It has been a sad week at The Blue Mountains Menagerie.On Thursday I found Eb injured in the yard. I don't know what happened but she couldn't walk. I have had no success with injured birds surviving long term. So Eb went to the vet to be euthansed. Tide was very distressed and so was I. The vet and the nurse were very understanding but I felt like a horrible duck murderer.
I am hoping to find a home for Tide with other mallard type ducks soon as he is a lonley boy now.
On Saturday I found Digby barking madly at something in the bushes. I thought he had bailed up a rat or lizard. Alas, he was in the process of killing a red belly black snake.
I was home alone with the kids and not really sure what to do. Molly and Clancy came as soon as I called them inside but there was no way Digby was going to leave the snake. When I called him he would start to come, still carrying the thrashing about snake.
Of course I freaked out.
Thankfully I managed to get a friend on the phone who helped me calm down and suggested he might come if I showed him some food. She was right and I got him into his crate.
There were no obvious bite marks but given the length of time he had been 'playing' with the snake I assumed he had been bitten. I called the lovely people at North Richmond Vet Hospital and they said to bring him down straight away. The vets there really know their stuff when it comes to dogs and I had decided long ago that even in an emergency I would drive past the three local vets to take my animals there.
Digby was looking fine and appeared to be his usual bouncy self. But apparently the reaction can take more than 12 hours to appear. It was decided that he would be treated with black snake anti venom and put on fluids.
I spoke to the vet this morning and she believes it is pretty certain that he was actually bitten by the snake as there is blood in his urine. He will be in hospital until at least tomorrow and should make a full recovery.
Not sure how long it will take for my husband (who was overseas when it all happened) to recover from the bill.
When I got home from taking Digby to the vet I went out to collect the dead snake. As I picked it up with a garden fork I realised that, sadly, it was still alive. A lovely Wires reptile carer from Woodford came and had a look at it.
The poor animal was in a lot of pain and badly injured. It was decided it was best to euthanase the snake. I felt awful as ultimately I was responsible for this animals death.
In the four years we have lived in this house we have never seen a snake in our yard. Yesterday was unusually hot and I think the warm weather brought the snakes out early. I am really hoping we don't have any more in our garden as I am pretty sure Digby would behave the same way again.
9 comments:
hi Lucy - sorry about your little Ebony - your poor boy must be missing her. I'd love to have ducks Hope Digby makes a full recovery soon too!
Digby will be home this arvo after 4pm.
Clancy has missed him terribly, especially at night.
Hi Lucy,
What a few days you've had... poor Eb, it's so hard when the birds are so good at hiding things from us until they are pretty badly off. But if her chances of recovery and being able to live a normal happy duckie life weren't good it's the kinder, if more difficult for us choice and not one anyone who loves their animals makes easily or lightly. I lost one of my ducklings this weekend as well... not sure what happened tbh, all of them were down at the dam and when they came back up, one of the little girls was in the reeds, nothing wrong, no injuries, just gone.
I'm so glad to hear at least Digby is okay... I was half expecting to read much worse news when you said dog and snake... lucky boy to get the antivenom/supportive care in time! We almost lost my BC/Aussie Cody as a kid when he went after a massasauga rattler I didn't see... great vets are worth their weights in gold imo! Such a pity the poor snake wasn't able to be saved... it must have been a bit dazed from waking up to venture out of it's perfered area. Did the WIRES guy have any advice on how you could help prevent any more from wandering in? Only other thing I can think of besides heaps of hugs/sympathies on the scare and vet bills is it may be worth looking at a classically conditioned special recall for emergencies or maybe if you could get some red-belly black scent on a pad and using that scent as a non-verbal cue to return to a bed or into the doggy door? So if he smells it in the future, he trots himself back in to safety?
Diggers had to stay in hospital over night as I have had a child in hospital too.
Off to collect the hairy one today.
Yippee.
Digby is home safely and enjoying the sunshine.
oh Lucy what a week you have had!
I am so glad that Digby is OK.
Poor Eb.
thinking of you
duckie
I'm glad Digby is ok. Pretty amazing it takes so long for dogs to react from snake venom. Why is that? It's different with humans, isn't it?
No. I think humans can take a long time with black snakes too.
People don't die from black snakes.
Just get VERY sick.
Oh! I thought they were one of the 'deadly' ones. Is it any different for kids??
We went on hols a few years ago to Sussex Inlet - and there was a black snake in the kids playground...which was stressful because our kids were desperate to go 'touch' it!! I had to physically hold them back...we haven't gone back there for hols since that year!
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