Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Australia How Common Are Snakes?

Appreciated.

Yep,

The snakes in my area are all venomous. They are the eastern brown, red belly black, tiger, copperhead and death adder. There are non venomous pythons and various tree snakes but not in my local area. So we treat them all with respect. Nothing to be frightened of, just be careful and keep an eye out for them.

At least we don't have grizzly bears and have to carry a side arm when fishing. Or a bear stopping cartridge.

Thats the main difference UPhiker, Australia has 170 species of snake versus Americas 50 or so. 100 of Australias snakes are venomous.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their thoughtful responses without any exaggerations.

Thank you for the explanation.

In the US nearly all venomous snakes are pit vipers. The venom of most pit vipers destroys tissue, so there are more issues with applying a compression bandage. In Australia, the majority of snakes are Elapids (cobra family). Many Australian Elapids are small and are not usually dangerous, but the larger species include some of the most dangerous snakes anywhere. The venom of Australian Elapids often contains significant neurotoxic elements and is generally more toxic than the venom of pit vipers. Because of this, slowing down the absorption of venom until antivenin can be administered is critical.

Interesting, for what it's worth:



80 million years ago venom became a trait from natural selection.

I live in the center of British Columbia so there’s Blackbears everywhere and a high population of grizzlies, but I would still be more comfortable backpacking and sleeping in a small tent here than with the snakes and spiders in Australia. Whether that’s rational or not I’m not sure.
When I as 20 I spent 10 months in eastern Australia bumming around and working. I remember one time there was a great big Goanna digging around in a fire pit in the yard of a place I was staying. We get blackbears here that do the same thing. I was amazed at how big all the different types of common spiders were there. I really enjoyed all the small lizards that were everywhere though.
I guess it’s true that I fear what I’m not used to ha ha.

I think that's the thing - the percieved risk based on limited experience. I would have the opposite fears to what you have ie I've camped in tents here without too much extra concern about spiders and snakes but would be nervous to do similar over where you are due to the bears. Snakes and spiders here won't break into occupied tents and rip the occupants to shreds.

Goannas are fairly bold here. Food must be kept in a sealed container of sorts, usually an "esky". We once had a carton of eggs in a zipped up tent while we went out on our hunt. When we got back we found a goanna inside the tent eating the eggs. It had been able to force the zip open enough for it to get inside the tent. They'll scavenge the camp site also while we are in our tents. They will run away when approached but will stay in the area, usually up in a tree.

I remember being a little freaked out by the big Goanna. I wasn’t sure if I should attempt to chase it off or not.
On the flip side I chased one of the biggest Blackbear I’ve ever seen out of my yard this summer. In reality he wasn’t so much leaving out of fear of me, more just moving along in his search and avoiding me. That was plain to see in his body language. He barely picked up his pace so definitely made me a little less confident with him ha ha.

The feeling once you are used to the Australian bush is its a pretty safe place. All the toxic creatures are either rarely seen or easily evaded. Nothing here to prey on you on land like the Americas and Africa. We dont have the parasites or diseases of Africa nor rabies like America does. As long as you dont go swimming with crocs, the worst thing you might run into is a wild boar and they usually startle and head the other way. Biggest risk for people especially tourists is dehydration or getting lost and admittedly that does happen a bit

The biggest risk in Australia for anyone is the out of control Marxist Gov't.

Somebody always has to ruin a polite, informative conversation. Go back up to the Campfire forum.

That's scary, I hope you were armed.

If I ever found myself camping out over there I think I would have guard snakes to keep the bears away - maybe a taipan at each boundary corner.

No not armed. It’s pretty common here for bears to cruise through neighborhoods at night searching through garbage cans that have been left out. Especially in the spring when they’re fresh out of hibernation, and in late summer. He was just making his way through my yard but my garbage cans were in my garage. This big guy was pretty comfortable with his lifestyle and not too bothered by me rushing him along. He just moved on to the next house and continued his routine.
We regularly get Mule Deer and Moose in the neighborhood as well.

Harnessing the power of snakes for security is a great idea. I know I wouldn’t go near lol.

We were going to give that a whirl but couldn't get any more of them in to Canberra.

Are those the ones sucking the life blood out of the country?

Snakes...leeches...pollies come in both shades.

From my readings, I always thought that the coastal taipan was the most feared snake in Australia, but from this thread it sounds like the eastern brown may be the most dangerous.

Trowsa Snake is about the worst from what I hear