# Please ID this baby snake i found in my backyard..... looks like a brown snake...



## Tit4n (Apr 25, 2012)

Hi guys,

I thought i made my backyard pretty snake proof (as i live near bush) but this little guy somehow managed to get through. He was around 30cm long and wasnt interested in striking me but wanted to be in his way, so i carefully caught him and let him out into the bush.


Please someone ID this guy.


----------



## Echiopsis (Apr 25, 2012)

Demansia psammophis


----------



## JUNGLE-JAK (Apr 25, 2012)

i think it might be a marsh or even keelback, get someone elses opinion first

to late


----------



## Venomous1111 (Apr 25, 2012)

it's a yellow faced whip snake ( demansia psammophis)

Venomous but not considered dangerous.


----------



## Specks (Apr 25, 2012)

Yellow faced whip snake
Also if you don't know what something is don't attempt to identify
Incorrect identification can have serious consequences with snakes

Edit : i was referring to you Jungle- Jak


----------



## Tit4n (Apr 25, 2012)

I wouldnt have touched it but needed it get it out from my backyard, hence also a curious id request  .

How venomous are we talking ?


----------



## Blackdog (Apr 25, 2012)

Localised pain similar to a bee or wasp sting for most people, but you never know, "harmless" elapids have caused serious problems or even death, depending upon how your body reacts to the venom.


----------



## Venomous1111 (Apr 25, 2012)

Mild.I've been bitten by one when on a motocross camping trip when I was younger got a bit of swelling that was it, but everyone reacts differently to venom. I'm pretty sure there has been a recording of someone dieing from a bad reaction to one.


----------



## saratoga (Apr 25, 2012)

Blackdog said:


> Localised pain similar to a bee or wasp sting for most people, but you never know, "harmless" elapids have caused serious problems or even death, depending upon how your body reacts to the venom.



Have been bitten a few times by these...first time like a bad bee sting with some swelling on the finger, 2nd time whole hand swollen so much I couldn't flex my fingers, 3rd time hand and arm swollen and could feel the "venom" moving up my arm and stopped in my armpit. Looks like I developed some sensitivity to the venom!



Venomous1111 said:


> I'm pretty sure there has been a recording of someone dieing from a bad reaction to one.



Are you thinking of the guy in victoria a few years back that died from a little Whip Snake?..if so it's an unrelated species


----------



## Kam333 (Apr 25, 2012)

Tit4n said:


> I wouldnt have touched it but needed it get it out from my backyard, hence also a curious id request  .
> 
> How venomous are we talking ?



I had been bitten on a number of occasions as a teenager with localised pain only. But. . . a few years ago I was bitten by a juvie and i can only describe the walk home was akin to walking on Marshmellows :?


----------



## Venomous1111 (Apr 25, 2012)

saratoga said:


> Are you thinking of the guy in victoria a few years back that died from a little Whip Snake?..if so it's an unrelated species



Yeah that's the one I was thinking of.. Just looked into it and your correct it was actually snake from the suta genus not the Demansia genus.


----------



## Specks (Apr 25, 2012)

Blackdog said:


> Localised pain similar to a bee or wasp sting for most people, but you never know, "harmless" elapids have caused serious problems or even death, depending upon how your body reacts to the venom.



this is not someone i know "of" but i know them and were put in hospital for a couple of weeks from a brown tree snake
Ive been bitten by them before and have little or no reactions from proper bites where i have been "chewed"
So ones reaction can differ from anothers so all venomous snakes should be considered a risk even if it didnt affect someone else


----------



## Cold-B-Hearts (Apr 25, 2012)

whip snake


----------



## Tit4n (Apr 25, 2012)

So at 30cm it was still a baby? how big do these get?


----------



## saratoga (Apr 25, 2012)

Yellow-faced Whip Snakes grow to a max of 1m, more usually around ~70cm


----------



## GeckoJosh (Apr 25, 2012)

They average 700mm


----------



## saratoga (Apr 25, 2012)

Venomous1111 said:


> Yeah that's the one I was thinking of.. Just looked into it and your correct it was actually snake from the suta genus not the Demansia genus.



Think you mean _Parasuta_ or _Unechis_!


----------



## Venomous1111 (Apr 25, 2012)

saratoga said:


> Think you mean _Parasuta_ or _Unechis_!



yeah I think so too. It was a Little whip snake (Parasuta flagellum)

'Harmless' snake proves deadly - National - theage.com.au


----------



## Bluetongue1 (Apr 25, 2012)

For a Yellow-faced Whip Snake, the symptoms from envenomation are normally localised and they are not considered dangerous. There have been a number of comments made that seem to cloud that generalisation. If you are interested in knowing why that is the case, please read on. Otherwise, the above is really all you need to know in practical terms given you are only like to come across one rarely.

All Australian snake venoms are a complex mix of different substances, primarily proteins. Different people can react differently to the same venom as a result. Development of hypersensitivity after one contact, as is seen in those ‘allergic” to bee stinks, seems to be rare. What is more likely to occur but is still not common, is progressive development of sensitivity to a given element or elements in a specific venom, as a result of repeated contact. At the same time, some individuals develop total immunity to a given venom following repeated exposure. 

Part of the problem of assessing the relative danger of a bite is related to the factors that influence how much venom actually enters the body and where...
· Whether the snake attempts to envenomate or simply delivers a dry “warning” bite.
· Where on the body the bite occurs – determines how easily it can get its mouth open to sink its fangs in; bites of Australian species are invariable subcutaneous (into the fatty layer of the skin); determines how the venom has to travel through the lymph system before entering the general circulation; the potential exists for an intravenous injection of venom in areas such as the inside bend of the elbow.
· Whether the bite is through clothing or not will affect the potential depth to which the fangs can enter the skin.
· The amount of venom present in the glands at the time of a bite – this is influenced by such things as how recently venom has been ejected, the state of health of the particular snake, the environmental conditions affecting its metabolism since last using its venom.
· The state of the snake at the time of biting – whether it was at its preferred body temperature or above; how threatened it felt when biting and therefore how much pressure it might exert on the venom glands; whether it delivers one or multiple bites before letting go.

A further complicating issue is that the actual composition of the venom of a number of species can vary geographically with a resulting change in the measureable toxicity. Not applicable to this species as far as I know.

This is why we make general statements about the potential danger of venomous snakes. Those who are aware of developing sensitivity should always apply first aid and if hypersensitive, should carry an EpiPen.

Blue


----------



## saratoga (Apr 25, 2012)

Bluetongue1 said:


> given you are only like to come across one rarely.



it was by far the most common snake I found when I was a youngster growing up in Sydney....would usually turn up at least a couple each trip!

Having said that I had friends who very rarely found them but saw heaps of diamonds, something I had big problems with!


----------



## Mister_Snakes (Apr 25, 2012)

After receiving a bite from a small YFWS on the thumb pad, 2 years later it's shrivelled and numb! I really should get an epi pen just in case.


----------



## Bluetongue1 (Apr 26, 2012)

*Saratoga*,
I had a similar experience when young. I always found them to be common where you had sandstone slabs on solid sandstone, where they were exposed to direct sunlight for most of the day. The commonest companion species was Copper-tailed Skinks and then Lesueur’s Geckoes. I still have a particular liking for these three species over many of the much more fancied varieties of reptiles. 

*Mister_Snakes*,
It might be worth your while to be tested. It probably would not be cheap but if it turns out you have developed a sensitivity it may well be worth it. I know I copped a couple of nips from small individuals over a number of years, which barely had an effect. I then copped a good solid bite on the finger from a metre long specimen and remember being uncertain as to what to expect. So I sat down and kept stationary for about half an hour. The symptoms were akin to a decent wasp sting (a couple of which I have had the misfortune of experiencing). The symptoms pretty much began to abate after about twenty minutes or thereabouts. So after my half hour “on the bench” I was up and at ‘em and spent the rest of the day herping with no further ill effects. So for you to have such an extended reaction the obvious conclusion would be as you reckon – you have developed a degree of sensitivity. How sensitive? That’s for the docs to determine. 

Blue


----------

