This is the Friends of History Debating Society. I'm John Batchel in Southern New England,

Jeremy Zackis in New South Wales, and we turn to the reptile story. You will all recall there's

a great deal of rain these last years, and that creates conditions for lots of mice.

Mice create conditions for lots of snakes, lots of snakes, and the warmer weather

during the winter of last year into the spring, and then the summer, the snake population grew

and grew and grew. Now, Jeremy's been picking up sticks in his front yard, but he's cautious.

I was picking up sticks today in my yard, and I thought of Jeremy because I don't hesitate.

There are not a lot of Great Eastern Browns wandering around in Connecticut, but there are in New South Wales.

Now, Jeremy, you were picking up sticks today.

How do you do it?

Well, John, I actually do it at a distance.

Whenever we do sticks, effectively, I rake them first because not only does the rate clear the ground

and allows you to see anything that's going to squirm out from underneath,

which is invariably going to be a Great Eastern Brown snake or a tiger snake around this area, but also, too,

if that snake does turn back on you, you do have some kind of defense. And while it is absolutely

illegal to kill a snake, if your life is in danger, you are allowed to defend yourself. So I typically

the rake is my best friend, but if I have to actually get down and pull out any weeds, I've actually

managed to buy this contraption, which is basically you push the contraption into the ground at the weed and effectively

use it to leverage up the weed, which means your hands are still a good two to three feet away

from the ground and away from any snake that could in fact have snuck under the weed and gone to

sleep there because snakes are very well known for making themselves at home at the base of large foliage and weeds, especially during the winter months

when it's not so warm outside. So I do everything at a distance, every sticks of possible snake

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