I SLEPT OUTSIDE IN THE DOG BOX

  AGE – 12

 I remember this year, because it is the year I saw the most cobra snakes ever.  We always had cobras on the farm, and always had to be careful to avoid accidental encounters, but this year was different.  The first encounter happened while my mother and her friend Charlie were walking the Great Dane near the house.  They spotted a large cobra close to the house in a large tree. Since they weren’t armed, Charlie ran back to the house to get a weapon while Mom stayed behind to keep track of the snake. Having a large snake live so close to the house was not something we treasured. 

Mom was keeping a safe distance with her arms around the Great Dane male to stop him from disturbing the snake (he was walking free with no lead).    While waiting the snake started moving towards them sliding slowly down the tree.  The dog tried to move forward and started to bark at it.   The snake picked up speed and started deliberately towards the two of them.  My mother couldn’t hold the Great Dane back anymore.  She was nearly hysterical, thinking this was the end of her favorite pet.  Amazingly, before the snake could reach the ground the Great Danes lurched forward and grabbed the snake out of the tree. By the time Charlie returned Mom was sitting in the grass hugging her favorite dog, with him proudly displaying the snake he had killed.  Two days later, early one morning my sister and I were walking down to the dog cages, when the male Great Dane rushed off in front of us.  He stopped about 2 meters further   caught and killed a cobra longer than 1 meter.    We were all surprised at how they bite the snakes in the middle, and then shake their heads. At that time the snake is so hurt and confused after the teeth and the shaking.  Than the dog has time to nibble on the snakes spine for a few seconds and then shake the snake again.   Pretty amazing. Excitedly we rushed to tell our mother with the Great Dane following proudly with his trophy.  Mom thought that since we always taught the dogs never to kill wildlife, they had never killed a snake before.  However the incident with Mom and the snake taught the Great Dane that the rule didn’t apply to snakes. 

A few weeks later we found a 3m dead cobra on the grass that the dogs have killed.  Another day, I was searching for grass snakes and house snakes.  I left the dogs behind since they would disturb the snake before I see it. I went to the older house to check the empty swimming pool.  Now I am thinking I was quite lucky to leave my snake stick at the entrance.  Then, I thought I was unlucky to forget my snake stick.  As I looked inside the pool, I actually heard a snake slithering on the side of the pool.  Normally you cannot hear snakes slithering, that’s why you have to watch out for them.  Maybe my mind exaggerated and maybe fear made it seem larger, but till today I believe I saw the biggest cobra I have ever seen.

I estimated it about 5m in length.  When I mentioned it to the snake park, he didn’t look very convinced.   I physically heard that cobra due to his weight on the dry leaves.  As soon as I stepped down the wall of the swimming pool, he noticed me and froze.  I slowly walked towards my snake stick, and the moment I turned my back on him, he quickly disappeared into a ground squirrel hole.  When I mentioned this to my mother, she was very concerned. She said she had actually seen the snake a few days earlier as she was driving towards the house.   The light was fading, but she saw a snake which she thought looked like a cobra. It seemed to be stretched all the way across the gravel road.  She put her foot down and drove right over him, to slow him down, but the snake just kept on going.  Mom didn’t pursue the snake as, unlike me, she was afraid of snakes.  She also didn’t tell us of the snake encounter as she thought it must be injured and would die.  She said, if she told me, she was afraid I would disappear, as soon as her back was turned, and go looking for it.   She was probably right. After these cobra events, I paid serious attention to walking in the dark.  That night I was feeding my mice.  The mice were food for all the snakes I kept.  Right on top of the mouse cage was a big cobra.  I would estimate he was a good 3m.  I shouted, “Snake”.  Soon my mother arrived with her 9mm. but by that time the snake has disappeared into the night.  

To make matters worse that very night, there was no electricity, so my intuition was telling me there is something in my room.  After some time, I was about to fall asleep, but something touched my neck.  It might have been a bug or something small, but I got such a fright I jumped straight out of the bed and ran outside.  There were no lights so I couldn’t check.  And I was not going to sleep in my dark room.  I ended up sleeping outside with the dogs in their sleeping box.  Luckily, my sister and I had made them a large box.  More than big enough for me, and our dogs.  The pictures shown are not the dogs in our front yard of course :

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