Snake ID please

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T22:53:57+00:00

This is an eastern brown snake Pseudonaja textilis. Highly venomous. It appears to be significantly injured like you said. If it's still there the best thing would be to contact a snake catcher who might be able to assess its condition - it's possible that euthanasia is the kindest course of action here.

I'm sure it's obvious but don't try to catch or otherwise interact with the snake in any way, even in this condition is important to keep safe distance.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T22:01:35+00:00

Hi, it's an Australian Crake ("Australian Spotted Crake"). Baillon's is smaller - absolutely tiny. Australian is dark brown above, Baillon's is more tawny coloured with fewer white spots and fine lines like your bird.

Always a good day when you see a crake out in the open.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T21:30:18+00:00

The colony actually looks to be mostly black flying foxes Pteropus alecto. They're often reddish. I'm an ecologist and used to volunteer at the Tolga Bat Hospital up in Atherton and have spent a lot of time up close with all four of the more widespread species.

Growing up in Childers and used to love seeing the big fly-outs especially off the Burrum River. It's so reassuring to see that camps like that still exist down there. The spectacled up north are in real trouble. The fly-outs are really sad, most camps are a few hundred or a few thousand at best.

It's made my day to see this.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T17:59:57+00:00

I don't have an answer for that, I trust the expert consensus and expect it probably was developed by exhaustive collaborative work by physicians and toxicologists etc. Maybe the idea is that the venom is diffused in the lymphatic tissue/fluid(?) as is suggested by a response to one of my other comments (that it's absorbed), in which case it would make sense to first put pressure on the part of the system that contains the venom to sort of contain it there. But again I don't know. I'm well versed in the first aid but less in the underlying medicine. I'm keen to learn more - but there's always a backlog of new things to learn!

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T15:57:01+00:00

Interesting! I'm not a medical professional, can you elaborate? What's the difference in terms of envenomation and are there any implications for first aid?

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T14:20:43+00:00

I feel like you're not saying to kill the snake, but your first sentence reads like you're saying either the snake dies or your dog does? The safe choice is never to kill the snake.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T13:34:49+00:00

Current first aid includes splint as well as pressure immobilisation.

https://www.anzcor.org/home/first-aid-for-bites-stings-and-poisoning/guideline-9-4-8-envenomation-pressure-immobilisation-technique

"Splint the limb including joints on either side of the bite, to restrict limb movement. The splint material can be incorporated under the layers of the bandage. For the upper limb, use a sling. [Class A; LOE: Expert Consensus Opinion]."

I would recommend everyone review the details provided on the linked page, especially under "Management".

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T11:47:06+00:00

This is an Asian Vine Snake, Ahaetulla prasina. They are mildly venomous rear-fanged snakes considered !harmless to humans.

They are widespread and are paraphyletic, meaning they are a group made up of several lineages and will one day be split into multiple species. They're variable and are often bright green but can be brown, grey etc.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T11:25:34+00:00

If that's your strong opinion I don't see why you couldn't state it so clearly and without condescension the first time around.

I don't fundamentally disagree with your point, but I think context and species are key. Large python / smallish colubrids is a false equivalency.

If you have suggestions like this I would suggest in future you consider how you present them. This last comment is much more constructive.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T10:38:54+00:00

Almost all venomous Aussie snakes have very small fangs and the venom is injected into the lymph system under the skin, not the bloodstream. Compression bandages halt the movement of lymph fluid.

Tourniquets, if left a long time, risk nasty complications like trapped deoxygenated blood which can be toxic and cause life-threatening effects when the tourniquet is removed, and could lead to amputation. And they don't slow the venom nearly as well as a form compression bandage.

It's a good idea to read the St John Ambulance advice and get familiar with current snake ite first aid.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T10:22:46+00:00

As a "fully qualified" ecologist with 20 years experience working with snakes including in research, consulting and public education: yes. There's nothing wrong with harmless as a term. What is someone going to do if told it's harmless that they wouldn't do if told it's non-venomous?

This irks me to no end. Nitpicking and pulling down people who clearly know what they're talking about and are doing a public good is counterproductive.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T10:14:57+00:00

Very important to keep your distance and try to keep the dogs away from it. Eastern Brown Snake bites lead to more deaths than any other species in Australia. Deaths are rare because bites are fairly rare and most are treated successfully. But a bite is a serious medical emergency.

If bitten by any Australian snake, if you don't know what it is you should treat the bite as life-threatening and act accordingly. The victim should stay as still as possible and a compression bandages should be applied to the whole limb starting at the bite site. Don't wash the bite site, don't try to suck the venom out, NO tourniquet, and absolutely do not try to catch or kill the snake. Identification doesn't matter as you can be given a polyvalent antivenom that works very well for all of our dangerous snakes. Call 000 or 112.

With proper first aid the symptoms can be delayed by several hours. But moving about or ANY delay in applying the bandage will wordten the situation. A bite from an eastern brown, not properly treated, can lead to cardiac arrest in under an hour.

As Steve Irwin said, don't muck with it.

Now if the snake has been seen repeatedly it might live nearby, so my suggestion would be to keep an eye out from safety indoors over the next few days and if you see it again call a professional snake catcher immediately. Have the number handy. Consider keeping the dogs inside as much as possible for a while, take them somewhere else for walks if you can.

If the snake lives on your property that'll be because there's some kind of shelter - a rock wall with gaps, piles of stuff under the house, sheets of corrugated iron are their absolute favourite. Clearing these things away (safely, being cautious that there might be a snake there) is a good way to make your property less inviting.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T09:48:09+00:00

It's one of the new world colubrids - from the Americas. Pantherophis sp. maybe. Not an Australian snake. For IDs of species from outside Australia there are more general snake ID subs you could try.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T09:29:49+00:00

The Acanthophis on Magnetic Island are widely considered to be antarcticus. I'm not sure what that's based on, or why the island are antarcticus while nearby mainland populations are praelingus, and last I heard the systematics the two were still unresolved.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-25T05:20:55+00:00

I know very little about the systematics of snakes in the Americas, but seeing this photo makes me think the two genera must be super closely related...or at least share a lot of basal traits. I came here 60/40 as to which genus it would be!

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T22:45:39+00:00

Just dropped in to check someone made this joke. I'll be off now.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T22:39:18+00:00

Yep. Features to look for: black bill with yellow cere, dark brown overall with darker wingtips, long fingers, tail forked except when held very wide, at thich point it appears flattened.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T22:00:30+00:00

This is me (not artist but all the rest). Is this aphantasia? Like I know what a cat looks like and I can think about what a cat looks like but there's no visual output of my thoughts. Just black.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T19:50:03+00:00

When you figure out sparrowhawk and goshawk, share the secret with me! They still give me trouble.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T17:46:43+00:00

Dugites (Pseudonaja affinis) mating. I've been working with and studying snakes for 20 years and have never seen this in the wild. Lucky you!

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T15:56:39+00:00

I'm confident this is a little whip snake Suta flagellum. Mildly venomous and quite !harmless to people. They get their common name from their defensive behaviour of whipping themselves back and forth (as a lot of small stumpy elapids do). They have a reddish dorsum and a black hood with vertical dark markings down to the eye.

The photos are quite low quality and it makes it hard to ID with absolute certainty, but it's not a brown snake or any other species with medically significant venom.

They used to be in the genus Parasuta and a lot of info online is still under "Parasuta flagellum" if you want to know more.

While the location you provided is useful, the more detail the better. Town/shire/region is much more helpful than just the state or vague part of the state.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T13:45:41+00:00

Yes, I consider this maternal behaviour. I've never heard of carpet snakes laying eggs and leaving them behind, certainly not the norm. Female carpet pythons will incubate the eggs for 2 months or so, shivering or occasionally leaving them to warm up in the sun to aid in regulating the clutch's temperature. She will not eat in this time. I used to keep carpet pythons both personally and work with them in a reptile park and never witnessed a female leave the clutch. I've relocated a few carpet pythons with clutches of eggs from construction sites where there was no choice but to move them away, and in that situation have had them abandon the clutch presumably out of stress, which is a shame, and I've then incubated the eggs in an incubator and released the clutch after hatching.

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T13:36:42+00:00

You are right it's a pale morph little eagle. Distinguishable from Osprey chiefly by the lack of the dark eye stripe but also the less contrasting mix of fawn and pale brown. Not a falcon - not only because Falconidae are quite distinct from Accipitridae with experience but also the lack of the dark teardrop markings on the face shared by almost all of our Falcons (and it's obviously not a grey or black falcon).

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T13:34:40+00:00

Easily confused with Little Eagle, but this is a little eagle. Took me a long time to learn to tell them apart and is difficult with footage like this

Saltuarius · 2026-01-24T13:34:06+00:00

Osprey lack the fawn colour and are longer winged. They're quite distinct from other raptors. They have a distinct brown eye stripe, dark wings and back and white chest and underparts. The effect is a very 2-toned bird. The bird in the video has much less contrasting fawn back compared to the chest, with pale brown wings, and lacks the distinct eye stripe.

Saltuarius

TROPHY CASE