How to Identify Snakes in Queensland

Queensland is home to 10 species of Pythons.

There are five snake families currently inhabiting Australia, and all of these species can be found in the area of Queensland. The snakes here include Blind snakes, Pythons, Colubrids, Terrestrial Elapids and Sea snakes. This county is also home to the Western Taipan, the most venomous land snake in the world. Snake guide books such as "Spectacular Snakes of Australia" by Michael Cermak and "Snakes and Other Reptiles of Australia" by Gerry Swan can be helpful to anyone interested in identifying snake species in Queensland, Australia.

Things You'll Need

• Wildlife guide

Instructions

1. Look out for a snake that looks extremely similar to a worm. Small and dark brown in appearance, the Blind snake is completely harmless to humans. This snake has a small spike that protrudes from the end of the tail and the ability to vomit and exude an odor from the anal gland to put off predators. There are 18 Blind snake species found in Queensland.

2. Note the color and size of the snake. Pythons are large muscular snakes that live in the trees. These are not venomous, and constrict their pray rather than poisoning it. Python species sport a range of different colors. There are 10 different Python species found in Queensland.

3. Take care around areas of water where many fish-eating snakes can be found, such as the File snake, the venomous Colubrid snake, and the extremely dangerous Elapid snake. Of all the snakes inhabiting Queensland this is the most venomous family, including the deadly Taipan and the Eastern Brown snake. All Elipads can be identified by the oar-shaped tail, which they use to swim effectively through water to catch their prey. There are 49 species of Elapids living in Queensland.

References

• Queensland Museum: Snakes
• Amazon: Spectacular snakes of Australia
• Amazon: Snakes and other reptiles of Australia