Snakes And Thieves – Those Who Love The Dark Of Night! Series

SNAKES AND THIEVES – THOSE WHO LOVE THE DARK OF NIGHT!

Years ago I used to keep some finches. In fact I had a lot of them. I loved those birds and looked after them well. They used to breed, and birds only do that when they are happy. My species were mainly Australian finches but about four or five species were from overseas.

We live in the wet tropics as you of course know this morning, and it might be a lovely place to live, but the vermin is multiplied. You all know when you go into the rainforest you have to be aware of leeches and ticks. In the tropics we have rats including the large white tailed rat, quite a number of stinging insects and the introduced cane toad (Bufo marinus) brought in from the southern United States. There are tens of millions of disease-carrying flying foxes (genus name - Pteropus), dangerous vermin that number millions, birds that attack all manner of fruits, the world’s deadliest sea creature, the box jellyfish (Chironex flecker), the vicious salt water crocodiles, the worst stinging tree in the world (Dendrocnide excelsa), and lastly, snakes!

O, yes, the snakes. I don’t mind most snakes and adore pythons including the scrub python that can grow to 8.5 metres (28 feet) in length and can easily devour a wallaby or dog or cat. As you locals would know the worst snake, fortunately quite rare, is the taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus), one of the world’s very worst snakes. (The inland taipan has the most potent venom of any snake in the world – one teaspoon killing 250 000 mice.) There are many lovely coloured pythons and all pythons are non-venomous. Then there are the tree snakes, all harmless, except one!

That one is a very nasty and aggressive creature, an Australian native. It is mildly poisonous and I have been bitten a few times. What is it? The brown tree snake. This description is from a museum -

“The Brown Tree Snake has a large head with eyes that are large and protruding with vertical pupils. The head is distinct from the narrow neck. They are brown above and Northern Australian specimens are cream with bold reddish bands. The belly is cream to orange. This snake grows to 2 metres (6 feet 8 inches). The snake was introduced to Guam where it has almost exterminated the bird life. Bites in Guam have produced severe symptoms with patients receiving ventilation or intubation to assist breathing. Such cases involve small children and large snakes. The venom has myotoxic and neurotoxic components. Its scientific name is Boiga irregularis.”

I have also mentioned the snakes I get from time to time in one of the aviaries. I was just fed up with those snakes. I tried to seal every area but the sly sneaks found a way to get in. On one occasion I made a note which was this:-

“. . . but up till yesterday there had been 2 snakes in the past 12 days or so, the shortest stretch between “vermin visits.” Then what!! I went in to check the birds this morning and . . . Another one in the cage!! This fellow was every bit of four feet long and 1.5 - 2 inches across and must have squeezed through 12 mm square wire. Another two finches had been swallowed. That made about 8 or 9 eaten by the 3 snakes in 12 days.”

In all, I had 23 brown tree snakes, and the loss of well over $1000 worth of finches.

Of course I thought, “thieving things” (actually “thieving mongrels!). They always sneak in at night in the cover of darkness. Thinking about that prompted me to write about “thief” in the New Testament, but before that I want to look at the first snake in the bible.

It is found in Genesis chapter 3 in the temptation of Eve. We will look at that for a little while. Turn to Genesis 3 verses 1-16 – {{“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made, and he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it nor touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! for God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”}}