Bandys
Yes, they are a beautiful snake. I found one yesterday in an empty in ground pool (refer to my post in general herps for pic and story). Never saw one before then myself either. I took it home to show the kids before relocating it, and boy can they burrow! I let it out on the lawn and in seconds it was gone out of sight. The have somewhat of a stump tail and they use it to advantage, just like the legless lizards they hunt, to burrow as well. The little guy used an interesting technique to do this, first he just sought out a path of least resistance with his head in the undergrowth, then he drew the after 2/3s of his body into a ‘strike’ position, i.e. SSS (but at ground level), then digging in the end of his tail he thrust forward like a cherry picker extending itself. The end result was that in a second or two he was basically out of sight. All this on a manicured lawn growing in hard soil.
As for the hooping, it is offensive/defensive and is interesting to see but ceases after a few hours of handling, as does the striking. Sadly for the one you saw at Mudgee, it was the hooping that probably led to its demise. It appears that Bandys rely on this behaviour, as an offensive/defensive measure when caught out on a hard or impenetratable surface, choosing to do that rather than run for cover as our little fellow did when I put him on the grass, something he did not do when I approached him in the pool. In a car vs. snake scenario, no amount of hooping will save you. Particularly in Mudgee, I used to live there and just about everyone I met or knew there hated snakes.
Bandys also seem to be incredibly strong as well as agile for their size the little fellow I had was able to launch himself up the corner of a click clack box at lightning speed for almost the length of his body. I know this as I was photographing him at the time; (this was no Kodak moment, more like a brown trousers moment – did I mention these guys are mildly venomous?) he then hung out at right angles to the box top for about half of his body length in a cantilever stance for ages. It seems that they are quite versatile having well developed terrestrial traits along with some of the gymnastic abilities of their arboreal counterparts. What they do seem to lack is vision. Herps are not known for it at the best of times, but these guys are almost eyeless, and as I would expect, as they are a burrowing snake, they would have little need to see. This seems to be borne out by the fact that our little visitor came out of his hide at night even though the lights in the room were on. But more so by the fact that he had gotten himself into the empty pool in the first place. He was probably lured by the warmth of the pool surrounds, which are basically big bricks, and the fact that there may well have been other reps doing the same. I guess he just wandered off the coping like a blind person would.
Never the less I would imagine they would make good hardy keepers. They occupy an incredibly diverse range of environments in the wild from the deserts to the tropics as well as the coastal tracts. They seem to be well populated and not under threat (based on info from the net). Probably because of the fact that they are so secretive, being nocturnal. The diverse range of climates across their range would also contribute to them being so hardy and is probably the reason this little bloke survived where he did with no apparent ill effects. He was exposed to the cloudless skies and temps still reaching 28 plus here in the day and night time temps of around 6 degrees, with absolutely no cover at all. This along with low nutritional demands unique to the species probably accounted for the seeming lack of stress he exhibited. The little bloke we had just wanted to chill under his hide during the afternoon he spent with us, but come nightfall he was all over the box like a badly fitting nightie.
Well I hope that lets you know a little more about Vermicella annulata (ringed spaghetti?) There are a few links that follow. The last one is interesting, you need to read it all.
NOTE: My comments are based on my personal observations and opinions. I am not a professional herpetologist or biologist.
Best regards Paul
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/features/snakes/snakedetail.asp?TaxName=Vermicella+annulata
http://members.iinet.net.au/~bush/snelli.html
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/infosheets/10148.pdf
http://www.rhianna.id.au/Rescues/bandybandy.html
