on the wall, but snakes underfoot…eeek!
Seems like those different types of snakes would have eaten each other. Very nasty and also very sad for the couple.
Not log ago in the news they showed a home in Idaho crawling with thousands of garter snakes. They were all over the place. The couple, who had recently bought the home, had to leave it.
*shudder* I am not sure I could ever live in a house after it had been full of snakes. Even if it had been professionally de-snakefied I would be seeing them in every shadow, behind every door….