Edward, it depends on the bird species that you are trying to mist-net, as well as the habitat that you are working in. If you are trying to capture birds that are usually close to the ground or at ground level (e.g. scrubwrens, fairy-wrens, heathwrens, brown thornbills, finches etc), then the "taped calico bag technique" would not work because they would make your mist-net more visible to these types of birds. However, it is more likely to work if you were aiming to capture canopy or understorey birds (e.g. most honeyeaters).

Similarly, the calico bag technique would not work in heathland or other vegetation communities where there is a moderate to dense shrubland because most of the birds you wish to mist-net usually move close to or along the ground. This is also the sort of habitat that you have the most problem in inadvertantly trapping snakes. Whereas, the calico bag technique may work in most woodland and open forest habitats where most birds would be flying at greater heights and where you have less trouble with snakes being caught.

The problem of ground debris (fallen branches, twigs, leaves, etc) becoming entangled in the bottom of mist-nets is always a challenge to bird (and bat) banders. Not only is it time consuming to remove this material from the mist-net and it increases the chances of tearing your mist-net. but birds (and bats) can be badly injured or killed if they get caught up in the entangled debris. It really is a case of an experienced user of mist-nets to determine how far off the ground the bottom of the mist-net should be to reduce the risk of ground debris being picked up by the mist-net.

The problem with snakes is that they can still get tangled in the bottom of a mist-net that is still some distance off the ground, either by reaching up from the ground or a nearby (fallen or live) branch, especially if they are trying to reach a bird that has been caught in the mist-net.

Stephen, while undertaking some mist netting for bats in the Goldfields, we had a real problem with the bottom of the net collecting twigs and other vegetation (only slightly analogous to snakes but keep on reading)....We ended cutting up calico bags so that we could tape them along the bottom edge of the net and thus covering about the first 15-20cm. It really did help to reduce entanglements. Would a more elegant variation of this be a possible solution to snake entanglements?

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the advice about bagging the mist-net and snake and sending the bundle to FAWNA/WIRES. Usually this is not possible because:

1.  There's usually one or more birds caught in the mist-net, which has (have) attracted the snake to the mist-net in the first place. In order to extract the bird(s) from the mist-net you usually (though not always) need to extract the snake from the mist-net first.

2. Bird banding/mist-netting for birds often occurs in remote locations, several hundreds of kilometres from the nearest WIRES/FAWNA volunteer.

We handle snakes occassionally out of necessity with fauna rescue during clearing monitoring (when cautious herding outside the clearing zone is not an option), but generally in survey times, if the snake allows it, and doesn't look like it could be something threatened, the "no touchy" rule applies to myself and my staff. However, the variability of the Eastern Brown sometimes warrants extra checks to ensure its not a Pale Headed Snake if the habitat is suitable, and the development has a real risk of significant impact. Training is also essential as noted, as is experience to overcome that instinctive fear of snakes. I highly recommend attendance to meetings of the local Herp Club for excellent exposure to snakes by people with usually very good skills. You will learn a lot and meet some great people.  

Stephen - I'd be inclined to bag the snake and net, and hand to FAWNA/WIRES who commonly untangle bats and snakes out of various nets. During recent clearing monitoring with FAWNA reps, I enjoyed many anecdotes of cranky red-bellies in orchard nets.

Thanks Edward for that useful advice.

W.r.t. handling snakes that are caught in mist nets, most bird banders inevitably do cut the strands of a mist net to free a snake. This is good for the snake, but is costly in terms of time (repairing the mist net) or money (replacing mist nets). The problem is that there is a risk that a snake which is freed from the mist net still has some strands caught around the head region. So someone who is experienced at handling bad tempered snakes often has to remove those final strands very carefully.

I have to agree with Gerry. We tend to catch quite a few snakes because that is what we do in biodiversity surveys (we use pitfall, funnel traps and they even go into box and cage traps - but we also undertake hand searches for any terrestrial vertebrate fauna). All of the methods do not encourage the capture and retention of large snakes. Where a snake has been captured, the rule is simple, ID at a distance and then release carefully. To this point we have found that padded long barbeque tongs are sufficient to carefully and gently lift the snake out of the bucket and then release at a safe distance from the trap line. It is a little simpler with funnel traps, box and cage traps - the whole thing gets moved to a safe distance, the trap is then opened and pointed away from you and the snake is gently encouraged to evacuate the trap. The only time we have found the need to handle a snake is with some of the rarer species from the Pilbara and Goldfiels and when dealing with young dugits (which look very much like adult Delma).

Where we have assistants in the field, they are never allowed to handle any elapid until we can be sure that they have a feel for the snake and will handle it with care (usually once they have had at least 150 days of field time undertaking intensive terrestrial vertebrate surveys). The only times I have been bitten is when doing "show-and-tells" and people have been poking and squeezing the snake I have been handling (how come it's always me that gets bitten and not the poker ).

The handling of snakes has to be controlled. The situation outlined by Stephen is quite different and could lead to serious repercussions as the entrapped snake will be panicked and desperate. In such a case, you should always have someone who has had experience in snake handling available - otherwise, cut the net and carry the loss.

Australian bird banders sometimes have problems with snakes becoming entangled near the bottom of mist nets. Usually, the snake is attracted to a bird that is caught in the mist net, but in the process becomes entangled itself (usually just the anterior part of the snake is entangled). Once entangled they often thrash about and get even more caught up in the mist net.

One can reduce this risk by having the bottom of the mist net raised higher off the ground, which is sometimes not  a viable option if you are aiming to mist-net birds that forage on or close to the ground. Another option is to visit mist nets more frequently to remove captured birds before they attract snakes.

However, no matter what risk management you employ, the risk of a snake being caught in a mist net remains real.  Are there any herpetologists out there who would like to suggest possible ways of safely removing snakes from mist nets, bearing in mind that many of them are venomous?

Post-script:

A favourite story of mine relates to a bird banding colleague who was capturing and banding Australian Reed-warblers at Herdsman's Lake in Perth in the early 1980s. He had permission to cut a swathe through the reed bed and erect mist-nets along it, which was very successful in capturing reed-warblers.

However, on one occasion while checking the mist nets, he lost his balance, fell forward and did a belly flop in shallow water. While still lying in the water, he saw a Tiger Snake staring at him just centimetres from the tip of his nose. It was a question of who was going to make the first move. Fortunately, my colleague had enough composure to slowly back away while still lying in the water, so as to not further aggravate the snake!

Snake tongs were never designed for work in the field in Australia. They were originally designed in the USA mainly to catch rattle snakes which just lie there and look at you. They were imported into Australia by zoos, reptile parks and animal rescue organisations where securing a dangerous snake in a confined space needed something better than a hook and hoop bag. They should not be used by people who are not familiar with handling snakes and know how much pressure to apply, but they are the safest choice for animal rescue people who ony have limited experience in snake catching. far safer to use tong to get a snake out from underneath the kitchen fridge than try and tail it.

I am surprised that a snake would have to be caught during an environmental assessment anyway. Surely identification can be done just by eyeballing. If one is familiar with the reptiles of an area then identification is pretty straightforward.

my interest piqued, some more googling shows that some tong designs appear to have addressed the injury risk. I found this design from the website below particularly interesting- it uses a flexible upper jaw. The combo pin/hook is also very attractive and I think will be a must for the new financial year!

http://www.snakehandlingequipment.com/products.html

Obviously the risk of injury with tongs depends on design first, then snake behaviour and inter-related to both of the former - how the handler uses the tool applicable to the snake and the situation. End of the day, the snake's welfare for an ecologist is paramount.

Having recently being doing a lot of reptile work and getting close to tax time, I was considering some updates in equipment from the converted golf driver with a welded hook. Googling I found several sites selling not just hooks but tongs or snake-grabbers.

The mechanism is simple - a trigger grip at one end works a jaw at the other end, just like the child's toy where a dinosaur head on the end of a stick moves its jaw and grips the screaming sibling's arm with its teeth, much to the other sibling's mirth.

Now the tongs are obviously metal with at least one piece padded. To a novice, they appear like a safe way to pick up a snake (you can get them up to 180cm long), but from a very motivated professional snake handler (http://www.smuggled.com/TonPet1.htm) who goes to great lengths to explain why, they seem far from it. Essentially, they appear to conflict with animal ethics as to get a good grip requires some squeezing of the snake. This immediately stresses the snake, which may mean it strikes, thrashes or otherwise reacts a lot more violently than when slid over a hook. The result as detailed on the previous site can range from ripping the snake's flesh, to indiscerible but eventually fatal internal injuries to the snake.

After reading that information, I'm inclined to agree snake tongs are not humane, and I will not use them.