Australia’s snakes are well-adapted for self-defence, with around 170 species exhibiting unique traits. Some possess highly toxic venom that allows them to hunt larger prey and stay safe from threats. While many people fear them, snakes play a crucial role in controlling rodent populations. Understanding their behaviour and respecting their space can help reduce negative interactions with humans.

Australia, unfortunately, has the two most dangerous snakes in the world, the first is the Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus).

The second is the Eastern Brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis).

Most snakes prefer to slither away from humans instead of fighting because confronting larger creatures is risky. They don’t see humans as food since they mainly eat smaller animals. Snakes don’t bite for fun; when scared, they hide or blend in. Their venom helps them catch prey that is too hard to manage, allowing them to tackle surprisingly big animals. This process is essential for their survival and helps maintain balance in nature.

The most common snake, and certainly the one that I see most days is quite small, soft and likes to congregate in large dens of snakes in close confined areas. I am continually having to keep a close watch on my Grand-kids as they are fascinated by them.

One snake has 30 calories, and 5.7g of sugar. The Grand-kids would need to walk for approximately eight minutes to burn off that excess intake. This also ranks them as one of the most dangerous, although not venomous, snakes in the world!

However, more dangerous than any of these is a snake found in Egypt, and it is not the Cobra!

A packet of these for a few dollars made for a very cheap den of snakes for silver bayonet.

At about15cm (6 inches) I was hoping to coil them up so I didn’t need to cut them, but even with pinning and gluing they just wouldn’t stay in place.

I tried cutting them to make them smaller but the tapering meant they couldn’t be joined together without a lot of modelling, and to be frank I was just not interested in putting a lot of work into these.

In the end I just hacked them into the length I needed gave them a “quick and dirty” taper and they were ready to paint.

The Egyptian supplement for “Silver Bayonet” has three distinctive types of slithery monsters. A snake swarm, Uraeus – gigantic cobras which I have several of, and vipers the most deadly. These are going to used as the vipers and I intend to green stuff some swarms if I cannot find any on the net.

I shall just go slithering away to eat another 30 calories, and 5.7g of sugar!

I prefer the sweet and sour ones myself! Guru says “Life is to short to live small so if you are going to indulge, indulge big”!

Like this Cherry & Blue Raspberry Party Gummy Python which is the most over-the-top confection I’ve ever seen. This eight foot slab of serpentine sweetness is an amazingly detailed work of candy art, featuring coils of gummy goodness with lifelike scales, and intricate eyes that seem to stare back at you.