Blackbutt Welcomes some Scaly new Friends

BY JESSICA ROUSE

While the brazen theft of reptiles from Blackbutt Reserve is still under investigation, today Blackbutt is welcoming some new reptilian residents.

Two olive pythons, a bearded dragon, eastern long-necked turtles and various creepy crawlies will be calling Blackbutt home and feature in new reptile shows starting next month.

Blackbutt Coordinator Brad West said it was tragic to lose the reptiles last September, but it's exciting they can welcome some new ones.

Olive Pythons Image NCC

"This [the theft] was really unfortunate and sad for our visitors and also our staff, it happens I guess and it's unfortunate. But we're back and going to be better than ever so we have the start of our reptiles, we have a few more on site as it is so we are able to start our reptile shows again."

The snakes who are siblings were donated by Wild Life Sydney Zoo and the female central bearded dragon was donated by a private Newcastle reptile keeper.

The reptiles play an important part at the reserve, particularly for educational purposes for children.

"Part of the main reason is for the education, obviously we generate some income for Blackbutt, we're trying to make Blackbutt sustainable for the long term. Council has invested a lot of funds into infrastructure upgrades," said Brad.

Blackbutt Reserve coordinator Brad West.

Last September isn't the first time reptiles were ransacked, so now the reserved has beefed up their security in a bid to stop it happening again.

"We've upgraded our security so now we're hoping that should restrain our animals and keep the public out or whoever would like to break-in and take them. We've got a back-to-base system we always had that, that's what alerted us last time. We've got upgraded security on the windows to slow access down and also CCTV," said Brad.

A competition will be launched next week on the Newcastle City Council and Blackbutt Reserve social media channels with the winner receiving a VIP meet-and-greet with the reptiles they name.

Bearded Dragon Image NCC

The Snakes Are Slithering in the Hunter

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Snakes have been slithering around Newcastle and the Hunter one month earlier than usual.

In the Hunter, brown snakes are the most common, and right now they're on the hunt for food and a mate.

It's prompted renewed calls for Hunter residents to be smart around snakes - 23 of the 35 people who died from a snake bite between 2000 and 2016 in Australia were bitten by a brown snake.

Image Australian Reptile Park

They've been seen in the most unusual of places, most recently a 1.5 metre brown turned up for breakfast at a cafe in Stockton. They've also been caught on camera in inner-city car parks and frequently in residential areas.

"It's coming into breeding season so that's why we're seeing a lot of male to male combat, more snakes in people's local areas than before and the activity level at the moment is just really really high for a number of reasons including food and mating season," said Dan Rumsey from the Australian Reptile Park.

While snakes will defend themselves if they have to, Dan says it's really a last resort and they'll only bite if they're provoked or hassled.

"The majority of snake bites in Australia come from one of two things and that's people trying to kill or catch them so the key thing is if you don't do either of those two you're going to limit your chances of being bitten by a snake dramatically."

He also said even the fastest snake in the world only gets to 14km/hr, so they're not coming out of hiding just to chase you.

"Granddad used to tell you brown snakes will chase you, try to bite through your car to get you. They don't operate like that at all. Most of the guys who work here have been catching snakes from since they were 7 or 8 years old - I've never had a snake chase me in my life so I promise you it won't happen," said Dan.