Red
bellied black snake is found in the wetter south east of Cape York.
It is a
well known snake in
Australia, because of its distribution in the south eastern parts of
the country, including urban areas.
Up here it is found in
two isolated pockets - one south of Townsville,
and one north of Cairns.
The Cairns population
covers the coastal area from Cairns to Daintree
rainforests
and Cooktown, as well as parts of Lakefield
National Park.
So it is not common on
most of Cape York peninsula, and neither is it quite as
dangerous as most other Australian poisonous snakes.
Its venom
is weaker,
and there
are no reports of it having killed a human.
That said, it
is venomous and its
bite should be treated seriously.
Red
bellied black
snake by Tony Rodd
via Flickr.com
What
Does It Look Like?
It can be
one and a half to two metres long and is one of the larger Australian
dangerous snakes.
It is also one of the
most beautiful, with a glossy black
back, and a red belly.
The sides of the belly
are the reddest, and the underside of the belly is often
pinkish white. The underside of the tail is black.
It has a small, streamlined head, and a lighter, brownish snout.
A
red bellied black snake by Arthur Chapman via Flickr.com
Distribution,
Habitat and
Behaviour
It is
mostly found in south
eastern Australia
(eastern half of New South Wales, most of Victoria, eastern South
Australia, south eastern Queensland, and two pockets in north
Queensland - one south of Townsville, and one north of Cairns.
It lives in many different
types of habitat, including rainforest, open forest,
woodland, bushland and open plains, even people's gardens, but mostly
if they are near a water
course.
This snake likes wetter,
moister habitat
and can be seen on rainforest walks, near billabongs, rivers, creek
streams, wetlands, dams and other water bodies.
It is diurnal,
but can also be seen during hotter evenings and nights.
When not basking or hunting, it can be sheltering
in hollow
logs, under roots, rocks and timber, burrows and similar. Hunting.
By Doug Beckers via Flickr.com
What
Does It Eat?
While
some snakes focus on small mammals and others on other reptiles, the
red bellied black snake is mostly a frog
eater (and the poisonous cane
toads always kill them when eaten).
But it does take a small mammal and a reptile (including another
snake), or even a bird or a fish if its gets a chance.
Male combat. By zenthehook via
Flickr.com
Mating
and Breeding
Male
combat can be
seen in the late Dry Season, followed by mating.
In the early and late Wet Season between eight and 40, about 12cm long
young are born.
Red bellied black snakes are different from most other snakes in that
they don't lay eggs but
give birth to young in membranous sacs.
Baby red bellied black snake in Kuranda.
Bite,
Venom and Treatment
The red
bellied black is not
an aggressive
snake and will first try to escape when provoked.
If agitated too much it flattens
its neck
and hisses
loudly.
But if cornered, like other snakes it will finally bite. If it does
bite, its venom is not very highly toxic, and it does not inject a lot
of it, so there are no
reports on human deaths.
However its venom does
contain neurotoxins,
myotoxins and
coagulants - the human-killing components in the toxin of many other
more poisonous snakes.
A bite should still always be treated seriously and medical attention
should be seeked for antivenom.
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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.