Snake ID

[DDALDD]

G'day everyone,

I realise that I don't have much information to give here but I thought I'd try my luck anyway. My cousin says he has a small snake living in his garden. He says it's definitely not a python. It's about 1ft long so it's probably still a juvenile. It moves very fast and it has a 'speckled greyish body with a black head." He lives in Sydney. I have not seen it myself but will endeavour to get a picture of it sometime.

Again, I know it's not much to go on, but does anyone have any idea what it could be? I'm going through a few websites and have come up with a few options. His only concern is that his young son plays in garden often so if it's dangerously venomous he'll have it removed.

 

[Desert Dweller]

do you guys get dugites over there?

 

[DDALDD]

No, I believe they are in SA & WA only.

 

[gman78]

It could be any number of snakes.
Here is the most rare just for fun

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...ev=/images?q=broad+head+snake&um=1&hl=en&sa=N

 

[MrBredli]

Yellow-faced Whipsnake perhaps.

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

G'day everyone,

I realise that I don't have much information to give here but I thought I'd try my luck anyway. My cousin says he has a small snake living in his garden. He says it's definitely not a python. It's about 1ft long so it's probably still a juvenile. It moves very fast and it has a 'speckled greyish body with a black head." He lives in Sydney. I have not seen it myself but will endeavour to get a picture of it sometime.

Again, I know it's not much to go on, but does anyone have any idea what it could be? I'm going through a few websites and have come up with a few options. His only concern is that his young son plays in garden often so if it's dangerously venomous he'll have it removed.

that is not a good description lol

you could play a guessing game ,but a pic is needed



oh and def no dugites out side of south west of W.A !!

 

[DDALDD]

No worries, I realise at this point we'd just be taking stabs in the dark. I'll try to eventually get a picture of it. Thanks for the responses.

 

[MrBredli]

What suburb is this snake located in? Do you know if it has been seen on the ground only, or climbing plants/shrubs etc?

The other two possibilities would be Eastern Brown or Green Tree Snake, but if i was a betting man, and i am, my money would be on it being a Yellow-faced Whipsnake.

 

[Bushfire]

I'll bet its a Juv Eastern Brown Snake. Black head speckled body in Sydney about a foot long.

 

[DDALDD]

What suburb is this snake located in? Do you know if it has been seen on the ground only, or climbing plants/shrubs etc?

The other two possibilities would be Eastern Brown or Green Tree Snake, but if i was a betting man, and i am, my money would be on it being a Yellow-faced Whipsnake.

Could very well be. It's in Castle Hill, lives on the ground under some rocks. To my knowledge, never been seen in a tree.

 

[MrBredli]

I'll bet its a Juv Eastern Brown Snake. Black head speckled body in Sydney about a foot long.

The black head would certainly indicate a juvenile Brown, but at 30cm it would have to be fresh from the egg, and i believe it is way too early for Brown's to be hatching just yet, hence my leaning towards a Whipsnake.

Both Whipsnakes and Browns are common out at Castle Hill though, so could be either.

 

[gman78]

Just tell him to be carefull when getting the photo

 

[DDALDD]

The black head would certainly indicate a juvenile Brown, but at 30cm it would have to be fresh from the egg, and i believe it is way too early for Brown's to be hatching just yet, hence my leaning towards a Whipsnake.

Both Whipsnakes and Browns are common out at Castle Hill though, so could be either.

Thanks MrBredli. To my knowledge the snake has been there for awhile, has not just appeared recently but I'd need to confirm this. He says he's seen it fairly frequently. I'll see if I can pop over sometime this week and snap a pic. In the meantime I might tell him to keep his son inside. He's a very inquisitive young man.

 

[gman78]

Yeah if the kid knows where it is..... Guess what he'll do next time he's in the yard.

 

[DDALDD]

True. Having said that, if it has been there awhile and nothing bad has happened, no reason to think it suddenly will. Would just give them peace of mind to know the exact species I think.

 

[gman78]

Yeah if there was a wild snake in my backyard i'd want to know

 

[Colin]

I'll bet its a Juv Eastern Brown Snake. Black head speckled body in Sydney about a foot long.

thats what I was thinking....

 

[Armand]

could be so many snakes lol im thinking maybe a juv eastern brown or maybe yellow face whip snake.. But only takin a guess here.

 

[Bushfire]

Maybe I've missed something here (I've never caught YFWS around Sydney) but I've never seen or caught a Yellow Faced Whip Snake that has a black head. The others that come close to a Juv Eastern Brown would be a Little Whip Snake (not found in Sydney) and Dywer's Snake (quite possible). The body shape should give a good indication of Dywers are more stocky then Juv Eastern Browns and then theres the characteristic defences Eastern browns the s shaped and Dywers raised flatten neck. I made the call of a Eastern Brown as they are the more common and 9 tim Ies out of 10 it will be. I guess it is here I should recall a picture says 1000 words.

 

[MrBredli]

You're right, they don't have black heads although they do have some black on the side of their head. Whipsnakes are very common around Sydney.

My guess that it is a Whipsnake is based on the size given and colour (30cm and grey) and time of year (it's too early for hatchling Browns - although this is irrelevant as the snake was not spotted recently as i first presumed). If it could be confirmed that the snake definitely had a black head then obviously it is a Brown Snake, there's nothing else it could possibly be.