PYTHON HUNTING??

[JET]

Hi everyone,

I'm going for a holiday in the Nth NSW/Sth QLD region, and during the day (to keep us out of the pub) we're going to go for a few bush walks in the lismore area.
I've read a few posts about people seeing a kinds of reptile in the wild and really want to see a few myself.
Now apart from taking the carrying and being competant in the use of first aid equipment. Is there any other tips anyone can give me to help track down a few Morelia.
I'm not really looking forward to turning over rocks though, not being able to see a brown in hiding doesn't really appeal to me.

 

[Fuscus]

You are going at the right time of the year. Proberly the best places for pythons would be along creeks with large gums but carpets live in such a wide range of habitats. Perhaps look for areas that support bandicoots (trees, long grass) and take it from there. Rainforests are a good place too, exspecally near tourist resorts that attract paddymelons.
I have to say all the wild carpets I have ever seen have been on the ground but that may just be an artifact of the way I search.

 

[JET]

Cheers.
I was begining to think that i was going to come home with a sore neck from staring up at the tree tops all day. I only have 1 diamond at the moment and she rarely comes down of her branches except for feeding. Do carpets behave similarly?

 

[serpenttongue]

Nearly all the diamonds i have ever seen in the wild have been up in trees along creeks in rainforest habitat. You may have to start early if you want to see diamonds. They usually only bask until around 10am and then dissappear. Of course any old sheds( no not snake skin sheds) you come across in the bush MUST be checked for pythons.

 

[Guest]

There was this old shed in my area that jonno took me to not so long ago, it had been knocked down , though he said u were almost garanteed a carpet in it every time he had gone.

 

[serpenttongue]

Ive been in some old abandoned houses in diamond habitat and i have had more luck finding diamonds in the house than in the bush. I have collected over 20 diamond skins of various sizes from the attic of one house. And have seen rats inside the walls making nests from old diamond skins. How ironic that rats use snake skins to make nests for them to produce babies that will eventually be eaten by the snakes.

 

[Guest]

Well thats the great circle of life.

 

[Fuscus]

Rats nesting in snake skins. I can't help thinking what a great photo that could make. It also raises an interesting point, rodents are instinctly nervous of the smell of a cat but this indicates that they don't reconize the smell of a snake

 

[kerry]

Hi Jet,
Im actually from Lismore, and would recommend mt warning national
park as opposed to Bunjalong National Park.

 

[Already_Gone]

u beat me to the punch kerry, but there is still heaps of bushland around, what about the nightcap national park???

 

[kerry]

mmm nightcap is good too - isnt mt warning part of nightcap? (its pretty close if not)

 

[moosenoose]

All the carpets I've ever seen in the wild have been on the ground...at least thats where I saw them :lol: I'd probably already passed a dozen or so in the tree tops unknowingly! :lol: I almost picked up a large carpet in the Lamington National Park that was coiled up on the ground asleep but was sprung by a park ranger! :lol: It was a case of who was catching who that day!! :lol:

If you are anywhere near here, this place is definately worth the trip!

The local reptiles tally fifty-five lizards and twenty-five snakes

http://www.oreillys.com.au/content/standard.asp?name=PracticalInformation