Brown snake?

[Kitah]

Tonight I decided to go for a walk and kinda half-heartedly look for some herps... on one road, a friend and walked partially down, then turned around and started to come back. We noticed a snake on its back, with a very, very pale belly; only reason we saw it was because it was nearly white (it was a very, very dark road) unfortunately it had been hit by a car.

is it a brown snake?

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[Shonfield]

im no expert
but its brown in colour so i say yes

 

[flinders]

i'd say slatey grey. it's not a brown

 

[shlanger]

I reckon it's an Eastern Small-eyed snake, {Cryptophis nigrescens}

 

[junglepython2]

Definitely not a brown.

 

[flinders]

you'd be doing well to get an eastern small eye with a white belly

 

[Kitah]

mhmm I really dunno much about snakes unless theyre pythons, as you can see!

it was only a light olive colour, certainly not dark coloured.. no orangey spots on the belly (as is described for eastern browns, so now i realise that was wrong) and it was a smooth, pale cream belly, no other colours on the belly untill you got to the tail, which had some brown underneath

 

[smacdonald]

It's got a loreal scale, so it's definitely a colubrid. I'm with flinders - I'm pretty sure it's a slaty-grey snake.

I've never seen an eastern small-eyed snake with a white belly, but they certainly come with cream bellies.

Stewart

 

[Sdaji]

It's definitely a Slatey-grey.

I saw a Small-eyed Snake last year which had a pure white belly. It was a mutant of some type, possibly a caramel (T+) albino. It had dark eyes and a light beige body.

 

[Aslan]

Shadow - If you're not sure, the simplest way to tell a Brown is a speckled belly - of course if it was a Brown (and in better shape) I wouldnt be in a rush to lift him up and check...in this situation easy though

 

[JasonL]

Hey, at least your getting out and finding a few things now, though looks like you were1/2 hour too late to see that slatey at it's best.

 

[bigguy]

Slatey Grey for sure. Very light coloured specimen though. Normally they are grey to black on top.

 

[Tatelina]

im no expert
but its brown in colour so i say yes

Brown snakes are not always brown!!

 

[symbol]

Definatley not a brown.

 

[Kitah]

Awesome, slatey grey it is!

Thanks guys just wish he hadn't been hit I think we missed him by a matter of 5mins or so, literally. because we had just walked another, what, 100-200m up the road before turning around and going back the other direction, which was when we saw him. So he would have had to have been nearish to the road.

Do slatey greys have any dangerous effects if they bite, or is it safe to handle them?

Edit: did another search to find some info on slateys, as i've never heard of them before. So theyre not dangerous to people (do they still have a nasty bite?) and supposedly they can be seen after it rains? because I went outside last night soon after it rained, and everything was wet. I think this guy would have been about 1.3m or so?

Below is a para on slateys... this guy def didnt seem to be grey (I know, colour isnt good to ID a snake because they vary so much) and was more of an olive colour, but his body was definately white

"Slatey grey snakes are often found near water and are more
likely to be seen at night or after rain. Their backs generally
range from grey to black in colour and their belly is very
striking glossy white. They are defensive by nature and caution
should be taken.
Length to 1.5m."

 

[eipper]

It is a slaty grey Stegonotus sp, as Stewart said it has a loreal scale (means not elapid as none have them)

As for safe to handle,....whilst being a solid toothed colubrid they are having research being conducted as to the possiblilty of an early venom delivery system. Their salvia is also being looked at for possible toxins. I suspect they would have at the very least a fairly good anti coagulant due to amount of bleeding from what would seem a not event bite.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[Kitah]

Ok thanks Methinks if any snake has even a slight amount of venom/toxins, I'm not going to handle it/move it.. I'd rather not risk a bite and find out what happens, personally! I wouldn't mind doing a snake handling course so I can learn how to handle elapids incase I need to (say theres one on a busy road or something) but that would have to wait a while!

 

[flinders]

slatey grey's are usually agro bloody things when handled , they chew rather than bite and you know it when they musk you. it's one of the worst smells.

 

[Kitah]

ahh I noticed that when I was reading some threads on here. Note to self; if I see another slatey, dont go near it. lol

 

[redbellybite]

ERM just to clear up one MYTH just because its brown doesnt mean its a brown snake ...............EASTERN BROWNS can come in many colours from the standard brown to black ,cream ,slate grey you cant tell a brown from colour alone ...........RBB