There is nothing quite like an unexpected encounter with a snake to pull you up short. And, there has been plenty of evidence lately that many others feel that sense of rising panic when they spot one in the backyard, find one in the house or suspect the cat or dog has come off second best in a reptile wrangle. Facebook conversations regularly crop up on the subject. Given that Australia holds the record of the largest number of venomous snakes of any country, it would be fai