Snake Skin ID

[moparkevuk]

Hello Snake Fanciers!

Clearing a tree I have chopped down nr Brisbane and found the following snake skin in the branches. Approx 1500mm long. 11 dorsal scales.

I'm fearing the worst!

Still got a lot of stuff to clear, will it still be about, and where would it be lurking? How fast can a 1.5m specimen chase me??? :lol:

 

[Aussie-Pride]

lock in brown tree snake eddie!

 

[PythonOwner25]

Looks like it could possibly be a brown tree snake or a golden tree snake?? The eyes are large which is typical of colubrid snakes and the snake is long and thin which suggests it could be a tree snake. If so, then you are safe!

 

[Ned_fisch]

That is just a tree snake, Brown tree snake or a Green/common tree snake. Both harmless. Snakes will not chase you, no snake will chase you, or lurk around watching you, snakes are more feared of you then you are of them. Their not out to get you. The snake that was in the tree, will be long gone now, especially after you've cleared the tree, or a few.

The only time you will be bitten is if the snake is cornered and feels threatened, and will bite out of defensive, or if people try to kill or remove the snakes themselves. The worst thing you can do is try kill the snake, because 98% of the time, you end off worse. If you see a snake, be the tree, they can slither through your legs and not even know your there, unless you moving and provoking it. Snakes aren't out to get you.

I don't mean to come off sounding harsh, if I do, I just hear to many uneducated people worrying about snakes chasing them, I personally don't believe its quite that true.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

That is just a tree snake, Brown tree snake or a Green/common tree snake. Both harmless. Snakes will not chase you, no snake will chase you

lol go piss a brown snake off i bet you it will chase ya..

 

[Ned_fisch]

lol go piss a brown snake off i bet you it will chase ya..

The idea then is for people not to go near the snakes and be smart about the situation, treat every snake as a brown and people will be safe. People are just asking to be bitten when they be stupid and try harm them. Personally, I don't believe a brown will chase you across a yard, I'm not saying everyone's wrong, I'm just not convinced by the stories.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

The idea then is for people not to go near the snakes and be smart about the situation, treat every snake as a brown and people will be safe. People are just asking to be bitten when they be stupid and try harm them. Personally, I don't believe a brown will chase you across a yard, I'm not saying everyone's wrong, I'm just not convinced by the stories.

yeah I'm not saying your wrong or right I'm just saying if you piss a brown snake of it will chase ya watch this lol

Don't chase Brown Snakes (Pseudonaja nuchalis) - YouTube

 

[moparkevuk]

Thanks for the quick replies, obviously I have a great respect for snakes, treat all as venomous etc etc. I guessed it would not be a brown, cos at that length the skin would be wider. Kept an american corn snake back in the UK, will get some piccies up at some point. Back to the yard for me!!

 

[Ned_fisch]

yeah I'm not saying your wrong or right I'm just saying if you piss a brown snake of it will chase ya watch this lol

Don't chase Brown Snakes (Pseudonaja nuchalis) - YouTube

I believe that for sure, and any animal will defend and charge like that. But its the stupid stories I get told where people claim a brown snake chased them for 20 metres, and attempted to hunt them down once they got away, I don't believe it one bit. As it said at the start of the film, It was trying to get away, as it continued to the entire duration of the film.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

I believe that for sure, and any animal will defend and charge like that. But its the stupid stories I get told where people claim a brown snake chased them for 20 metres, and attempted to hunt them down once they got away, I don't believe it one bit. As it said at the start of the film, It was trying to get away, as it continued to the entire duration of the film.

Agreed, for the OP don't piss brown snakes of they will chase ya lol

 

[Mister_Snakes]

That's a Green or Common Tree Snake. Not a Brown Tree Snake.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

That's a Green or Common Tree Snake. Not a Brown Tree Snake.

yeah i just took an educated guess the shedding is brown it was found in a tree and the large eyes.. whats your reasons for saying it's not a brown tree snake??

 

[Mister_Snakes]

yeah i just took an educated guess the shedding is brown it was found in a tree and the large eyes.. whats your reasons for saying it's not a brown tree snake??

Yeah you narrowed it down well, just the scale patterns become an obvious indicator of species after you've kept and relocated hundreds of them. Just like you can tell a species from a picture after practice, you can do the same with shed skins, just takes a bit longer!

 

[Aussie-Pride]

Yeah you narrowed it down well, just the scale patterns become an obvious indicator of species after you've kept and relocated hundreds of them. Just like you can tell a species from a picture after practice, you can do the same with shed skins, just takes a bit longer!

Fair enough I'm no expert an as i said was a guess, i got tree snake correct I'm getting there.

 

[CamdeJong]

Aussie-Pride brown tree snakes and brown snakes such as the one in the video are not related, they display totally different behaviour and of perhaps 50 or more brown tree snakes i've caught on snake calls none have ever chased me. In fact no snake will ever chase you, even in that video the snake is making a bluff display to try to scare away its predator. It's been tormented and stressed amd is out in the hot sun and the video is a very poor demonstration of snake behaviour that has no positive effects on people's perception or understanding of snakes. And not only brown coloured snakes have brown coloured sheds. You'll never see a green snake skin, the sheds are always some shade of brown, darker for darker coloured snakes. The true colour is under the scales.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

Aussie-Pride brown tree snakes and brown snakes such as the one in the video are not related, they display totally different behaviour and of perhaps 50 or more brown tree snakes i've caught on snake calls none have ever chased me. In fact no snake will ever chase you, even in that video the snake is making a bluff display to try to scare away its predator. It's been tormented and stressed amd is out in the hot sun and the video is a very poor demonstration of snake behaviour that has no positive effects on people's perception or understanding of snakes. And not only brown coloured snakes have brown coloured sheds. You'll never see a green snake skin, the sheds are always some shade of brown, darker for darker coloured snakes. The true colour is under the scales.

hahaha I know brown trees and browns are not related lol he said that no snakes will chase you so i said watch this lol it may be a provoked but what did it do it tryed to bite him and it "chased him". As for the shed i took a guess and went with brown tree snake as it was found in a tree brown and the large eyes lol and yeah i was wrong on the shedding, as was already pointed out. Sorry if i got you all worked up over nothing if i ever need to tell the difference between a brown tree snake and a brown snake I'll give you a pm lol

sorry that came of a bit rude, thank you for telling me about the colour of sheds you learn something everyday.

 

[Bluetongue1]

Regardless of circumstance, it is not good idea to simply guess at a snake ID. You should have some reason and you should make it clear to the OP that your ID skills are limited.

For future reference (if you are interested)...
There is a scale between the scale in front of the eye (pre-ocular scale) and the scale surrounding the nasal opening (nasal scale). This scale in the middle is called the loreal scale and is NOT found on elapids, only on colubrids.
Sheds do stretch readily but the head tends to stay in proportion and the whole body will still give you a pretty good indication of normal proportions. Being particularly long and thin, either tree snake or whip snake. Whip is elapid so its out.
The head is not excessively broader than the neck, so Common Tree Snake rather than Brown Tree.
CTS has 13 (rarely 15) mid-body scales; BTS has 19 to 23 mid-body scales. Confirms CTS.
Another useful difference, if available, is CTS have divided anal scale, BTS have a single.

Blue

 

[moparkevuk]

You're a pedantic lot here, eh? But I suppose you can't dick about when it comes to Aussie Snakes :shock: If you look at the last pic of the poo area, the anal scale is split, as stated the scale count is 11, so Common Tree snake will do! 8)

Interestingly, whilst fishing I had a snake cross a creek to see me, only a baby, (probably not to see me ), but I scored it as a brown, will put up the pics and see what you think....I'll be upset if it was a common tree snake, me old muckers back in the Grey UK were impressed with a Brown!

A few Q's; What is OP, what is Elapid/Colubrid, could Google it but I'm into me Cider......

Thanks again for the inciteful replies.

 

[Bluetongue1]

I make no apologies about being pedantic when it comes to IDing snakes, even from skins.
If it swam across the creek it is unlikely to have been an Eastern Brown Snake and more likely to have been a Common Tree Snake. Purely surmise at this stage in the absence of any firmer evidence.
The "OP" is the Opening Poster i.e. whoever started the thread.
Elapids are snakes belonging to the family Elapidae. They are front-fanged and venomous and most Australian snakes belong to this family, including all the dangerously venomous ones. Colubrids belong to the family Colubridae, which is a real collection of bits and pieces, but generally hey are either solid toothed 9no fangs) or rear-fanged but with mild venom and not considered dangerous to humans (unless of course you happen to be allergic or super sensitive to one of the venom components, which thankfully is extremely rare).Only a handful of Australian snakes belong to this family. In the UK both the Grass Snake and the Smooth Snake are colubrids. The Adder belongs to the family Viperidae or Vipers. These are also venomous and front-fanged but the arrangement of the fangs is fundamentally different. All vipers have keeled scales whereas nearly all elapids have smooth scales...etc

Blue