taipans

[nless01]

on a recent trip to visit mates who live south west of perth {manjimup} i was ask to try remove some snakes from around the house we found the snakes which included tigers browns and what looked like a taipan question i was asked to put to you guys is do taipans live in the area does anyone know if they can be taipans as they are not known to be that far south {about 400 k's south of perth} and yes all were released safely into the bush away from harm as they would have been a problem for the kids

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day mate,

Definitely not Taipans. The closest Taipan to you is probably the newly descriped "Central Ranges Taipan", Oxyuranus temporalis, which is still several hundred kilometres from you. The very odd Coastal Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus is found in the Kimberlys.

I am guessing you relocated a large, plainly coloured Dugite, Pseudonaja affinis. Did you get any photos?

[elapid@]

yep pseudonaja affinis dugite wide spread in mainland sw. WA

[nless01]

photo's were taken but not very clear image dugite were also found but the size made me think possible taipan as it was close to six to seven foot in lenght and very different in colour very light tan in colour

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day mate,

Dugites are highly variable in colouration and attain lengths of around 2 metres for a large adult.