to red bellies really scare browns?

[redelapid]

I have been hearing it for years by family and friends they all have a part to say about Red bellies scaring browns. So is there anyone out there that actually knows if there are red bellies in the area will they keep away the browns? or is it just a story.

 

[Wild~Touch]

They are known to eat browns

 

[Australis]

They have differing habitat preferences

 

[longqi]

At a farm in Nelson Bay there were lots of small to medium sized Browns
I caught some big blacks from up the road and let them loose
After two years hardly ever saw a Brownie again
BUT
Have also seen big brownies eat blacks
So I think a lot depends on the comparitive sizes

 

[snakeluvver]

Its simple. The smaller one will be scared of the larger one.

 

[lizardloco]

Its simple. The smaller one will be scared of the larger one.

Bahahaha.......but I'm not gonna like it, you've already gotten too many of those those things....+1?

 

[imported_Varanus]

I've known big specimens of both species eat smaller individuals of both; the only combination I'm yet to see is larger EB's consuming smaller ones, though I'm sure it happens! Interestingly, I've had a few rehabs of both sp's bitten by larger animals and be dead the following day, very smelly, swollen and , I suspect, partially digested. So, to my mind, death by envenomation.

 

[redelapid]

So large red bellies eat small browns and large browns eat small red bellies?

 

[snakeluvver]

So large red bellies eat small browns and large browns eat small red bellies?

Pretty much...

 

[scorps]

I think we just keep telling people red bellys eat browns, may stop a farmer from putting a shovel through one. . .

 

[Morgwynn]

I think we just keep telling people red bellys eat browns, may stop a farmer from putting a shovel through one. . .

Agreed. I'll tell callers this all of the time. It makes them feel a bit better about having the red bellies and it won't do any harm for them to think that.

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

black snakes eat alot of smaller black snakes,but they defiantly eat browns also. I often find them side by side in the wild though.

 

[CamdeJong]

black snakes eat alot of smaller black snakes,but they defiantly eat browns also. I often find them side by side in the wild though.

Agreed. Working on a pecan farm my dad lifted a bale of hay to find a red belly and two eastern browns together, and not in winter. Browns are not scared away by red bellies, they won't smell an RBB poo and tuck tail (actually this idea probably perpetuates the "snakes are territorial" misconception). But it's not a harmful myth like "all pythons now have vemon because they mate with snakes from a separate family."

 

[Jonno from ERD]

I've known big specimens of both species eat smaller individuals of both; the only combination I'm yet to see is larger EB's consuming smaller ones, though I'm sure it happens! Interestingly, I've had a few rehabs of both sp's bitten by larger animals and be dead the following day, very smelly, swollen and , I suspect, partially digested. So, to my mind, death by envenomation.

My old man pulled a large dead Eastern Brown off the road a few years ago - I cut it up to find six freshly hatched neonates in its stomach. The snake was male, too.

 

[imported_Varanus]

Thanks Jonno, confirms what I've thought all along. I know it's a bit off topic, but any insights on inter/ intra species envenomation. Is it a myth that snakes of the same species can't die from another's venom, as I've often heard repeated, albeit mainly in non-herp circles?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day mate,

It really is a massive grey area. There's heaps of anecdotal evidence that will point you in all sorts of directions. It's not something that has been systematically researched in Australia but it sure would be interesting...good luck getting ethics approval though.