Snake's Habitual Characteristics

[jeffc]

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask my question, since most you guys are having snakes as pets, you might be able to help me out.
(admin, please let me know if this is the wrong place to ask questions)

I recently moved into a new house, there's a bush at the back of my yard. Part of the house is kind of elevated, so there's a little entrance gate to the area underneath.
I have recently noticed a fresh snake skin (about 1m) in there, but have not spotted any snakes in that size (only spotted a mini snake about 20cm once at night).

I ALSO noticed partial snake skins (not sure how big the snake was), in the roof area.

My question is - what are snakes' habitual characteristics? Do they like warm places or shady places? What are the chances it lives under my house (shady) or in my roof (it's usually very hot in day time)? Would it lay eggs in there?

Thanks everyone for your input, much appreciated!

Jeff

 

[Herpo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my knowledge shed size is not indicative to the snakes size, as the skin gets quite substantially stretched in shedding.

And snakes have been found in both those places before. Probably depends on how easy it is to get in there and how determined the snake is.

Kind regards,
Herpo

 

[pythoninfinite]

In the roof area - could be pythons or green or brown tree snakes - you omitted to tell us where you live, which would be a good indicator of what species you can expect to see in your area, and where they might prefer to spend their time !

Jamie

 

[jeffc]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my knowledge shed size is not indicative to the snakes size, as the skin gets quite substantially stretched in shedding.

And snakes have been found in both those places before. Probably depends on how easy it is to get in there and how determined the snake is.

Kind regards,
Herpo

Herpo, does it mean that the skins are usually longer than its actual size?
I've only recently moved into the mouse, so I'm not sure where the hole on the roof may be, or how old or when the it got into the roof area.

In the roof area - could be pythons or green or brown tree snakes - you omitted to tell us where you live, which would be a good indicator of what species you can expect to see in your area, and where they might prefer to spend their time !

Jamie

Jamie, thanks for getting back to me.

I live in Eight Mile Plains, QLD. The mini snake I ran into was a White Crowned Snake, but I have not seen any other live adult snakes yet.
Hopefully not any brown snakes...

Should I get a few of those snake repellers? Do they work?

Thanks

 

[pythoninfinite]

Save your money on the snake repellers - they don't work. The skins in the ceiling could be any of the species I mentioned - none of them are a safety concern. Pythons are reasonably common in Brissy suburbs,but your neighbours should have a fair idea of what's around if they've been there for a while, and Green Tree Snakes are not uncommon in gardens.

Jamie

 

[Herpo]

Herpo, does it mean that the skins are usually longer than its actual size?
I've only recently moved into the mouse, so I'm not sure where the hole on the roof may be, or how old or when the it got into the roof area.

As far as I know, yes. My python's skins get stretched quite substantially in shed.

 

[jeffc]

Save your money on the snake repellers - they don't work. The skins in the ceiling could be any of the species I mentioned - none of them are a safety concern. Pythons are reasonably common in Brissy suburbs,but your neighbours should have a fair idea of what's around if they've been there for a while, and Green Tree Snakes are not uncommon in gardens.

Jamie

So there's not much to worry about the roof? They'll go in and out? I also noticed there are animal excrements in the roof area, could that be the cause of snakes coming in?

I will need to go into the roof sometime soon for running cables - what should I do to prevent meeting a snake in there? Though, you mentioned species in Brisbane are usually non-venomous, but a lawn mower ran into a brown snake in my yard from previous house (and it's in a residential area). So, I am just making sure....

As far as I know, yes. My python's skins get stretched quite substantially in shed.

I see. They seem really loong when you've never seen it shed ...

 

[cement]

My 2.75m python gives a 3.5 m shed skin,.. so the skin you found could be up to 1 third bigger then the snake, though I would think smaller around 1 quarter.

Snakes are seasonal creatures and at this time of the year, it's generally too hot in roofs for them, they are on the move and feeding as much as possible. Every snake I catch at this time of year is digesting, or hunting or both. If you do have a snake hanging around it is because it is onto a food source that is there. In another 2-3 months as nights begin to get colder we have the rodents leave their bush nests and head up into the roofs and inside buildings for the warmth, so the snakes follow them. They will eat all the rodents for a last meal and stay in the roof until Oct/Nov when it starts warming up at night and gets too hot up there during the days. Rodents and snakes both move back out into the yards where it is cooler behind retaining walls, tree stumps and under slabs etc.

You can Identify a snake by the skin if you know what to look for. The belly scales are the first to look at because that will tell you either python or not. If its not a python then it goes on, but can be a bit tricky if you don't know how to key it out.

 

[jeffc]

My 2.75m python gives a 3.5 m shed skin,.. so the skin you found could be up to 1 third bigger then the snake, though I would think smaller around 1 quarter.

Snakes are seasonal creatures and at this time of the year, it's generally too hot in roofs for them, they are on the move and feeding as much as possible. Every snake I catch at this time of year is digesting, or hunting or both. If you do have a snake hanging around it is because it is onto a food source that is there. In another 2-3 months as nights begin to get colder we have the rodents leave their bush nests and head up into the roofs and inside buildings for the warmth, so the snakes follow them. They will eat all the rodents for a last meal and stay in the roof until Oct/Nov when it starts warming up at night and gets too hot up there during the days. Rodents and snakes both move back out into the yards where it is cooler behind retaining walls, tree stumps and under slabs etc.

You can Identify a snake by the skin if you know what to look for. The belly scales are the first to look at because that will tell you either python or not. If its not a python then it goes on, but can be a bit tricky if you don't know how to key it out.

Thank you so much Cement.

You have answered most of my questions. If that's the case with the hot days in this summer time,
I will still probably have some time to access the roof without meeting any of them up there. As well as some time to look for the hole from the outside....

I've always thought they're cold blooded reptiles, so they like warm places... or hate warm places - wasn't too sure.

I've attached the photo of the skin I found under my house:

Any ideas what snake was this?

Thanks

 

[BredliFreak]

Looks like a red-bellied black snake shed to me

- - - Updated - - -

Actually - it's probably a brown. Very robust and darkish-colour makes me think RBB or Brown.

 

[cement]

Yes mate its a python skin.
Brick houses like yours have a fairly barren sub floor area, a snake will use it to go through a shed cycle mainly because not much else will be in there and they like to keep to themselves while going through a shed cycle. Its going to be more damp/humid in there too which they don't mind and they will use the area to cool off too. It also might have followed a rat trail in there and be able to access the roof from the subfloor up through the cavity if the builders forgot to vermin proof it at floor level. So it could have gone in there following rats, found them, eat them and used the area to shed, as it could have been a big feed. If the rats are gone the snake will now have no further use for being there and will go in search of the next meal.

As far as meeting snakes in the roof goes, they will quite quickly get away from you if you disturb them. We absolutely terrify them, they don't see us as food but as a threat to their life, so they always run. If it comes towards you stretching it's neck out and flicking its tongue it is trying to smell you ...to work out what you are... trust me as soon as it gets a whiff of you it will back off and turn away , they don't want to get involved with us.

 

[pythoninfinite]

Just to add to cement's ID - pythons have very narrow ventral (belly) scales, and this is a very obvious characteristic of that skin. The dangerous elapids have ventral scales that are much wider, probably at least two or three times wider.

 

[BredliFreak]

Yeah now I see I just found a red belly shed this morning (one I had collected previously) and I see what your talking about.

 

[jeffc]

So it's confirmed to be a python right? Not a venomous that I need to worry about my dog? lol!

What are some common species of pythons around Brisbane residential area?

Sorry for all the newbie questions. Just trying to understand and work with the nature!

By the way, in the first photo, I have installed the snake proof fence, do you think that's good enough?
It goes 30cm out to the ground and 90cm up on the fence.

 

[Herpo]

I think Coastals are really common up there.

 

[pythoninfinite]

In your part of the world, Coastal Carpet Pythons are pretty common, and are the only species you will encounter. They can get reasonably large, 2m+, and could pose a threat to small dogs. I live near Port Macquarie and last week saw a large female python, well over 2m, up in the sweet potato patch... my Jack Russells (one is quite small), who think they weigh about 100kgs, are always in need of supervision on warm nights.

Jamie

 

[Herpo]

I've seen pics of big ones eating wallabies.