ID please

[MontePython]

Found this fellow and 2 of its mates amongst mums retaining wall today along with plenty of gravid legless lizards(orange bellied ones) and some skinks. He posed well for the set up photo before being released back into the scrub much to mums dissmay and protest.

Sorry for the quality of the piccy but i wasnt getting the camera any closer as it doesnt look like our usual swampies.

Closest i have found through google is the dwarf or golden crowned snake. It has a pink belly and the gold extends from tip of the snout to just behind the head but doesnt join. All were less than 30cms.

I assume they eat beatles and other insects as there was heaps amongst the decaying plant matter. All the skinks were found next to or very close to black ants nests.

Thanks

 

[nathando2010]

golden crowned dnake?

I think haha.

 

[Wrightpython]

golden crown for sure they do bite but it only gives you localised pain and maybe headache

 

[nathando2010]

Woo my first I.d!

 

[GeckPhotographer]

It's a Golden Crowned Snake, they eat mostly frogs and small skinks such as Lampropholis delicata. Those legless lizards are not actually legless lizards at all but a species of skink either Hemiergis talbingoensis or much more likely in your location Saiphos equalis.

 

[MontePython]

cheers guys, the skinks were Saiphos equalis. They are bloody nice looking.

Plenty of Lampropholis delicata and Menetia greyii around there too.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Hey was this in Newcastle itself? If so mind sticking up a pic of the M.greyii I've never seen them that far East.

Cheers.

 

[MontePython]

ill get some piccies next time im over there, too quick to catch. Is there another species similar? and local? noticed you are close by, mums is fairly close to lake Mac. They look nearly identicle to the ones i used to get in scone. Definately diferent to Lampropholis guichinoti which i assume are the common garden variety.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Not really any other options I can think about. I find up this way L.delicata are far more common in gardens while further south L.guichenoti are more common. But both of those occur around this way.

 

[Dmnted]

Most likely a Golden Crowned snake because of head markings. Did you make a call of southern dwarf crowned snake (Cacophis Krefftii) because it's only 30 cm? Golden crowned adults are more towards 75cm. Nice searching monte!

And just for your love of Monte Python as I am a big fan too! (Fits in with some threads on here )

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Who goes there?
King Arthur: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Pull the other one!
King Arthur: I am, and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? Ridden on a horse?
King Arthur: Yes!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You're using coconuts!
King Arthur: What?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You've got two empty halves of coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.
King Arthur: So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Mercia, through...
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Where'd you get the coconuts?
King Arthur: We found them.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!
King Arthur: What do you mean?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Well, this is a temperate zone
King Arthur: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
King Arthur: Not at all. They could be carried.
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? A swallow carrying a coconut?
King Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.
King Arthur: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
King Arthur: Please!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Am I right?

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Most likely a Golden Crowned snake because of head markings.

999999999999% a golden crowned snake if you get my drift.

 

[Dmnted]

Yep, totaly agree with you GeckPhotographer !

 

[PMyers]

I assume they eat beatles

'Cacophinis yoko oniosis' perhaps?

 

[MontePython]

On the subject of python quotes, this has to be my fovourite ever.

Brian's Mother: He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!!!

or maybe this one

Brian: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand? Honestly!
Girl: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.
Brian: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!
Followers: He is! He is the Messiah!
Brian: Now, **** off!
[silence]
Arthur: How shall we **** off, O Lord?

 

[Dmnted]

Gota love the humour of Monte Python. All time classics!

 

[Bluetongue1]

The Southern Dwarf Crown Snake and the White Crowned Snake have the light coloured region continuous across the nape, whereas this does not occur in the Golden Crowned. (The colours of the crowns also vary between species – cream to yellow; white, sometimes with a tinge of yellow on the nape; greyish brown to burnt orange; respectively).

Maximum size is only of use when you get a snake long enough to eliminate smaller species. It is very much a luck of the draw thing.

Blue