Brown snake in water?

[Haarry]

So I encountered a mystery snake at a property in Wiseman's ferry.. It was in the river and swam up to us.. I don't know much about snakes but looking at pictures the snake it looks most like that could feasably be in the area is a juvenile brown snake.. It also reared it's head for a good 2 minutes before retreating from us.

But apparantly these snakes don't live near water.. but I can't find info on if they could swim.. it was an adept swimmer.. retreating all the way across the wide-ish river pretty quickly. Also the area, aside from having a river.. is perfect for brown snakes, a farm in rural eastern australia, with lots of rodents.

So is it possible that it was a brown snake? It looked nothing like the common water snakes.. unless it was maybe a baby?

It looked almost exactly like this
Fileseudonaja textilis - Nerrigundah.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[syeph8]

seen plenty of browns swimming. definitely possible

 

[Haarry]

Well that is terrifying.. Never gonna swim there again. Thank you for the prompt reply though

 

[ryanrumler]

yeah i have seen plenty aswell.no need to worry it wont chase you if you splashing around.just the eels aha

 

[snakeluvver]

Nah they'll just swim away, they're scared of people. You're lucky to get snakes!!!

 

[Haarry]

My panicking and splashing around made it rear it's head though? Which I thought was a sign of aggression.. It's actually the first time i'd ever had to deal with a snake in the wild so I was pretty scared.. plus I was not sober.

 

[syeph8]

no worries, wouldn't avoid swimming there though. seen plenty of browns crossing the murray too. hasnt stopped anyone from swimming in it. just stay out of their way and they wont bother you. in fact if you stay still theyll probably crawl right over you like you were just another obstacle.

I have never seen a brown snake dive either (not saying they dont, just saying i havnt seen it). i have seen them go over boats to get to where they are going though. this suggests that if you dive under you're out of harms way. this in no way is me encouraging people to go diving under brown snakes willy nilly but if you find yourself between a brown and his path in the water there are plenty of ways to stay safe.

 

[-Peter]

Except the snake in the link is not Pseudonaja anything. Its is Notechis scutatus, a tiger snake.

 

[gillsy]

Could be a tiger snake, but wiseman's ferry, i'd be more worried about Bull Sharks than snakes!Even in 45cm's of water.

 

[Haarry]

Actually the king island tiger snake on wikipedia looks a lot more like it.

 

[Nighthawk]

this in no way is me encouraging people to go diving under brown snakes willy nilly

Why not? New extreme sport?