Eastern Tiger Snake pics

[iceman]

yes very nice looking tiger zen

[zen]

Thanks guys. Glad you like the pics.

Sorry about the gender error there TrueBlue. Thanks for the correction.
I'm impressed that you can tell from the pics . The hats off :wink: .

They're great snakes for sure.
I've heard a story (can't remember the source) of a wild caught specimen that had been caught and free-handled by kids, thinking it was a python :!:
This kid had mates over after school to show them his new "python".
His mother decided after a while to ring WIRES to ID it.
When the snakecatcher came it was draped around the boys neck :!:
Kiddies don't try this at home!

I've heard many times, like TrueBlue said, of their remarkable tameability.

Copperheads and Red-bellies are also known for this placidity.
Like ALL snakes though, it's an individual thing.

This specimen was definitely NOT one of them though!.
Although it was wild & cornered and disturbed early in the day.
Not a good combo for a Tiger! (I'd react the same way! :wink: )

Seriously though, this is typical defensive behaviour of a cornered Tiger Snake.


I'll put some more pics up soon.
Does anyone else have Tiger pics laying dormant in their archives or stories such as this?

[SLACkra]

beautiful snake! wouldn't want to get bitten by one but still amazing snakes. interested to know if some one got a newly hatched tiger and handled it(probably with somesortof protective gloves) if it would become use to teh idea of being handled.

if i remember correctly australia zoo has/had a tame fearce snake(inland tiapan), steve pretty much free handled it, i think it was wes's snake as steve asked him about the snake before handling it.

andrew

[peterjohnson64]

Hi Zen,

I was interested in your little story on the kids handling the tiger snake. Are you from Wollongong? I think I may actually be that Kid!!!

It was 1977 and I was in year 8 at Dapto High School. We went on an excursion to Minnamurra Falls (near Jamberoo).

We were allowed to roam around the creek so I headed off a little further than the others. I discovered a snake. It looked like a python to me (I knew nothing about them really) so I picked it up. It was very placid. Probably cold.

I took it back to the group and, being kids, thay started poking & prodding. Eventually the snake had enough and bit a girl by the name of Helen Musto. On that I let him go because I knew he had had enough.

being a python, we thought nothing more until about 40 minutes later Helen started vomitting. The teachers asked me about the snake and they rushed her off to hospital. she was OK but I had to write up a big report to hand in at school the next day.

I know that the story is different but stories definitely grow over time.

Serpentongue may know about it. He also went to Dapto High.

[Rennie]

Cool pics zen, and I love these stories too! Keep them coming.
My mum's told me a story about a kid on a farm picking up a handful of hatchling browns and bringing them back to the house saying something like "look I've found worms!" with the mother brown following along behind. Naturally the kid's father took the hatchys, threw them, grabbed the kid, took him inside and shut the door quite quickly!

[peterescue]

lumpy was found at Manly hospital Alexr

girl

boy

lumpy(sorry about focus

[Linus]

Nice photos everyone.

Following on the story thing there was a good one on a discovery doco. These kids in the U.S were playing with a snake and told their parents about it...parents call a snake catcher to come and get it..turns out to be a gaboon viper

peterjohnson that's a good story of yours. Did you ever find out what snake it was for certain? And did Helen and her parents forgive you?

[peterjohnson64]

HI Linus,

Yes mate, definitely a tiger snake. That came form the park ranger I think. And helen didn't blame me anyway. she was an animal lover as well and also blamed the pokers & prodders.

[alexr]

PMSL PeterJohnson... thats a great story.

I remember my first encounter with a wild snake. I found it up a tree so I assumed that it was non-ven. What supprised me at the time was the speed at which a cranky snake can strike, the amount of blood, and how silly you feel after you realised you actually have no idea what type of snake it is.


Hey peterescue I have seen that picture of lumpy before. I thought Manly hospital was in suburbia. Is it common for Tigers to be around on the northern beaches...or do you think she was a hitch hicker?

I'd love to see something onther then RRBs around here.

[zen]

Terrific first hand stories guys.

PMSL PJ, that you might have been the boy in the story I'd heard /read.
Like Chinese Whispers, some details may have changed but it sounds very similar otherwise.
It's a small world eh!

Peterescue, thanks for your pics of a female & a male to compare.
It's good to see a pic of 'Lumpy' too. Why do you call her that, did she have skin worms when you first got her?

Alex, Tigers are recorded in the Botany area, though I haven't seen any myself.

[peterescue]

Dont know the origin, if you look about a fifth of the body length from the head you can see a pronounce bulge in the body. X-rays reveal some spinal damage but subsequent ones show good bone regeneration. Thus the name Lumpy(originally used in the data sheets I kept during treatment). There were also what appeared to be healed puncture wounds possibloy from a dog but could be something else. Anthony Stimpson reckons its from out Bathurst way but i will reserve judgement.
Alex, there were tigers around Manly dam about 20 years ago. Lots of RBBs round your way Alex.

[TrueBlue]

Slackra, most inland taipans are dog tame, Ive only ever had one female that you couldnt free handle, the rest you could do any thing with. I had a brown that was the most free handleable elapid Ive ever owned a few years back untill I lent it to someone who lent it to someone else who refused to give it back and ended up giving it to the worst herper in the country, a complete fool, who ended up giving it to graham gow. I still miss that snake. To this day it is the only completly free handlable eastern brown Ive ever heard of. Once again not to be done these days, very foolish thing to do.

[pythonrockchik1]

nice pics of a nice snake , very nice colouration. Luv the second one in particular showing the closer view of the scales

[Nephrurus]

I've heard a story (can't remember the source) of a wild caught specimen that had been caught and free-handled by kids, thinking it was a python
This kid had mates over after school to show them his new "python".
His mother decided after a while to ring WIRES to ID it.
When the snakecatcher came it was draped around the boys neck

I thought you guys would pick this up immediately, but i guess you have'nt read this one recently. This anecdote is straight out of "Australian Snakes: A Natural History" by Rick Shine (now Prof. Rick Shine)
And the i.d'er of the snake was reportedly a guy from the Australian Museum.

-H