we have guinea fouwl- or had- in the countryside where i live. Pa bought them for a king' s randsom- by khmer standards- a grown fowl goes for about $20,-, and we never see snakes around the farm. But that is about all they are good for: ooh what stupid fellows they are, any other predator will get them. now there is only one left, must be the einstein of guinea fowls.
cats love to stalk snakes, as any other thing that moves,and if it is a small snake, the cat will usually win, but there is always the once off that the snake is faster. snakes usually keep their poison to stun and kill their prey, and they need it, so they use it only to hunt or if they feel their life is threatened. Problem is; when does a snake feel threatened...? They are deaf, but have a keen sense of smell and they do feel vibrations on the ground, the reason we always'plod' - stamp- when we go through any grassy or leafy enviroment. so when there is a snake around, one usually sees it slithering away- fast.
we do not worry unduly, but have to be very careful as there is no anti venom in the whole country: when you get bitten by something serious snakewise, you get amputated if possible. that makes for a rather strange statistic: only twenty percent of all amputations here are landmines, the rest are motorcycle accidents and snakebites.
well there is antivenom, the russians who have the snakefarm around the corner, do. they are a lovely family and help everybody who gets bitten, a lot of people, when they run out, and it happens, times are grim.
the snake house,as the russians named itused to be a dreary old snakefarm,but a fewyearsago theytransformed it into a restaurant, beautiful place: a jungly enviroment with huge, safe, terraria, each houses its own brand of snakes, even in the glass topped dining tables one can watch lazy pythons hanging around while waiting for the food. they also have a croc. in a watery enviroment. his name is woof, because he ate the neighbour's puppy that ventured into his domein. there are no glass or other dividers, woof is on a leash... pretty well secured, but if he decides h dislikes you he will try to fly at you, makes for one interesting dining experience.
as i said the russians are very nice people, nicolai- the father has taught us the basic' s of safe, well safe..., snake handling and lets us play with samantha the humonguous python. she weighs about 60kg these days, quite a load to carry around one's neck...
next to the russians lives little max with mad his wife and emily his little daughter in his guesthouse. a wonderful place for a dreamy afternoon and a good meal. we all adore his jungle garden,giant butterflies, birds and the odd wild monkey pass. Monkey! everybody will grab a slingshot should the animal get aggressive. Monkeys are actually pretty dangerous, and as their enviroment gets smaller and smaller as snookyville gets buid up, they are bound to be bad humored.
of course a garden like this has its downside.
Max has a giant mango tree, great fruit. a falling coconut will kill you, a mango won't but is good for a nice bruise anytime. so after diving for cover on a regular base, mad decided to take the fruit out and let them ripen off the tree in the sun. she worked away with a rake for a while, max and me were relaxing, out glasses off in the heat. Snake!, mad had raked one straight out of the tree, it landed in a shower of fruit right at her feet. max and me grabbed sticks and ran toward the snake. a small one: what is it, (max) i forgot my glasses, me: i don't know,forgot mine too. well we managed to kill it anyway, upon retrieving our glasses we found we had been right: a samll but rather poisonous viper. they are aggressive too.
will try to get pictures of our drunken friends on
the site next week end.
take care
tanja
