TIGER SNAKES: Pair Bonding and Male Combat

[Vikingtimbo]

Hi,

I recently came across a breeding pair of wild Tiger Snakes in my local area of Melbourne and I’ve been keeping a regular eye on them. They’ve been together for almost three weeks now and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how affectionate they are. I’ve still got quite a lot of footage to upload to YouTube but here’s one of the videos I’ve done so far:

A TIGER SNAKE Couple - YouTube

It got me thinking about male combat which is well documented for some other large Australian Elapids; but I wasn’t sure whether Tiger Snakes shared similar behaviour or not. There seems to be a real controversy, with some sources like the Australian Museum saying that male Tigers do fight, and other sources saying that the phenomenon isn’t real and that the belief in it is based on assumptions and misunderstandings.

Today when I went to look for the couple, the male was there by himself without the female, as sometimes happens. But there was another large male snake I’ve never seen before quite close by, exploring scent trails right around a spot where the couple often bask together. The resident male noticed him surprisingly quickly and went straight over to “have a few words with him”. Unfortunately the action mostly happened out of view of the camera, but what I could actually see combined with the circumstances under which it happened certainly make it appear that male combat among Tiger Snakes is a real phenomenon. Here’s what little I was able to film:

TIGER SNAKE Seeing Off a Rival Male - YouTube

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

So cool

 

[saratoga]

Here is a photo of 2 male tigers in combat

Reptile Research Tasmania


Here is an article and a bit of video footage

Mating snakes go wild Tasmania News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania


This paper is also an interesting read

http://sydney.edu.au/science/biology/shine/publications/reprints_legal/153intraspecificcombat.pdf

I don't have access to this journal but it could also be interesting
Fearn, S., and Staubmann, M. (2001). A record of intraspecific combat in free ranging Tasmanian tiger snakes Notechis scutatus (Serpentes: Elapidae). Herpetofauna 31, 69–71.

What you are observing and recording Tim is really valuable, keep up the great work.

 

[PythonOwner25]

Great footage Tim!

 

[Vikingtimbo]

I managed to film some more Tiger Snake male combat yesterday and got some slightly better footage! A very large intruder came across the breeding pair while they were basking together and the two males fought. Just after the initial skirmish it actually looks like the resident male got a bit confused because he started trying to wrestle his girlfriend! She tried to get away and he kept pinning her neck down. She managed to escape, and seconds later the male found the real intruder again and they had another battle.

Here’s the video. It’s best to set the YouTube player for the highest resolution possible because the action is a little bit distant. The first snake to appear is the intruder who’s mostly grey. The resident male is yellow and the female is reddish:

TIGER SNAKE Male Combat! - YouTube

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Sdaji]

Thanks for posting this! I remember until a few years ago there were a few people who claimed Tiger Snake male combat didn't exist, some very fiercely held that stance even when pictures were shown around. I've only seen a tiny bit of it before and these pictures and videos are brilliant to see!

 

[naivepom]

Superb Tim, really interesting footage. Especially when the resident male starts to tussle with his girlfriend! I wonder if the scent of the intruder was confusing them both?

 

[emmalene_bunny]

These videos are really interesting to watch, you are so lucky to be able to see so much of this type of behaviour. Thank you for sharing

 

[bohdi13]

i love your videos, awesome to watch male combat between elapid males!

 

[Leasdraco]

Fascinating

 

[jacevy]

Ok this is a dumb question but...

Do snakes bite each other. Do they suffer from poison?

 

[getarealdog]

Great stuff there Vikingtimbo, manage to take this pic back in early march of a couple of my tigers in an outdoor pit. Pit contains 3 males & 1 female.

 

[dabigjhemzehh]

Great stuff there Vikingtimbo, manage to take this pic back in early march of a couple of my tigers in an outdoor pit. Pit contains 3 males & 1 female.

Forgive me for my naivety, as I've never owned venomous snakes, though I was wondering why you'd keep 3 males together in the same pit? I'm not implying it's wrong or anything (as I said this is really outside of my area, I don't know any better), but from what I've read I thought it was a general consensus not to keep snakes together. I'm just wondering if Tiger Snakes respond better to coexistence than pythons, especially given their tendency to fight like this? Or is this mating? I really can't tell from this picture.
Just wondering.

 

[Vikingtimbo]

Superb Tim, really interesting footage. Especially when the resident male starts to tussle with his girlfriend! I wonder if the scent of the intruder was confusing them both?

Hi Kris,

I think that's probably what happened. In all the excitement, the scent of the rival male combined with his physical contact with another snake (which happened to be his mate) triggered the fighting response. I'm sure the female wasn't confused though, her fella probably spent the next week sleeping on the couch

 

[Vikingtimbo]

Ok this is a dumb question but...

Do snakes bite each other. Do they suffer from poison?

I think many elapid species could kill each other pretty easily if they wanted to. That's probably why many species evolved forms of ritual combat that are pretty harmless. In this case the idea seems to be for each snake to try to pin its opponent's head down. You can see in the video that they have some pretty fancy wrestling moves!

 

[Vikingtimbo]

Thanks for posting this! I remember until a few years ago there were a few people who claimed Tiger Snake male combat didn't exist, some very fiercely held that stance even when pictures were shown around. I've only seen a tiny bit of it before and these pictures and videos are brilliant to see!

Yep, the whole concept of ritual combat in Tiger Snakes is surprisingly controvercial. It felt like I was capturing footage of the Yeti! A lot of stuff I've been able to read on the subject seems to come from studies of captive snakes, which often fight (and mate) very readily. But everything I've read seems completely alien to what I've seen with wild snakes. I think the only way to understand the behaviour of any species is to watch them in the wild... and put in the hours!

 

[Vikingtimbo]

Oops.

 

[getarealdog]

Forgive me for my naivety, as I've never owned venomous snakes, though I was wondering why you'd keep 3 males together in the same pit? I'm not implying it's wrong or anything (as I said this is really outside of my area, I don't know any better), but from what I've read I thought it was a general consensus not to keep snakes together. I'm just wondering if Tiger Snakes respond better to coexistence than pythons, especially given their tendency to fight like this? Or is this mating? I really can't tell from this picture.
Just wondering.

Nothing wrong with being naive mate, that's what forums are all about, learning from other peoples experiences. I have a few pits & have 3male &2female adult tiger snakes. Had 3 males in with my other girl "doing the job" & have now brought her inside (hopefully gravid) & so seeing they are good at being males I decided to put them in with the other girl. Most of the time I keep the sexes separate in the pits but with mutiple animals. Picture is of male combat, only seen it with my tigers on 3 occasions. Best way of sexing them put them all together & watch. These are the 3 males acting "normally" but when there's a female around things change. All 3 males are excellent feeders (I separate them during this time-gets a bit hairy!) but will knock back food if they are courting the female. Just my observations of my animals under my conditions, hope this helps-Cheers.

 

[dabigjhemzehh]

Nothing wrong with being naive mate, that's what forums are all about, learning from other peoples experiences. I have a few pits & have 3male &2female adult tiger snakes. Had 3 males in with my other girl "doing the job" & have now brought her inside (hopefully gravid) & so seeing they are good at being males I decided to put them in with the other girl. Most of the time I keep the sexes separate in the pits but with mutiple animals. Picture is of male combat, only seen it with my tigers on 3 occasions. Best way of sexing them put them all together & watch. These are the 3 males acting "normally" but when there's a female around things change. All 3 males are excellent feeders (I separate them during this time-gets a bit hairy!) but will knock back food if they are courting the female. Just my observations of my animals under my conditions, hope this helps-Cheers.

Ahh I see, thanks man. That was enlightening.
Can't wait to get into Tiger's myself.