Bomba to the rescue

This morning we had another not so pleasant surprise in the garden, in the form of a big, blackish snake outside the laundry.
I woke Nathan up, and Matt came over again with his stick to help try and catch it. It went and hid in the roots of the tree just outside our BBQ area, and when they poked at it, it hissed and opened it's mouth wide! That's when I called the Bomba (the firemen)!!!

The kids were sitting safely just inside the window watching, but unfortunately we couldn't wait for the Bomba as we were getting late for school. When we left Nathan, Matt and the dogs stood guard to make sure the snake didn't move until Bomba got there (turned out they came just 2 mins after we left...).

Two guys from the fire department turned up and when they started trying to get the snake out of his hiding place, it spit at them! "Cobra, cobra" they shouted. Then it flared it's neck and they yelled "KING cobra, King Cobra"!
For a short minute they thought they had lost it, when it slithered away from the tree, but finally they caught it and took it away in a rice bag.

As I wasn't there, I missed the Kodak-moment (bugger!), but here is a photo I found on the net of a King Cobra about the same size as the one we had, which was about 4 ft long (about 1,5 m). Our one was slightly more black though, so maybe it wasn't a King after all? Doesn't matter really, this photo will give you an idea:


(Picture from taoistsecret.com)

Well, we do live in the jungle... I know... but still, I don't like snakes much. Especially not venomous ones that can kill humans with a single bite, and has a 75% mortality rate... Yuk.