Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the largest snake in the world?
Either the Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) from South America or the Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus) from South-east Asia. The Anaconda grows to 9.5 m and can weigh round 200 kg.The Reticulated Python grows to 10.1 m but, being of slender build, weighs less.
Which is the largest snake in Australia?
The Amethystine (Scrub) Python (Morelia kinghorni, formerly M. amethistina), from north Queensland. The largest specimen reliably measured had a total length of 5.65 m. Specimens longer than this have been reported frequently, but these records cannot be authenticated.
Which is the largest venomous snake in Australia?
The Coastal Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus), from the near coastal north and east. The largest reliably measured specimen, lodged in an Australian museum (the Queensland Museum) has a total length of 290 cm. It was raised in captivity.
Which is potentially the most dangerous snake in Australia?
Probably the Coastal Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus), which grows very large, and can inject a big dose of very potent venom. Prior to the development of antivenom, only one person is known to have survived a bite.
What is venom? What is it for?
Snake venom is a complex ‘cocktail’ of chemicals. The components of venoms and their effects vary between species of snakes. Some venoms affect nerves (neurotoxins), others break down blood (haemotoxins), or muscles (myotoxins). Venoms of Australian snakes are mainly neurotoxic, causing muscle paralysis, respiratory failure, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Venom is used mainly to kill prey and begin the digestive process. It is also used to defend a snake against a potential aggressor.
There is more information about snake venom on our Snakebite and Venom page.
Why, how, and how often do snakes shed their skins?
Snakes, and all other reptiles, must shed their skins to accommodate growth. A snake will often shed its skin in one piece.
Once a new layer of skin has formed below the old one, a milky fluid is secreted to separate the two layers. The snake becomes sluggish and its skin becomes dull and opaque for about two weeks. Then the snake begins to rub its snout against something rough, like a rock or log. The old skin, including the clear ‘spectacles’ that cover the eyes, peels back from the lips and slowly turns inside-out, along the full length of the body and tail. The fresh skin is shiny.
Young snakes grow quickly and shed frequently, roughly every 6–8 weeks. Large, adult snakes grow more slowly, and shed less frequently, about once in 1–2 years. The rate of shedding varies with the availability of prey. All snakes shed their skins following an injury, probably to hasten healing.
What do Australian snakes eat?
Most feed on small vertebrates. Lizards are the primary prey of many Australian snake species. Frogs, birds and small mammals are also commonly preyed upon. Some snakes have highly specialised diets. Among these are the blind snakes (Ramphotyphlops spp.), which prey on termites and the eggs, pupae and larvae of ants; the White-bellied Mangrove Snake (Fordonia leucobalia), a crab eater; the Turtle-headed Sea Snake (Emydocephalus annulatus), which preys solely on gobiid fish eggs; and the Bandy Bandy (Vermicella annulata), which eats only blind snakes.
Do pythons crush their prey?
No. A python will whip its body coils round its prey, constricting and progressively suffocating its victim. Constriction may also collapse the chest cavity, deflate the lungs and compress the heart.
Are snakes good for anything?
Snakes are good and valued by many!
Wherever they occur, snakes are an integral part of the environment. As predators, snakes eat pests such as mice and rats. As prey, they are food to many species of animals, such as goannas, crocodiles, kookaburras, birds of prey and quolls. There is one Queensland Museum record of a Green Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea) eating a juvenile, highly venomous Rough-scaled Snake,Tropidechis carinatus.
For most people, a richly diverse natural world, which includes snakes, is vastly more interesting than the alternative.
Do pythons and tree snakes interbreed with taipans, browns and tiger snakes?
This does not and cannot occur.
These snakes are all different species and, in nature, species do not interbreed. This is due to what are known as 'isolating mechanisms' – special characteristics that prevent interbreeding. Occasionally, closely related species isolated together in captivity can breed successfully (e.g. Common Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis, might cross with a Western Brown Snake, P. nuchalis; or a Coastal Taipan, Oxyuranus scutellatus, might do so with a Western Taipan, O. microlepidotus).
However, the snakes mentioned in the question are not closely related. They are all members of different snake families, and it is impossible for snakes from different families to cross successfully. Too many isolating mechanisms – size; combat and courtship behaviours; reproductive system anatomy; egg laying/live bearing strategies – prevent them from doing so.
What should I do if I see a snake?
Leave it alone and retreat!
Unprovoked, a snake will not bite a person. Virtually all cases of snakebite occur when a snake is disturbed, either deliberately or accidentally.
My friend has been bitten by a snake, what should I do?
See our snakebite treatment page