# Videos of a Tiger Snake Climbing a Tree



## Vikingtimbo (Oct 31, 2012)

Hi,

I've been uploading dozens of Tiger Snake videos to YouTube over the last year, some really interesting, some less so.

Just over a week ago I came across a huge Tiger Snake here in Melbourne that was climbing straight up the bark of a tree. It's something we've all read about but I always thought "I'll believe it when I see it". Well now I've seen it and you can too! It was a pretty awesome experience!

I've uploaded five videos of it altogether, the first three showing the snake up in the tree and the last two showing it on the ground afterwards, basking and moving around.

TIGER SNAKE Climbing Up a Tree Trunk - YouTube

TIGER SNAKE Up a Gum Tree - YouTube

TIGER SNAKE Climbing Down a Tree Trunk - YouTube

TIGER SNAKE Surprise - YouTube

TIGER SNAKE Aftermath - YouTube



Cheers,
Tim


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## Marzzy (Nov 1, 2012)

That was pretty awesome cheers for the vids


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## thals (Nov 1, 2012)

Great footage mate, have always wanted to see tigers climbing trees as I often hear of them hunting for birds and never manage to catch them in the act for myself. Thanks for posting


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (Nov 1, 2012)

People are always surprised when I tell them about the tigersnakes love of climbing in search of nests.
Copperheads, on the other hand prefer frogs and lizards and other snakes so tend to stay low.
If you look at the comparative shapes of their heads you can see the tiger has a wider head,
evolved more to eat birds and other warm blooded preywhereas the copperheads head is more suitable
for punching through grass and substrait in search of skinks and frogs..
well that what I reckon anyway.

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oh yeah, Im loving your videos Timbo


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## moosenoose (Nov 1, 2012)

I "LIKE" a lot  Great vids!


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## imported_Varanus (Nov 1, 2012)

Do you find your Chappell's climb as much Baz?

Nice vids!


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## girdheinz (Nov 1, 2012)

Heres an Eastern Brown hunting in a tree. A friends parents took this at bathurst a few years ago. 
Warning! Snake catching rat in tree and swallowing. - YouTube


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (Nov 1, 2012)

I think George is to heavy but Ive never been to Chappell Island, so I dont really know if they would climb the vegetation in search of bird eggs like the mainland ones do,
Mutton bird chicks are their staple diet so I think it(climbing) would be rare.

I got a snake call a while ago from a very upset lady.
She tells me she was on a small ladder cutting back the English ivy on her fence when she felt something hit her on side of her face.
She turned her head to see what it was and comes eye to eye with a large tiger snake.
The snake had his mouth full and she could see the ar$e and two chick feet sticking out of it mouth.
She was about 8 inches from it so she got a good look,lol,and promptly fell off her ladder and ran inside screaming, and she was still screaming when I answered the phone.
When I got there the snake was in the process of eating another chick..Starlings they were


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## Snapped (Nov 1, 2012)

Great videos Tim, really impressive. Were you in the Dandenong ranges area? (just remembering the sounds of the birds there)


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## RobynTRR (Nov 2, 2012)

That is awesome to see. I wouldn't be tempted to pick it up...


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## Vikingtimbo (Nov 2, 2012)

Snapped said:


> Great videos Tim, really impressive. Were you in the Dandenong ranges area? (just remembering the sounds of the birds there)




It was in a park in the Eastern Suburbs, but actually much closer towards the city than Dandenong.

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RobynTRR said:


> That is awesome to see. I wouldn't be tempted to pick it up...



Whenever I get a "friendly", tolerant Tiger Snake like that I'm always really tempted to play with it. Unfortunately I'm not Baz and don't have the skill or experience to do it safely, so I leave them alone and live to film another day 

So I usually tend to do the opposite and try to interfere with their behaviour as little as possible, within the bounds of still getting the footage I want. But I've still had some great interactions with them, for example in one of my videos I let a particularly placid Tiger go right between my feet.

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ssssnakeman said:


> oh yeah, Im loving your videos Timbo



Thanks Baz, you seem to have a never ending stream of awesome videos too!


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## Sdaji (Nov 5, 2012)

I've seen a few Tigers climbing vines, shrubs and trees. When keeping them in captivity I've often given them things to climb on, which they use a fair bit. I saw a wild one crap out feathers, and I'm sure they often go for nestling birds. They're really cool snakes!

Seeing an Eastern Brown in a tree would be pretty unusual though.


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## Jacknifejimmy (Nov 5, 2012)

Awesome footage mate, two really stunning Tigers you've come across there!


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## Vikingtimbo (Nov 5, 2012)

Sdaji said:


> I've seen a few Tigers climbing vines, shrubs and trees. When keeping them in captivity I've often given them things to climb on, which they use a fair bit. I saw a wild one crap out feathers, and I'm sure they often go for nestling birds. They're really cool snakes!



Tigers are really versatile hunters. Usually they just seem to go around poking their noses into tufts of grass looking for frogs and stuff, but then there's the birds they hunt in trees and bushes. I found one dead on the road once with a mouse still in its mouth, so that might have been an ambush or even a chase (but unfortunately cars are even better at that than snakes). And Apparently they even hunt for fish and other things underwater but I haven't seen them do that yet.

Back to the climbing thing, here's a video I uploaded back in March of a Tiger climbing over a tree stump. I don't know what it was doing, maybe just exploring:
TIGER SNAKE climbing a tree stump - YouTube


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## MrFireStorm (Nov 5, 2012)

We have often had calls for tigers ON or IN roofs. 

The most unusual was a large 5 1/2 ft tiger in the guttering of a rural house with no trees, trellises or objects to climb within 60ft of the house. 

How it got there still remains a mystery.


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## cement (Nov 5, 2012)

I once did a call to a large adult bluetongue lizard in a roof. There was no obvious way it could get up there except maybe a bird dropped it when it was smaller. There is plenty of food up in a roof ie cockroaches spiders etc and water in the gutters when it rains. It escaped me and is probably still there now!

Nice vids mate, interesting stuff. Its good to see some unmolested wild snakes on film just doing their thing.


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## sobrien (Nov 22, 2012)

I've been out along the Yarra over ten times this spring to photograph tiger snakes... I've seen plenty on bluies but am still yet to find a tiger. Thanks for the great videos, gotta get back out there!

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I've been out along the Yarra over ten times this spring to photograph tiger snakes... I've seen plenty on bluies but am still yet to find a tiger. Thanks for the great videos, gotta get back out there!


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