Here’s Talking Cobras & Me: Who Scared Who More?— SquashedFrog
Cobras, all snakes, are not my friend, more my greatest terror, and in my infinite wisdom I moved into the middle of their territory because I wasn’t thinking, obviously. I wanted to live on a farm, it didn’t occur to me it was a snakes natural habitat, especially with the rice fields, and cobra’s being the solid inhabitants.
How We First Knew Cobras Called Our Farm Home
To build, we had to remove the old kitchen. We had an upstairs where the previous owner lived, they had stacked rice underneath and next to that was a falling down room where they had cooked food. Our builders tore this apart on the first day and found a nest of Cobras that were as startled as them.
Locals have a calmer reaction to snakes, sorta but I heard that everyone jumped as the snakes dispersed into the rice field. There was no question after this, we had Cobras, and even worse ones that liked to spit. Oh goody I thought to myself and wondered why I had taken this on.
Once We Moved In
Most locals had only dirt around their homes, it helped them see if a snake was lurking. We on the other hand still had grass, we just kept it super short inside our yard which also reduced the tics. We had three dogs as security around the farmhouse and they reduced the number of snakes we would see. I also wore gum boots on the farm, everyone thought I was nuts but it made me feel a little protected.
I was cleaning up the garden behind the house one day. Our workers were on another part of the farm, so I said to myself I can do this. I lifted up a large log of wood and squirming underneath was a mess of baby Cobras. I gently put it back down, determined not to disturb them further and walked away.
I couldn’t do this.
A Cobra Ready To Strike
I was careful as I walked around the farm, we were often cutting long grass, we had three hectares and were converting it to Permaculture, but on this day I hurried without thinking. Someone was calling from the gate. I didn’t know who but it sounded urgent, so I hurried through the long grass to see what he wanted.
As I was tramping through the grass, I glanced to the left of me, about 15 feet away was a large Cobra curled back ready to strike, I must have startled it with my noise. I did the only thing I could think of doing at the time. I ignored it. I didn’t break stride, I just sped up a little with a racing heart past it and on to the gate.
It didn’t follow me, they are generally protective not aggressive, and we both got a big scare.
THEY Hiss Like Cats
We had a problem with a pump near the house. One of our neighbours was helping to get it spitting out water and after we had finished we stopped for refreshments on our verandah, grateful for his help. Suddenly he jumped up, panicked and looking around.
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We were confused. He told us he was looking for the Cobra, he had heard it hiss but couldn’t see it. We heard the hissing, and had to laugh. We pointed to our orange cat (it’s always the orange ones) hissing at him through the window. We had screens on every window so he wasn’t easy to see, but it was Alpha hissing at our neighbor not a Cobra.
He didn’t see the funny side straight away, but you could see the relief creep across his face.
They Would Visit The Front Door in The Night
One of our dogs would warn when there was a Cobra on the front verandah. You could tell by his bark, it was panicked, and it happened a lot. One night I remember, we rushed downstairs when Mo emitted that bark, my hairs stood on end. Looking out the window we couldn’t see it, and I once again cursed our electrician who had installed the switch for the outside light on the outside.
BUT we could hear the hissing, and it sounded just like a cat. Creepy as..
Now B my partner was not a scaredy cat like me, she was matter of fact and had grown up on the farm. She grabbed a long bamboo pole, and went outside to the sounds of me begging for her to leave it alone. She hit that Cobra on its head once with the bamboo and it died. She picked it up on the end of the pole and tossed it over the fence.
She walked back inside, up the stairs and went back to watching her show like it was just a minor irritant. God I loved that woman, and admired her ability to be strong. I was messy for the rest of the night.
Home Alone On The Farm
After B died, I was alone on the farm, my worst nightmare. I never felt fully competent to deal with things and we kind of limped along for 9 months until I felt I was losing my mind.
I went into the house, late one afternoon after working outside. Directly opposite the front door, next to the stairs, was a dresser. On that dresser was a Cobra, extending to the floor above and slithering itself upstairs.
Oh, so they were in the house now I thought to myself, great, just what I needed when I was there alone. I went back outside and sat on the wooden bench there until it got dark.
Peace oUt
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Originally published at https://squashedfrog.org on November 30, 2025.
