Yeah classic Coffs Coastal, the same type as my first snake 30+ years ago. Back then these things were in abundance amongst the banana plantations.
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Hi Rob ,
Mate they are still abundant right through this area. There are still remnants of banana plantations throughout the district and they are still a favourite haunt for Carpets. There was even an occasion many, many years ago when I was a young teenager and with some friends and we were herping in a banana plantation up behind the Big Banana. I got up in the roof an old run down house and ended up dragging out half a dozen various sized Carpetss from the roof trusses, then got out of the roof and found another couple in some bunches of bananas that were leaning up against the veranda of the house. As that was happening one of my friends decided to lift a corrugated iron water tank that was lying directly on the ground to see what was underneath and, to all our surprise, revealed the skeletal remains of a lady. Now that's another very long story but, in short, what happened was that a South Australian Truck Driver was eventually arrested and found guilty of her murder.
I get an average of around a dozen or so Carpets visit my place from spring right through to autumn annually and consistently get FB notifications for them showing up at peoples places from Nambucca Heads to Woolgoolga. They even show up at peoples places during winter, only last week I had a neighbour about 60 metres down the road find one curled up in the rafters of her veranda and contacted me to ask if I thought it would be ok.
You know I find it funny how they refer to these M. mcdowelli as Coastal Carpets because you find ones identical to the ones around here right through the New England Tablelands and as far west as Moree and Narrabri, up through to Goondiwindi and on the western side of the Great Divide right up through Qld.
Over the years I've literally caught hundreds (probably closer to a couple of thousand) of the Morelia spilota group. Not just around here but all over the place from Eden on the NSW Sth Coast to Katherine NT and lots of places in between. And as far as intergrades go well...if that's the case with "Coastals/Diamonds" then out around Collarenebri, Brewarrina, North Star and Goodiwindi I have found individual specimens that share colours and patterns consistent with both "Coastals" and "Murray Darlings". Up through the tablelands and coastal Qld I've come across many individual Carpets that display colours and patterns consistent with both "Coastals" and "Jungles" and others that don't fit either. So why aren't all these also referred to as intergrades? Apart from Cogger mentioning it in his books, I don't know where the term originated but it will take a hell of a lot to convince me that from the Vic border to the NT they aren't just all phenotypes of the same species.
That's my little rave for the day...hahaha.
Cheers.
Skeletal remains of a lady ? Thats pretty full on mate, very interested in that story, did you guys find out who the lady was?Hi Rob ,
Mate they are still abundant right through this area. There are still remnants of banana plantations throughout the district and they are still a favourite haunt for Carpets. There was even an occasion many, many years ago when I was a young teenager and with some friends and we were herping in a banana plantation up behind the Big Banana. I got up in the roof an old run down house and ended up dragging out half a dozen various sized Carpetss from the roof trusses, then got out of the roof and found another couple in some bunches of bananas that were leaning up against the veranda of the house. As that was happening one of my friends decided to lift a corrugated iron water tank that was lying directly on the ground to see what was underneath and, to all our surprise, revealed the skeletal remains of a lady. Now that's another very long story but, in short, what happened was that a South Australian Truck Driver was eventually arrested and found guilty of her murder.
I get an average of around a dozen or so Carpets visit my place from spring right through to autumn annually and consistently get FB notifications for them showing up at peoples places from Nambucca Heads to Woolgoolga. They even show up at peoples places during winter, only last week I had a neighbour about 60 metres down the road find one curled up in the rafters of her veranda and contacted me to ask if I thought it would be ok.
You know I find it funny how they refer to these M. mcdowelli as Coastal Carpets because you find ones identical to the ones around here right through the New England Tablelands and as far west as Moree and Narrabri, up through to Goondiwindi and on the western side of the Great Divide right up through Qld.
Over the years I've literally caught hundreds (probably closer to a couple of thousand) of the Morelia spilota group. Not just around here but all over the place from Eden on the NSW Sth Coast to Katherine NT and lots of places in between. And as far as intergrades go well...if that's the case with "Coastals/Diamonds" then out around Collarenebri, Brewarrina, North Star and Goodiwindi I have found individual specimens that share colours and patterns consistent with both "Coastals" and "Murray Darlings". Up through the tablelands and coastal Qld I've come across many individual Carpets that display colours and patterns consistent with both "Coastals" and "Jungles" and others that don't fit either. So why aren't all these also referred to as intergrades? Apart from Cogger mentioning it in his books, I don't know where the term originated but it will take a hell of a lot to convince me that from the Vic border to the NT they aren't just all phenotypes of the same species.
That's my little rave for the day...hahaha.
Cheers.
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