New-born Red-bellied black snake

 

I was walking the dogs in Belmont North last night and found yet another snake freshly killed, dead on the road (DOR).  This time, the unfortunate snake was a new-born Red-bellied black snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus. 

I've kept many of this species over the years, and found them very interesting animals.  Intelligent, very robust in captivity and very reluctant to bite.  In captivity though, you really need to be careful not to become blasé with them, as they are highly poisonous if they do bite, and they are absolute PIGS when it comes to feeding time.  

It is interesting for a lot of non-herpetologists to realise that Red-bellied blacksnakes usually do not have red-bellies !  The "red-belly" is usually just a couple of rows of scales on the edges of the belly.  Often the belly is much paler, and even WHITE !  You might notice that the scales under the tail, past the cloaca (fancy word meaning anus) are black.  I have never seen a Red-bellied black snake without a black tail like this - even newborn snakes like this one are black beneath the tail.  It's very hard to see in this image, because the snake's head has been crushed, but the tip of it's nose will almost always have a brown tip.       

Speaking of colours, this snake has an orange coloured belly - and if you didn't know - looks almost exactly the same as the colour on the belly of the Golden-crowned snake two posts back.