A tiger snake as a tightrope walker on a wire fence is creating a lot of buzz on Facebook. A reptile expert even ended up calling the venomous creature "beautiful and clever." The incident was captured at a Tasmanian Vineyard.
The snake's sleek moves were caught on camera at the Bangor Vineyard Shed near Dunalley in Australia. The video was posted on the vineyard's official Facebook page on Tuesday, February 13.
In the video, the snake can be seen moving carefully as it tries to keep its balance along the wired fence. The snake skilfully moves to the top wire without falling down.
The tiger snake's expertise took Natalie Rivers from Reptile Rescue Incorporated by surprise.
"My first thought was what a beautiful and clever tiger snake," she said.
Natalie further said tiger snakes are good climbers but she has never seen a snake "that can travel across a wire like that."
"They don't have the best eyesight so it could have been trying to get a different perspective on things," she said. It was perhaps following a scent, she added.
Tiger snakes climbing over fences is common. Natalie said that they have been receiving calls about tiger snakes roaming freely in various places in Tasmania.
"Our hotline is pretty flat out, we get calls for assistance with snakes on a very regular basis, it could be between six and 60 calls a day," she said.
She also said people want the snakes to be relocated or "moved a bit further away from the house or out of the house."
Matt Dunbabin from Bangor Vineyard Shed explained on the Facebook page that to have the snakes around is a wonderful experience altogether but a climbing snake, that too along the top of a wired fence, is a rare experience.
"It was definitely a fascinating thing to see — what great poise and balance. After I took the video he continued on his merry way, and I guess he climbed back down to the ground when he'd had enough up there," Dunbabin wrote.
The video has become extremely popular on Facebook and has been shared more than 18,000 times.
Callan Jones, a Facebook user wrote: "Snake number 1 — I bet you can't slither along the top wire of that fence. Snake number 2 — Hold my Pinot."
Another user, Alanah Gurney, commented: "Like, he's just awkwardly wobbling through life trying to act cool, but really he's hanging on for dear life."
Tasmania is home to three species of land snakes: the tiger, the lowland copperhead, and the white-lipped snake. There have been no recorded deaths in Tasmania from snakebites in the last few decades.
