shlanger
Well-Known Member
Monday 27th. October, was a warm day in the Victorian Mallee, 37c infact. I was assisting in the checking of drift-fence and pit-trapping lines and, as the day was warm, many small reptile species were trapped and had to be identified, recorded and non target species marked and released. We were trapping for Worm Lizards [Aprasia sp.]. At one pit line I came across an Eastern Brown Snake, [Pseudonaja textilis] of around 1.2-1.3 m. with its head in a pit bucket . I captured it and on lifting it up out of the sunken bucket, it revealed the tail of some unfortunate it had stolen from our pit trap, protruding from its mouth! Prior to bagging the snake, it regurgitated up the prey item, an adult Burton's Snake-lizard, [Lialis burtonis]. This now very 'flacid' animal was bagged, tagged and taken back to camp for the evening weigh-in, and perhaps preserving as a museum speciman! On arrival I noticed that it had revived some what, and by morning was, as lively as a cricket! So much so, that it was released back at it's capture point! Thus: the prey had obviously not been envenomated by the Brown Snake. Was this because it was such an easy capture and the snake was conserving its venom? Comments from herps with similar experiences and/or intelligent comment please!