Baby Red Belly Black or????????

[Curiousity]

Black with red belly, light redish band behind head , approx 30cm long. We are not in a commonly black snake area so finding this little one was fasinating. The kids had one earlier and by the time I got to them it had taken off for safety. Hubby found this one (possibly the same one the kids saw) in the drive way. It had been ran over. Will get pics to post tomorrow sometime.

 

[Gruni]

Pics???? Ooops my, rushed my first read and then saw the last sentence...

 

[vicherps]

Pics I think are essential for a accurate but if had a band on the nape that could of been a Copperhead as some specimens possess this. Perhaps a location to might help.

 

[moosenoose]

Sounds like a red naped snake, but we'd have to see pics for a positive ID, either that or a real crap guess from me :lol: Location would help immensely also

 

[fourexes]

almost sounds small eyed apart from the redneck, sure it's just not a cowboy smalleyed? :lol:

does the pink/red belly extend up the sides or not?

 

[vicherps]

Sounds like a red naped snake, but we'd have to see pics for a positive ID, either that or a real crap guess from me :lol: Location would help immensely also

It could be but they are not dark on the dorsum and the lowest part of the flanks tends to be a creamish colour and look rather different from red bellys. I think copperheads are a possible candidate but still it could be anything as I do not know the locality nor are there any pics up yet.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Without pics I'd put my money on GOlden Crowned.

 

[vicherps]

squamulosus don't have a band on the nape but have 2 markings on the neck that do not connect nor is it red if we are going of the descriptions told but a picture would definitely confirm what sort of sp it is.

 

[jedi_339]

Without pics I'd put my money on GOlden Crowned.

Without pics the only possible explanation is keelback people :lol:

But in all seriousness OP there is no possible way for an identification without seeing a picture. We can only guess and even that's completely dependant on your perception of the colours in your description.

 

[Gruni]

And a general geographic location wouldn't you think Jedi?

 

[Echiopsis]

I feel the need to murder people who say keelback on this forum. If only I could send anthrax through the interweb....

Even with the description, GeckPhotographer could still be right. People often see what the want/ expect to see when dealing with snakes, particularly if they only have a passing interest.

 

[Curiousity]

Ok on better inspection I'm now not at all sure. We are Western Vic and Tigers are predominate for this area. Will endevour to post pics.

View attachment 271644 View attachment 271648

 

[Gruni]

Attachment fail...

 

[treeofgreen]

Advanced mode!

 

[Curiousity]

will try again. A lot of phone/internet lines still down in this area and what we have is slow. A pain for an allready slow area.

View attachment 271652

 

[vicherps]

attachments have failed. Where abouts in western Vic?

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Well in Western Vic I'd be wrong, it might be an unusually dark F.diadema or a D.mastersii

 

[Curiousity]

Hamilton not sure what I'm doing wrong here. Pics show as attachments when I view. I have resized so they are under 50kb without losing too much res

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View attachment 271654

 

[vicherps]

I'm open to various sp, but a locality (where in western vic) and pics would give me more of an idea but I understand that curiosity is having troubles loading pics at this time.

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Hamilton there is no red napes or masters so they are out of the question (nor did they fit the description) I could be wrong but the nape description makes me think a Austrelaps superbus.

 

[jordo]

I would suspect it was a Copperhead or a dark juvenile eastern brown.
Copperheads can have a band across the nape and come in a variety of colours on the sides.

Austrelaps superbus, juveniles by Jordan de Jong, on Flickr