Tidbinbilla Red Bellies. Images of Canberra

ConanOfCooma said :

Blacks will make it their mission to get out of your way, they are very timid and shy. I’ve never seen one angry, even with kids and dogs giving them a hard time – That said, I’m sure they’re more than capable of striking in anger. Like school teachers!

The general rule we go by down here is any snake in the wild is to be left alone, and the only snakes we kill on our property are Kings and Easterns, but only if they are near the house.

I heard there were a lot of Copperheads around Cooma.

watto23 said :

I live on the murrumbidgee corridor with a fire trail out back and in 10 years I’ve never seen a snake. They’d definately live in the grasslands though. I like all animals and wish i saw more snakes to photograph! Photographing roos, galahs and cockatoos is getting boring lol!

Head north a bit!. I’ve come across 3 browns in the past 12 months along the bicentennial trail running behind Macgregor and Dunlop.

breda said :

No-one ever got bitten – they do seem to be at the low end of the aggression scale. Brown snakes are another matter entirely, IMO.

Yep. Those of us who experience snakes on a very regular basis lift a tired eyebrow at the people who are quite sure that all snakes will just scuttle away. Blacks seem to be quite sluggish, so you’ll often surprise them, but so far I’ve not had any come at me.

Browns seem to be supremely un-interested in leaving, and if you don’t notice them, things can get pretty nasty. I haven’t encountered any tigers in recent years but I’ve heard they are similarly pugnacious.

Dragon-type lizards are the same, they’ll stand and try to fight you. I almost tripped over a large bearded dragon the other day who was taking exception to my being there. He wasn’t going *anywhere*. As far as he was concerned, I was to leave, full stop.

Brianna said :

fabforty said :

I saw a very long snake making its way across the Barton Highway a few weeks ago – a large Brown, I thought. Was pleased to see the cars actually stopped to let it cross instead of just mowing it down.

That’s good to hear. I love snakes and I’m tired of the attitude towards them. Sharks come into this category as well.

Can’t say I’ve ever had to stop the car for a shark 😉 I do understand your point

Gorgeous photo, thanks.

A group of friends for many years spent our summer holidays in a part of the Royal National Park (south of Sydney) which had a large population of these. We often saw them around, but made a point of (a) looking where we were walking and (b) making plenty of noise/vibration when moving around in the bush. Many a time you’d see the tail of one retreating in front of you off the path.

No-one ever got bitten – they do seem to be at the low end of the aggression scale. Brown snakes are another matter entirely, IMO.

Because they have magical snake sensing abilities?

johnboy said :

old wives the cast majority of snakes out there have gotten out of your way without you ever knowing they were there.

The rare times you see a snake falls into exceptional circumstances and for whatever reason the snake has decided to stand its ground.

With all due respect John, I have to disagree. Have a chat to anyone who has grown up on a farm and listen to their point of view on this.

steveu said :

Thank you for this reminder, some very good points – particularly about small children and pets.

My personal view is to treat every snake with a GREAT deal of respect, do not assume they are not interested in you and do not think they will ‘get out of the way before you get anywehre near them’ – old wives tale.

Extreme caution and respect people.

In fairness to the old wives the cast majority of snakes out there have gotten out of your way without you ever knowing they were there.

The rare times you see a snake falls into exceptional circumstances and for whatever reason the snake has decided to stand its ground.

Thank you for this reminder, some very good points – particularly about small children and pets.

My personal view is to treat every snake with a GREAT deal of respect, do not assume they are not interested in you and do not think they will ‘get out of the way before you get anywehre near them’ – old wives tale.

Extreme caution and respect people.

fabforty said :

I saw a very long snake making its way across the Barton Highway a few weeks ago – a large Brown, I thought. Was pleased to see the cars actually stopped to let it cross instead of just mowing it down.

That’s good to hear. I love snakes and I’m tired of the attitude towards them. Sharks come into this category as well.

🙂 Gorgeous photo!

I saw a very long snake making its way across the Barton Highway a few weeks ago – a large Brown, I thought. Was pleased to see the cars actually stopped to let it cross instead of just mowing it down.

10 out of 10 for this photo. They appear to both have their eye on you, watching, waiting, ready to strike. I wouldn’t be able to drop eye contact with them even for a second to glance at the camera LCD.

I’ve found blacks to be more prone to leaving than browns, which will stand their ground and watch you. That said, I’ve almost tripped over blacks on several occasions. I’ve never had a black come at me, unlike browns which have. All that stuff about snakes being more scared of you are rubbish.

Saw quite a few browns broken and squashed on the road during the spring warm-up but none lately.

The only use I have for blacks is that they eat browns. And they’re easier to see.

nice photo, but they still make my skin crawl….

saw a dead one in suburban monash today. Don’t know what kind, but in my books, a dead snake is a good snake. Don’t like them one bit.

Athryn said :

Just remember everyone one, the red bellies will chase you if you agrivate them so be careful 🙂

And they can go faster uphill then down, but only when they form a hoop and roll along. What you really have to lookout for though, is when they work in tandem with a drop bear.

Gorgeous photo, I accidentally killed one last week along the cotter road it just came out onto the road from no where I felt awful.

Athryn said :

Just remember everyone one, the red bellies will chase you if you agrivate them so be careful 🙂

Yes, we were driving on a bush track and one of these was sunning itself. There was no way to go around it. We tried to move it by such brilliant urban solutions as tooting the horn. One of us got out and used a stick to get it moving (very gently). It slithered incredibly fast at the idiot (me) who’d unnecessarily climbed out of the car to watch. I didn’t know snakes could move like that. It then hid under the car, but must have found that too cold, and left pretty quickly.

Their bite, I read later, is nasty but generally not fatal to adults.

A beautiful photo, thanks.

Just remember everyone one, the red bellies will chase you if you agrivate them so be careful 🙂

ConanOfCooma said :

Blacks will make it their mission to get out of your way, they are very timid and shy. I’ve never seen one angry, even with kids and dogs giving them a hard time.

At a property in the highlands, I was wandering through the paddock about 50m away from the house. Heard a bit of a rustle by the grass near my feet and thought it a skink and continued walking. I stopped after a couple of metres and turned around, and out slithered a red-belly. I started walking backwards to give it some space.

Well I’ll be buggered if the thing didn’t start following me. I must have walked a 10 metre arc around it to get back towards the house and the thing circled and kept following me. Near the house I bolted into a run to get the shotgun. When I came back out the snake had the smarts to go down a wombat hole.

So they won’t go out of your way in all cases.

I love this photo. Where are their little deck chairs and fruit cocktail drinks?

I live on the murrumbidgee corridor with a fire trail out back and in 10 years I’ve never seen a snake. They’d definately live in the grasslands though. I like all animals and wish i saw more snakes to photograph! Photographing roos, galahs and cockatoos is getting boring lol!

Thanks 🙂

DUB said :

The one on the right looks like has meal inside its belly.Beautiful shot!

… or several … certainly appears quite content.

ConanOfCooma said :

The general rule we go by down here is any snake in the wild is to be left alone, and the only snakes we kill on our property are Kings and Easterns, but only if they are near the house.

+1

Great photo!

ConanOfCooma said :

Blacks will make it their mission to get out of your way, they are very timid and shy.

Mr Gardening was taking my photo at Tidbinbilla once… “go back a bit, step back, yeah, that’s good, NO, COME FORWARD RIGHT NOW!” Snake calmly slithered away to look for somewhere more peaceful than the side of the path.

great pic Geoff. they are quite the beautiful pair 🙂

The one on the right looks like has meal inside its belly.Beautiful shot!

Blacks will make it their mission to get out of your way, they are very timid and shy. I’ve never seen one angry, even with kids and dogs giving them a hard time – That said, I’m sure they’re more than capable of striking in anger. Like school teachers!

The general rule we go by down here is any snake in the wild is to be left alone, and the only snakes we kill on our property are Kings and Easterns, but only if they are near the house.

That is an excellent photo!

I love snakes, but nothing scares me more then seeing one just as you are about to put my foot on it… I’ve never actually trod on one but I have come pretty close a couple of times.

forgoodnessake said :

very nice photo Geoff. Snakes are gorgeous creatures.

Thanks 🙂

It’s mating season … delayed because of the cooler, damper weather. I think they must’ve very recently shed as their skins were in beautiful condition and their colouration vivid. I agree, they’re gorgeous creatures. I don’t think I’d have gotten quite so close if they were browns or tigers though 😉

very nice photo Geoff. Snakes are gorgeous creatures.