Very unusual elapid i had to ID

[snakehandler]

If you go to the Snakehandler Facebook page you will see an album, Hastings Deering, check out the variety of Eastern browns there, from black through to almost orange!

 

[varanid_mike]

All my black snakes loose the red colouration while they are about to slough as well, might want to get a pic after it sloughs if you’re trying to show that it has very little red on it.

 

[snakehandler]

Mike, there is NO red on this snake, ever!

 

[-Peter]

Snakehandler's pictures show a pinky grey around the sub lateral area. That colour comes from the pre-slough not from the red. I base this on a couple of specimens that have come through my hands over the years. Bluebellies though dont have that. I would say it is because there is some subdued red pigment there that is highlighted as the spectrum passes through the oils under the out dermis during initial pre-slough. When they shed it doesn't show as red or pink.

 

[Firedrake]

I have actually seen a Red Bellied Black in the wild, about three hours south of Perth near a town called Capel. It looked right at me and then when I called my brother to have a look it was gone. I've never seen one since, certainly a beautiful creature.

 

[varanid_mike]

Sorry mate but it must have been a dugite or another snake species. There are no red belly black snakes in WA.

 

[Firedrake]

Well it was definitely red and black. We lived in the bush so there were always snakes around, found plenty of what we called copperheads and boring brown ones that were probably deadly. I had to relocate a hatchie down the road so dad wouldn't kill it. No idea what that was.

 

[kawasakirider]

Are collets in WA?

 

[Australis]

no

 

[Elapidae1]

The myth of RBB's and Copperheads in the south of our state is common. I think because many of these communities have members that have lived their whole lives in these places and have a level of respect given them, that it only takes one person to say it's so and the myth continues to be perpetuated. I recently had cause to be in Collie to remove snakes and the majoritie of people in the site believed they were seeing copperheads.

 

[Firedrake]

Ok had a look, found some pictures of Dugites, never seen one in my life. The ones we called copperheads were probably Mulga snakes. Real Copperheads live in Vic and NSW. Still can't find anything that looks like what I saw.

I can't find a single snake species that has a red belly and black top that lives in WA. Yet that's exactly what I saw. So I haven't got a clue what it actually was.

 

[Elapidae1]

Not a Mulga in Capel either. How big was it?

 

[Firedrake]

Not sure only saw about a quarter of the front, might have been a meter or so long all up. I just remember it being very red and very black, especially because I was so close and I knew they are highly venomous. Almost didn't want to look away in case it went, which it did.

I checked the location on mulgas they do live there, but thats not what it was.

 

[Elapidae1]

No they don't occur in Capel
Probably a Tiger

 

[lazylizzy]

if u can find cornsnakes in an odd place why not a rbb?

 

[Firedrake]

LoL ok so there was a tiny white spot that I missed...wish I could have taken photos of all the snakes I saw when I was younger. I would have a whole herping collection by now.

 

[varanid_mike]

Could be a very long distance hitch hiker, we get pythons from far north by accident in Vic, lets to say a red belly somehow made it over there as a hitchhiker. It’s very unlikely but not impossible.

 

[Elapidae1]

Not impossible but throw it in with every other report of RBB's down there and it's unlikely.

I wasn't trying to be picky Firedrake, RE the Mulga, but it's a prime example of how we end up with people believing that RBBS and Copperheads reside in places like Capel and Collie

 

[Firedrake]

True, still have no idea why I saw what I saw, or what it was. Could be a new species

 

[jack]

i have spoken to a bloke from wa who swore he saw a thylacine there... i wonder is a redbelly sighting more or less probable?