Taipan?

[Supertaipan]

Living in Cairns I have encountered quite a few Snakes in my time, Last winter i was walking on a path near a cane field which is quite a popular shortcut to the shops, this day around 2pm in the afternoon i nearly stood on a copper coloured snake which was happily sunning itself half on the path and half on the grass, i kept walking (i was about 5 feet from the snake) if it had been a Taipan how come it made no attempt to attack?

[mrboajangles]

i dont think snakes go out of their way to attack people, i would say there would have been alot of places it could of gone and felt safe instead of risking its life dueling you!!

[Supertaipan]

Plus i presume in winter they are not as alert?

[serpenttongue]

As you said it was winter, so possibly its body temp was low so it chose to keep still in the hope that you wouldnt see it, rather than adopting an aggressive stance and exposing itself at a time when it may be a bit sluggish from low body temps, and therefore more vunerable.

[Dicco]

Hey Buddy, Taipans are in reality shyer snakes, those stories about them stalking people are just silly myths, they will dart away from you if possible, only when they feel threatened will they strike or become aggressive, like when they are cornered, being harassed or trodden on. Snakes don't want to attack humans, it doesn't acomplish anything for them and puts them in danger.

[ssssnakeman]

Hey Buddy, Taipans are in reality shyer snakes, those stories about them stalking people are just silly myths, they will dart away from you if possible, only when they feel threatened will they strike or become aggressive, like when they are cornered, being harassed or trodden on. Snakes don't want to attack humans, it doesn't acomplish anything for them and puts them in danger.

here here

[Supertaipan]

Think it was more interested on getting warm off the tarmac on the path it was moving backwards and forwards like it was getting the heat from the path, it was not in the slightest bit interested in me!!

[Supertaipan]

Sort of curled up

[Supertaipan]

its interesting though how the Taipan is generally more feared or should i say held in awe than any other Australian snake?

[ssssnakeman]

they ARE big and fast and i hear they are venomous as well

[Supertaipan]

I know but you read about the Brown being more deadly, then you read the Taipan is the more dangerous?

[bigguy]

As most people are aware Eastern Browns are nearly twice as toxic, drop for drop then a Taipan.

However, Eastern Browns have small heads, small fangs and tiny venom glands , whereas Taipans have large heads, large fangs and massive venom glands. Not a good combination for a bite, hense they are far more dangerous then Browns.

Overall, Browns are far more inclined to bite(anything could trigger them off) then Taipans which are very timid and normally only attack if there is no other choise.

[Supertaipan]

So are Taipans more agressive if provoked or cornered?

[mciver]

If you were to listen to a lot of people in Bathurst NSW where I lived until Feb this year a brown would cross the road to get you, it would chase you and run you down just to bite you. I swear the only reason they drove mid size cars was because they were scared of being out run by snakes if they drove anything smaller than 1500cc job.
The reality is; as it always has been, they are a whole lot more scared of you than you are of them.
We had one come in the house while we were packing, and before I could even get close to it he was gone down the mouse hole in the chimney base through which he entered. Good memory considering he was in the lounge room when I spotted him, and he had to get from there to a common area, into the old fireplace then find the hole and vanish. That should go some way to answering the question I saw elsewhere regarding snake memory.

Best regards Paul

[waruikazi]

I have also heard that taipans are more dangerous because they will strike repeatedly whereas a brwon will generally do it once.