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MiloJ

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Whats the difference between red-bellied black snakes and blue-bellied black snakes?

Apart from colour?

I think blue bellieds have a worse bite. Is that it?
 
i think one lays eggs and one has live born... dont have a clue bout venom
 
oh yeah

knew that

they are like boas

that is so cool

something to do with partial evolution towards becoming a sea snake.... or something

dunno if elapids are more developed than boids... think they would be given venom and alll
 
LD50 listing for the worl'd most venomous snakes, Red Bellies come in at number 21, Blue Bellies come in at 18.

Cheers,
Ishka
 
Blue belly is just another species Pseudechis guttatus whilst red belly is Pseudechis porphyiacus. red belly is more widely spread whereas blue belly is found mostly kind of inland Northern NSW, across border towards QLD coast.
 
G'day Milo,

Spotted Black Snakes/Blue Bellied Black Snakes (Pseudechis guttatus) make great captives. Generally they have the same temprement as a Red Belly (Pseudechis porphyriacus), but like all black snakes there are a few things you have to watch out for. Firstly, they nearly always have a HUGE feeding response, which can get many a keeper into trouble very quickly. Secondly, when tailing, they have a habit of wrapping your hand up and making it very difficult to get them off if you don't know how.

Spotted Blacks are techincally the most venomous of their genus, and I know of several nasty bites and a few that could have resulted in death if it weren't for intensive antivenom therapy.

Cheers

Jonno
 
Secondly, when tailing, they have a habit of wrapping your hand up and making it very difficult to get them off if you don't know how.

We got to handle a blue belly at our training. But he wasn't fiesty at all - hardly moved so he played very easy to catch.
 
in training .....depends on ...if the snake is always used as a training snake or if it was caught wild that day or a few days b4.... the ones that get used in training all the time seem to be more placid then if it was caught a day or two b4 training ..prefers the wild caught to train with.
 
HI all,

First off a couple of corections regarding the toxicity of Pseudechis guttatus.

They are not anywhere near the 18th most toxic snake in the world, the test you are quote he information from is incorrect, the study was conducted in the last 70"s by Broad & Sutherland et al and was published in 1979. These toxicity ranks where assigned to Australian species via subcuteanous injections in mice, the venom of 3 exotic species was used to give an idea where Australia's snakes ranks around in the exotic venomous species. The species used where Naja naja (but it may of been Naja kaouthia as this species of Asiatic cobra was not recognised widely until the late 80"s), Ophiophargus hannah and Crotalus adamanteus, this is flawed in some ways as you would be more likely to get an Intramusclar bite from a large Crotalus and venom reserach has shown that the point at where injected has a difference of the toxicity of the bite.

As for Pseudechis guttatus being the most toxic that is plain wrong. Pseudechis papuanus is more toxic also venom toxicity of Pseudechis butleri was not in this list so it is presently unknown in the relation to this study.

the main point that needs to be remembered about these venom toxicity studies is that venom behaves differently with different species along with different injection sites and to quote Brian Bush....."are you a man or a mouse"??? seems very appropriate here.

The realistic danger of either P. guttatus or P. porphyriacus is very real, in 96 i was in some pretty serious trouble from a bite from a immature P. guttatus (2 ampoules of A/v later and I came through, but the rate was i was crashing I am lucky to survive, they where talking about amputation of my finger, I have permant damage to the nerves in that hand , I lost my smell for 7 months and my taste for about 8 these came back gradually but its hard to know if they came back enitirely) I am not the only one either I know of at least one case of friend whom got wacked by an adult...he was in a coma fo 5 days....not just beer and skittles with Pseudechis.

There are 2 old cases of death from the bite of Pseudechis porphyriacus but these are not confirmed or generally accepted however, I treat them (the snakes) with respect that the other more toxic species are given...they may not be as quick, as nasty, as toxic or as unpredicitable as others but I like my digits and hand and I like the idea of my kidneys functioning properly.

Having said the above Pseudechis porphyriacus is (in my opinion) the best starter elapid.....I can't see how people keep recommending Acanthophis????

Cheers,
Scott Eipper
 
Last thing any one should do is take risks when handling elapids, as placid as red bellied blacks are they are known to be pigs when it comes to food. I have seen my red bellied black chew the news paper in its enclosure as it must have had some sent on the paper from the previous mouse that it ate. I always wash my hands after handling snakes and before, but that still doesn't mean they wont chew you as they may get a taste for just about anything if there hungry.
cheers steve
 
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