Shit, there's a snake in the cage!
Thus yesterday will always be known as Shit, there's a snake in the cage - the massacre.
Easy to joke about now, but last night, when we heard a noisy disturbance coming from the bird aviary holding our mumma and 7 baby guinea fowl, we didn't quite expect to find what we did.
It was night, so The Hubbster and I grabbed our torches and went to the cage, to find the mother bird scared (my guineas are the only ones in history scared of snakes!) and the babies crying in the corner. And I say crying because they were terrified.
Their little birdy tweets told me so.
In the corner was a big brown tree snake squeezing the life out of one of the babies.
It was a terrible sight. We grabbed the closest "long" thing we could find - the pool leaf scooper, and tried to pick the snake up to remove it from the cage. We couldn't get a grip and it slid back under the back of the cage.
Note - when I write "we" I actually mean "The Hubbster".
I held the torch and the camera!
We didn't know what to do. From the time we went and made sure the kids were standing on the table, as we have a rule here that is "when there's a snake about, stand on the table", to the time we walked back to the cage, the snake had gone BACK in and was squeezing a second baby AND eating ANOTHER baby alive.
It was horrific. The other babies were crying, the mumma bird was frantic.
I felt sick.
We opened the cage and let the mother bird out, and used our cute little fishing net to scoop the remaining 4 babies out and they found their mumma and took off into the paddock.
We left the snake there to finish his meal and we were going to try to scoop it out when it was nice and fat. The kids had a quick look when the baby was in the snakes belly, and we could see the big lump moving down as the baby was digested.
He then disappeared under the cage again, but left the other two dead babies there.
Killed three, ate one.
I have some photos of the incident, but I'm not going to post them because they are very graphic and upsetting. If you would like to see them out of curiosity, I can email you.
Instead, here are the remaining 4 survivors, who don't seem too frazzled or traumatised today.
Unlike me, who is definately not frazzle free.
20 comments:
how frightening....I hate snakes...so brave of you both
The poor Bubba's & Mummy :( So far we haven't had any snakes in with the chooks or the bird avery... I dread the day.
Love the idea of kids on the table when there's a snake. Might impliment that with the kids.
Hope you had a FABULOUS Christmas xxx
Poor you and poor guineas. I'm glad they are not traumatized today and I'm sorry you are.
OMG. What a frightening thing to see. So sad for those poor chicks but I guess that's snakes for you. xx
p.s Love how you use the royal "we". xx
I suppose at least because you actually saw it, you are not left wondering the next morning ... "what happened to those guinea fowl ... all gone." So really, you are heroes!
I'm speechless.
In a disgusted, sad way.
I'll thank you in advance for tonight's nightmare, shall I??!!
(You did warn me.)
:-)))
I'm upset at the thought of the crying baby birds and the terrified mother. I certainly don't need to see the snake.
How will you prevent the snake getting in again?
The remaining babies look quite perky and cute.
shit, that's no good. I thought guinea fowl were sposed to scare snakes away? That's why we have them here around the house. Hate snakes.Poor mum and little ones though, and poor you. What a horrible thing to find.
Awwww, poor things - you and the babies! What ever will you do???
This does sound terrible. None of us would like to rush around to find our baby farm animals being eaten by a predator. My husband would have killed the snake --- overkill --- he's terrified of them so he would've still be killing it long after it was dead.
Being afraid of a snake will make you do things like that.
And your kids on the table, that cracked me up because me and my siblings had to do the same thing when growing up...get on the table for snakes, etc. but it was really funny when our mother would join us.
Lana
Oh, that's so sad. I hope you all recover from such an awful happening. And that the snake goes away. Far, far away. I'd be slightly more than frazzled in your shoes!!
Oh, the poor things. I hate snakes!
I so would not have coped well with that. I am petrified of snakes. Glad you didnt put the pics up... Poor birds. :-(
There is never a dull moment at your place Michelle, especially in the snake department, thank goodness you manged to save some of your feathered babies!!!
Oh no, you poor things, I like snakes but wouldn't wish that on anyone, hope you are all ok and recovering from the shock now Xxx
Oh Poor babies!
I had a little duck once that I found all alone. It loved me, slept in my bed, drove in my lap!
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"when there's a snake about, stand on the table" - that's not a rule, that's a knee-jerk reaction, isn't it?!!
A knee-jerk reaction Petajo? Would you rather me keep my children on the ground in direct line to the snake?
Do you live in the bush and have to cope with snakes on a daily basis?
If not, good for you. This works for our family and so far so good.
Have a nice day.
Not nice to experience I imagine. Though survival is pretty tough.
CJ x
CJ It is certainly survival of the fittest out here!
Thank you ladies for you lovely kind comments xx
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