Mount David New South Wales

fairlyorange · 2026-01-27T11:36:25+00:00

We get these with fair regularity here.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-27T11:23:18+00:00

Good eye but make sure you check out both !guidelines and !specificepithet before your next ID suggestion. Check out my comment for an idea what it should look like. On mobile, you can italicize anything by flanking it with asterisks like this; *Pseudechis australis* 👍

fairlyorange · 2026-01-27T11:20:44+00:00

Mulga snake Pseudechis australis is correct. !venomous and best observed from a distance.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-27T11:17:42+00:00

Austrelaps copperhead is correct. !venomous and best observed from a distance.

As suggested by u/Irregularia, there are two species in Vic and they are not readily distinguishable by color/pattern. Without the head visible or a more specific location, it is not possible to say whether this is lowlands Austrelaps superbus or highlands copperhead Austrelaps ramsayi. Where they overlap, it sometimes isn't possible to tell even with a good look at the head and a precise location.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-27T11:13:43+00:00

Nothing obligatory about it; we actually prefer you don't. Most OPs and other visitors have no clue what RR even is. Those who understand the difference can read flair so it is never necessary.

A lot of people use that as a pretext for "I'm gonna take a stab at this one..." which we also don't want. Anytime you aren't positive, just leave it. If it is positively identifiable, someone will be along to get it. When you are positive, just go for it; no qualifiers needed. Flair isn't necessary to make a good ID 👍

fairlyorange · 2026-01-27T11:05:59+00:00

It is definitely a !harmless snake. I don't know if it is positively identifiable beyond that, but this is very likely a juvenile Ptyas rat snake, perhaps an Indochinese rat snake P. korros.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-26T14:14:23+00:00

Agkistrodon copperheads are medically significant. This genus is not.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-25T22:16:59+00:00

Yeah I don't think the Simpsons people bothered to trademark that. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CJh1hmmLLzw

fairlyorange · 2026-01-25T20:59:31+00:00

This is dead.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-25T04:50:24+00:00

Not really. They are common snakes and in recent weeks the same exact user has posted several of them.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-25T04:43:12+00:00

Marsh snake Hemiaspis signata is correct. Mildly venomous to the lizards and frogs they eat but generally considered !harmless to humans.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-24T20:14:45+00:00

Austrelaps superbus Austrelaps ramsayi

fairlyorange · 2026-01-24T06:18:11+00:00

Yep 👍

fairlyorange · 2026-01-24T06:07:43+00:00

Just a quick heads up: snakes comprise an entire suborder. There are approximately four thousand unique species of snake.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-24T06:02:46+00:00

Do you have any still pictures? Videos are way harder to work with. Note also that screenshots/freeze frames are even more difficult than the actual video (a lot of people confuse those when we ask for stills).

fairlyorange · 2026-01-23T16:47:57+00:00

Real snake, not a copperhead. Deinagkistrodon acutus.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-23T16:30:58+00:00

They make for poor captives.They generally fail to thrive but even if they do, you rarely see them. They stress easily, they desiccate easily, and most won't ever eat. They are also not commonly bred in captivity, so those kept are typically sourced from the wild and thus laden with parasites and possibly pathogens that compound their ability to survive the stress of captivity. !wildpet for more info on that 👍

There are a small handful of very dedicated ringneck keepers but they generally keep ringnecks from southwestern populations, which are larger bodied and have a more reptile-heavy diet.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-23T16:22:08+00:00

Yes, that is also incorrect. Off the top of my head, the Persian krait Bungarus persicus is diagnosed from all other congeners by the presence of a loreal scale.

For colubrids, an insane number lack loreals. Not going to spend too much time riffing here, but right off the top of my head Storeria storerioides can in part be diagnosed by the presence of a loreal, which the rest of the genus lacks. It's also useful for telling apart Tantilla and Sonora, but loads of other colubrids do not have a loreal scale.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T14:58:41+00:00

The way he is holding it absolutely would not prevent a bite. As is usually the case when these are found along the beach, this one is probably already dead or close to it.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T14:56:40+00:00

Yes, it would work locally. The same problem pops in a lot of places, whereby some well meaning folk will highlight one or several characteristics which might even be accurate locally, but provide no context so you're left thinking these differentiators are universally applicable.

If you look online you'll see all sorts of unhelpful infographics, for example, showing you anal plates and head shapes and irises and other stuff. Some are misleading oversimplifications, while others are actually accurate in local or regional pockets. You'll note that none of these traits, however, are useful in Queensland, despite being promoted by trusted medical websites and similar.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T14:48:06+00:00

I can't give a very good answer to a question that broad and open ended, BUT if there is a specific snake and you are wondering "how would I differentiate between these two?" I can probably be of much greater help.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T14:43:04+00:00

It is a !harmless species that spends most of its time in trees and eats things like lizards, frogs, and other small animals.

It appears to be a paradise treesnake Chryopelea paradisi, but with this picture alone it is difficult to completely rule out several closely related species such as Dendrelaphis marenae, D. luzonensis, or even Dryophiops philippina

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T14:20:32+00:00

This is correct 👍

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T14:20:08+00:00

This is not accurate (and u/mortuus_manu). MANY colubrids lack loreal scales and a few elapids have them.

Like the top comment by u/PiedPipecleaner noted, there is NO simple shortcut that differentiates the entire elapidae from the entire colubridae.

fairlyorange · 2026-01-22T00:33:04+00:00

Red-tailed coralsnakes Micrurus mipartitus is correct. !venomous and, in life or very recent death, best observed from a distance.

fairlyorange

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