Spotted Python and other snakes of Flagstone Creek

It's not their fault they don't have feathers! Doesn't make them any less interesting. And just like the birds, it's good to know what species are about locally at any given time.

There's expertise within the club and beyond on most aspects of our local fauna. Let's tap into it.
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Fielded
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 3:37 pm
Location: Flagstone Ck, Toowoomba

Spotted Python and other snakes of Flagstone Creek

Post by Fielded »

Hello

I thought I would share a few snakes that I have seen at my place here at Flagstone Creek. We have been preparing to sell our house over the Christmas break after 10 years of living here. While I was cleaning up my termite infested timber pile, I came upon a Spotted Python (Antaresia maculosa). The Spotted Python was a good find, as I hadn't seen one before then. It was coiled up in amongst sheets of corrugated iron. I realised quickly that it wasn't the usual python that I have seen on numerous occasions (usually devouring another chicken of mine) which is the Carpet Python (Morelia spilota). The Carpet Python is by far the most common snake to be seen around here - they come in all sizes too from metre long babies to 2.5 m mummies the size of a man's forearm and an appetite to go with.

Other snakes that I've seen regularly during this time include the Yellow-faced Whipsnake (Demansia psammophis) which I have seen sun-baking in our garden and up in the bush area of the block. The Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulata) is also a common snake in this part of the world. I rescued my wife one time, who accidently jammed a snake in the front door of the house. It wasn't too happy to see me as I un-jammed it and took it down to the bush to release it.

On a steamy night in the summer of 2006 / 07, I went spotlighting for frogs as my small dam was teeming with life after recently being filled. While I was there, I came upon a Southern Dwarf Crowned Snake (Cacophis krefftii). It was hunting the frogs that were too taken with the opposite ->O at the time to notice the intruder.

Another small snake that I have seen only twice here is the Eastern Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis nigrescens). This is a small snake that has a beautiful black lustre and tomato red underneath. I had one that unfortunately decided to sun itself in July 07 on a relatively warm day only to be trapped outside as the weather took a nasty turn to the cold. I found it the next day looking as good as new - only it was dead! It is happily being chilled in my freezer until I take it to the museum as a specimen.

The latest addition to the snake fauna at Flagstone Creek is the common Bandy-bandy (Vermicella annulata). It was hard to miss this striking snake with its black and white bands as it crossed my driveway at the small dam on a hot night after one of the many downpours during December 08.

An interesting observation is that I have only ever seen one Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) on my place in all the years of being here in the bush. Another snake that is strangely missing from my list is the Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) as it tends to associate with creek habitats and watercourses.

So in all, that takes my sightings up to eight snakes which I thoroughly enjoyed seeing - except for Carpet Pythons in my chicken pens at night!

Darren
Darren Fielder
Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

Local Black Snakes

Post by Rod Hobson »

Darren,

Your observation regarding the absence of records of Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) on your property raises a few interesting points. This beautiful snake used to be very common around the Lockyer Valley including in the Flagstone Creek area. In the early 1990's this snake, and a close relative, the Spotted or Blue-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis guttatus) declined alarmingly in SEQ east of the Great Divide. The Spotted Black Snake especially has all but disappeared from this area. Queensland Museum, Queensland Parks and Wildlife, and my personal data support this observation.

The spread of the introduced Cane Toad (Rhinella marina) throughout this area is thought to have had a dramatic effect on both these frog-eating snakes. The introduction of the Cane Toad has had a disastrous effect on our snakes generally. I've personally found an Eastern Carpet Python (Morelia spilota mcdowelli) and a Common Death Adder (Acanthophis antarcticus) both dead, as a result of their having eaten this amphibian. Native frog populations have also suffered badly in the Lockyer Valley because of the severe degredation of the creek systems over the last 10 to 20 years. One species of frog, the Tusked Frog (Adelotus brevis) used to be abundant in the Lockyer Valley but is now locally extinct there.

It is heartening news, however, that the Red-bellied Black Snake appears to be making a comeback in SEQ. There are increasing sightings of it in the Brisbane area in recent years. About two years ago I saw a Red-bellied Black Snake in the Lockyer along Back Flagstone Creek Road at Lilydale near Helidon. This has been my first and only record of the species for that area since the early 1990's. It is still common on the western side of Toowoomba into the eastern Darling Downs. The Spotted Black Snake is still fairly common on the Darling Downs and in the Inglewood-Yelarbon area as well; places that have not been grossly invaded by the Cane Toad as yet. This might not remain the case, however, as there are increasing reports of the toad from around Oakey, Dalby and Chinchilla.

The Lace Monitor (Varanus varius) also plummeted in numbers at the same time as these snakes. Ingestion of Cane Toads was also blamed on its decline. Fortunately both the Red-bellied Black Snake and the goanna appear to have adapted to the presence of this pest but not so with the Spotted Black Snake. The small and endangered Grey Snake (Hemiaspis daemelli) is also found in the Lockyer Valley. This snake lives entirely on frogs so it'd be interesting to see what effect the pest has had on this snake locally.

It should be noted in closing that many, if not all records of Red-bellied Black Snake from the Lockyer Valley in the years since the early 1990's are actually mistaken identifications of the very common Eastern Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis nigrescens). It looks like it is too late for the Spotted Black Snake in the Lockyer Valley now and it may have followed the Bush Stone-curlew, Paradise Parrot, Black-throated Finch, Purple-spotted Gudgeon, Brisbane River Cod and Tusked Frog into history in the Lockyer Valley. Let's hope not.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
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