Expert Snake ID

[saratoga]

Well I think its very straight forward. Am posting this for someone on a photo forum, with their permission.

This snake was photographed in Lamington National Park in Qld.

Can you identify it AND give your reasons as why it is not a very similar snake.

Some tourists identified it as a python!!

No guesses please!

 

[shellfisch]

Eastern Tiger snake

 

[aprice]

its a tiger snake and its not a roughy because its a tiger snake.

 

[geckos_are_great]

tiger snake

 

[KRONYK94]

easy way to tell if its a tiger look for the stripes on its body.

 

[otomix]

lol python? Really? Hell I'm relatively new to snakes in the whole scheme of things, but know it aint a python.. Look at the scales above the eyes, looks like its an angry angry dude.

 

[aprice]

easy way to tell if its a tiger look for the stripes on its body.

Haha, best advice ever!

 

[aprice]

and not even one person has said roughy yet

 

[saratoga]

Can we please have some reasons WHY to support your decision........ from what you can see in the photo.

Both Tigers and Rough-scales can be banded or unbanded.

I realise most people here can just look at the photo and identify this snake.... but how would you go about explaining to a non herp person why it is one and not the other!

 

[Acrochordus]

Rough Scales Snake, who says it can't have stripes, there have been many specimen that have had srtipes on them.
Thanks Tim.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Rough-scaled snake, why i think that? Mainly locale

 

[KRONYK94]

pythons and elpids have differnt type heads

tigers are know for there stripes on there body

and roughs can have stripes aswell

best thing to say is don't touch the unless you know what you are doing

 

[eipper]

Greg,

Its A Tiger Snake....main layman difference between Notechis and Tropidechis is the lack of keels on the scales (very obvious in Roughies) smooth in tigers.

Secondly, the head has a "shiny" appearance and its out during the day....roughies are less shiny and are for the most part nocturnal, but will bask and occasionally hunt during the day

Cheers,
Scott

Cheers,
Scott

 

[Guest]

Its hard to explain that to a person without experience saratoga! your interpretation of colour and pattern is different to mine! so for ID it really comes down to experience Iv had alot of experience with large elapids and you could paint it blue and put spots on it, id still know what it is from experience! a brown snake to most people is simply a brownsnake a striped one is a tiger! to explain an ID to some one often involves alot more than just looks habitat, location etc. a simple way to generalise a python in this case at a glance is the labial pits

sorry I forgot to add I thought it was a tiger

 

[jase75]

I believe that is a Tiger Snake.

 

[saratoga]

thanks for the replies everyone, particularly Scott for clarifying the difference which seems to back up what I said earlier.

Trying to describe things to a non herp is difficult. Most of us just know its a tiger straight up...as Farma said you could paint spots on it and make it purple and you'd still know.....just something about the shape, scales and that "angry dude" look of the eyes.

Anyhow below is what I wrote in my original reply to the photographers post which had the snake as a Rough-Scaled Snake.


Nice shot.....but hate to spoil the party and tell you its a Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus).

They do look quite similar although I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Rough Scaled Snake with such broad bands as this Tiger (although Tigers can have skinny bands as well). The faces on the two snakes also look different. Tigers have smaller eyes. Tigers also seem more shiny than Rough Scales.....Rough Scales take the name from the fact that their scales have a small keel on them and their general appearance is a bit duller.

I know these are all pretty subjective but if you saw them side by side they are clearly different snakes.

The Rough-scaled snake is also sometimes known as the Clarence River Snake and I've also heard it called the Clarence River Tiger.

"there was a large group of tourists/walkers having a peek and declaring it was a python"...just as well they didn't try to pick it up!!!

Anyhow nice image and I'm really impressed by the lack of noise at that ISO.

 

[sativa]

They use the same Antivenom as tiger snakes as they are similar in make up , we have been seeing heaps rough's around lately and some big ones at that, one of my mates dads got done by one late at night going the outside loo, he thought it was an ant bite so went back to bed, he ended up nearly dying , he left it that long that he was bleeding from his face , and was no where near a hospital , he is a very lucky man ....

 

[rett82]

Yep definately Tiger. Nice pic too.

 

[Waterrat]

Python (i.e. carpet) would have labial pits. The shape of the head is typical tiger and as Scott mentioned, it can't be a rough-scaled snake because it has smooth, shiny scales. When disturbed, it would flatten its neck or the whole body.