snake in summer

[damian 0]

I was riding along a little river (Nogawa) near my house today and saw a snake of approx 130cm in length lazing around in the sun on the cycle way next to the river. I stoped about 3 feet from it and he just took a casual look at me and went on his way. It was pretty cool, I didn't expect to see a snake in Tokyo.

 

I got off my bike and tried to find it in the rocks but then realised I was dressed in a pair of stubby shorts*, a Bonds singlet and an adidas runners. Not the best snake hunting clobber. I could just imagine if I was bitten and got my photo in the paper "Australian Bitten By Snake", with me in a photo dressed like a classic aussie yobbo.

 

Last week along the same river I saw a woman walking her pet...... monkey.

 

* I think stubbies are a unique Australian abomination of fashion.

[Ocean11 0]

At the end of last summer, I was out for a walk with my son when we came across what looked like a dead snake. It wasn't particularly big, but it had interesting diamond patterns on it.

 

While my son implored me not to fool around with snakes, dead or not, I got a stick and poked it. When the snake came very much alive and coiled up in a biting pose, I realized that I had selected too short a stick for my purpose. Only by performing a remarkable standing backwards jump was I able to surprise the snake into not striking.

 

On my bike I have nearly run over snakes on country roads that I mistook for lengths of old rope. I also once saw a grim scene on a road - from the inside of a squashed and ruptured snake emerged an unscathed but nevertheless dead frog. They were both staring at nothing with glassy eyes.

[slow 0]

Nogawa!

I know that place. When I visited there in spring, I felt nature. Well may you can find snakes there. There is nothing like Nogawa around Tokyo now.

 

Anyway, 130cm length snake is pretty big!

Are you playing at being Steve Irwin, db? Be careful.

[Stefan 0]

 Quote:

Not the best snake hunting clobber. I could just imagine if I was bitten and got my photo in the paper "Australian Bitten By Snake", with me in a photo dressed like a classic aussie yobbo.

Forgive me for saying so, but I reckon 'Aussie bitten by snake' sounds a little cliched. How about:

"Over zealous fashion dinosaur terrorizes snake"

[damian 0]

You are forgiven, Mr Mat. Your headline is somewhat more acurate as well.

 

Ocean, this fellow had a very subtle diamond pattern as well. What I noticed most about him was that rather than being quite black and shiny like snakes I am used to, it was quite dull and matt. Also a lot thinner than many Australian snakes. At first I didn't think it was a snake. I really wanted to get a picture of it so that i could later identify it. Snakes lend themselves very well to identification by appearance. I wonder how venemous it was.

 

As for Nogawa, Slow has said it well. It is a great 'secret' in Tokyo. The lower reaches are pretty ordinary (ie, the closer it gets to the ugly Tamagawa) but the further you travel out of Tokyo, the better it gets. One weekend I followed it for 2.5 hours trying to get out of Tokyo. It was sad when I eventually reached the place where it was coming out of a big pipe.

 

Some stretches of the river, more like a stream or a creek actually, are quite excellent in Tokyo standards. You can either use the cycle path or you can actually go down into the creek and ride along the shore... grass and everything. In usual Tokyo fashion there is a lot of cement, but for the most you feel like you are in a big grassy trench. The trench is wide enough that you do not actually notice. The benefit of riding along the grass is that you can go under the bridges that cross the stream. I also let my dog off the lead and he runs along next to my bike. Since finding Nogawa I have been taking my dog for serious 2 hour strolls ON GRASS (yes, in Tokyo) and with a creek for him to play in and cool off with. Today we rode at a very slow pace and he got a good 3 hours of freedom. Then I put him back in my bike basket and he cruises the stretch home.

 

One part of Nogawa is very nice. There is a very well kept and strict nature reserve and nearby is Nogawa Koen, which was once a Universuty, then a golf course, now a medium sized park. This area is alive with families and people at play. Lots of dogs in teh creek plus kids catching dragonflys and old geezers feeding the Coi (carp, not sure how to spell it). plus turtles. In one stretch there is even a large cement area that looks as though it is old storm water management stuff with some good skating terrain in the cement. It is not that good at all in reality, but the first skatable small cement waves I have seen in Tokyo. Today there was a crew of young guys having beers and a BBQ and doing some skating.

 

If you are tired of typical Tokyo then I commend Nogawa to you as an excellent area to kick back and have some reasonably peaceful and uncrowded fun.

 

It is also good for snake hunting.

[Ocean11 0]

When I was hitchhiking once, my 'ride' told me that identifying Japanese snakes by their colour and pattern can be a tricky business as there is so much variation within the species in Japan. A certain snake of a certain species may be almost black, while another of the same species may be brown. The fella seemed to be an outdoorsman-type who knew what he was talking about...

 

All concrete should be designed with skaters in mind. Otherwise, what use is it?

[damian 0]

I have since being doing some research and it appears that you are right, Ocean. There is also an amazing number of snakes species in Japan. I had no idea there were so many. Only a small percentage appear to be venomous.

 

I actually know a very good way of telling if a snake is venomous or not (short of letting it bite you and waiting 30 minutes to see if you die). The problem is that you need to pick it up and look at its stomach to tell, and I like to know if a snake is venomous before I go picking it up. Catch 22.

[nagoid 4]

I really do hate snakes big time. When I was younger I got bitten by one (nothing serious) and it has made me fear them forever. Go away!

[damian 0]

Snake bites hey? I too have a day that I will never forget. It has stayed clear in my mind for 23 years or so.

 

When I was about 7 yrs old one of the kids in my class had his father bring in a carpet python (not venomous) that they caught in their garden. The kid thought he was the star of the class room and was showing off by man-handling this rather large snake. The snake got shitty and bite him on the leg. Its mouth was huge and his leg was skinny, the snake had latched on. We all started screaming, the kid being consumed was howling, the teacher was freaking out and the father was pulling on the snakes tail trying to get the snake off his son. He was yanking and yanking at the snakes tail and we were screaming and freaking out. The snake eventually let go and this kid was lying on the floor with a big bloody wound on his leg and appeared close to passing out. The father shoves the python back in the sack and proceeds to slam the python-heavy sack onto the class room floor in an attempt to kill the poor snake. I can just remember him slamming this sack over and over onto the floor with all his strength. By this stage there was total hysterical mayhem.

 

I don't doubt anyone in the class has forgotten that episode.

[enderzero 0]

That sounds traumatic enough.

 

I can just imagine db pedalin down the river trail on his cruiser, singlet and stubbies, Lloyd riding shotgun in the basket. I am sure you get more than a couple interested looks from the ladies, playa.

[jared 0]

Id say stubbies count as provogative clothing and if you get raped it will be your own fult.

[snowboard_freak 0]

What that father did is just plain bloody cruel. I mean he's handling a snake that belongs in nature and then he gets all stressed and slaughters the poor snake because it defends itself. And to do it in front of room of 7 year olds - what the hell is he thinking. Friggin' moron.

[hide 0]

I love snakes! Am I nearly alone about it? They are wonderful creature.

[snowboard_freak 0]

No hide you are not alone, i love snakes as well. Seeing as there is a Simpsons topic going i'd like to quote an older episode -

 Quote:

Hooray for snakes!

[Ocean11 0]

This mixture of 'stubbies' and 'snakes' in one topic is doing my head in. I'm getting them confused.

[damian 0]

for aussies and yobbos and snakes and beer (and no doubt stubbie shorts), read the section in the text titled snake lovers

 

UPDATE: i just found that this drongo gets a mention in the Dawin Awards

[mikazooki 0]

i have some homie oo's been struck at 3 times when i've been wit' him, an'

avoided venom every time. da scariest bein' when some tiga' snake (down low,

no. 5 o' daidliest in da world) had some go at him when hikin'. earlia' dat day

i chided him 4 bein' some played out fart an' carryin' some steppin' stick. he

said its not some steppin' stick, its some snake stick. anyway without da damn

stick t' deflect da damn strike he wouldve been some much less happy campa',

afta' meetin' mr angry tiga' snake. tiga' snakes be fraiks in dat they be so's

aggressive.

 

i likes snakes only when they aint some threat t' me o' mah crew.

 

yo, keep it real db, word down.

[damian 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by mikazooki:
yo, keep it real db, word up.

huh?

[mikazooki 0]

i wrote about snakes bothering me or my crew, which sounded a bit odd bad arse, so i followed up with some bad arse street lingo to prove my cred to the doubters. just so long as u know i'm bad - thats all u need to know.

[enderzero 0]

I know yous a bad mutha fuka bruva.

[damian 0]

Close encounter #2.

 

I was strolling with my mut after dark tonight, the usual route along a little Tokyo cement river. On the way home I came across another Joe Blake. This guy was in the middle of the narrow path... and going nowhere. At first I thought he was dead. Nope, just snoozing. With nothing else on my person bar a silly dog and a plactic bag containing his output I was kind of stuck for a means of encoraging the snake to get out of my way. The dog was getting rather excited by our find so I had to pick him up. This put an end to my snake handling ambitions. I waited for a few more minutes and in the end just slowly walked past him. He lifted his head a little and had a look at me, did a bit a a slither and that was it.

 

Thats 2 snakes in 9 days.

 

I am Mr Hibi.

[woywoy 0]

Damn Straight. Mr "HEBI" indeed!

[Ocean11 0]

I was just puttering around in my car looking for a nice picnic spot to eat my unagi bento when I chanced to drive over a dead, rotten snake that burst under my back wheel. Immediately one of the most revolting stenches I have ever encountered filled my car. Trying to get away from the smell nearly made me panic, and the smell stayed with the car and in my nostrils for an hour afterwards. Trying to eat my bento without making the associations was an ordeal.

[Stefan 0]

Yeah those Bento sets don't smell too good.

 

db it seems that the snakes are after either you or the mutt. If it came down to a straight you or poochy, would you take the hit of venom??

 

My one experience with a snake has provided me with a lasting image. My 30+ year-old ex-boss who was WAY outta shape attempting to remove the non-venomous belly slider(which wasn't known till later) out from underneath a female employees bed, armed with BBQ prongs and tea towel!

 

He was surprisingly agile (for someone who looked so outta shape) and had a rather effeminate yelp...as discussed on the BBQ thread, I left the fool to act the hero, I was shaking through repressed laughter, at him and the young lady, who had turned white.....

[damian 0]

first off, where the hell do you work? Female employee beds, snakes, BBQ tongs. Sounds just like my office

 

And would I take the hit over my dog. 100% yes. Any day. There are only a few snakes that could kill me where as many could kill him.