Crush your cans this summer. That’s the message from a Tasmanian snake catcher who responds to calls about snakes getting stuck inside them every year.
Olivia Dykstra, a snake catcher in Whitemore, is urging people to ‘squash all cans’ before throwing them out as a simple and easy way to prevent snakes from becoming trapped.
The warning, shared online, was accompanied by images of a snake’s head wedged in a Rockstar drink can, which had to be carefully cut open so the snake could be freed.
Dykstra said the snake, which may have been blind in one eye, was unharmed and was released back where it was found.
“Copperheads have tiny heads and their scales only go one way so they can’t back out! Poor buggers,” she wrote online.
There are three species of snakes in Tasmania, all of which are venomous, including the Tiger snake, Lowland Copperhead and White-lipped snake.
Snake activity is ‘generally limited’ to the warmer months between October and March, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s website.
“Snakes are naturally shy animals and their first form of defence is to move away from danger … they will not deliberately chase humans, but if provoked or cornered they may bluff or even attempt to bite.”
“Most people who have been bitten were attempting to kill or handle a snake or have trodden on it – an attack from the snakes’ point of view. If you encounter a snake, the best thing to do is to let the snake go its own way.”
“The fangs of Tasmanian snakes are not particularly efficient so a lot of the poison is lost on the skin’s surface or on garments that the snake may have bitten through. Outside the body, the poison is harmless.”
