Q's about elapids

[Noongato]

I was sittin in the sun today and wondered what do vens eat other than rodents that arnt even native to australia?
Also i imagine they bite theyre prey and wait for it to die then track it down by scent and eat it, is this true or do they hang on to the prey animal the whole time till it dies?

Ive never seen their hunting etc behaviour in the wild, but then im a pansy and never stick around long.

 

[redbellybite]

eastern browns will bite and coil ..taipans bite& pull back ...RBBS favour frogs and lizzys as a feed ..alot of smaller elapids are skink and frog eaters or even skink egg eaters ...bandy bandy eat blind snakes ..

 

[channi]

They eat small native mammals, lizards, other snakes and frogs.

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day,

They eat everything...species like Kingies specialise in eating other reptiles, including other venomous snakes. Taipans specialise in eating small to medium mammals (including natives like bandicoots). Red Bellies have a taste for frogs but will eat anything, as will most of the large Brown Snake species. All in all just about every verterbrate will be a prey item for an elapid.

And they do both "snap and release" and the "bite and hold on"...Adders especially for the latter.

 

[JupiterCreek]

The brown snakes on our farm in the South Australian Mallee seemed to thrive on mice, rabbits and the occasional day old piglet. We always had echidnas in the scrub, but I think they would have been a chore to swallow and digest, and the roos would have been too big and fast. There were plenty of sleepies and bluetongues and smaller skinks, so they could well have been tucker for the brown snakes. Other than that the obvious native species were galahs, maggies, crows, musk lorikeets, mallee ringnecks and mallee fowl. Of those the mallee fowl would have been about the only catchable items. In better parts of the Mallee the soil is more fertile and has more clay and less sand, so you could add small marsupials and mammals, and in the Lameroo area there were heaps of toads and bats as well. It'll be interesting to read what the more knowledgeable members suggest.

 

[Noongato]

I wonder what would happen in australia if all of a sudden the rodents were gone as well as the non native birds. Would make a big impact you reckon?

 

[cris]

I wonder what would happen in australia if all of a sudden the rodents were gone as well as the non native birds. Would make a big impact you reckon?

What a strange hypothetical, if rodents died out rapidly it would probably have a massive impact on biodiversity, especially rodents. Im sure the earth would still spin and stuff but yeah not good. If introduced birds were eradicated it would help those species under pressure from invasive species like indian mynahs, im not sure how much damage introduced birds do, but at least they provide some food

 

[redbellybite]

I wonder what would happen in australia if all of a sudden the rodents were gone as well as the non native birds. Would make a big impact you reckon?

wow Middy your thinking pretty deep tonight

 

[Noongato]

Dont worry rbb, in the meantime my brain slipped back into idle

I even changed that 1 sentace like 5 times now im so duhhhh

 

[redbellybite]

Dont worry rbb, in the meantime my brain slipped back into idle

I even changed that 1 sentace like 5 times now im so duhhhh

aww sweetie its part of being a new mummy ...it will get better as time passes or you fall preggers again and its back to soft sponge brain again :lol::lol::lol: