Was it a brown snake

[kkjkdt1]

hi all,
a mate and i went and had a hit of golf this morning, a shot on hole 3 went stray so we went looking for it, next minute my mate jumped up screaming( he is a big maori) after he stood on a snake, after i stopped laughing - he didnt get bitten - we went to look at the snake, it was brown/olive colour with no patterns which makes me think it was a brown(seen alot in my time) but this one had a real black head. is it a brown?
i am going to go back later with my camera to get a pic of it as it went in a hollow tree lying on the ground just hoping its still there.
just never seen one with a black head before so am a little curious.
cheers

 

[dtulip10]

could have been a juveninle that would explain the darker head i dont know your area all that well so i cant say for shaw. pics would of helped.

 

[JasonL]

Hard to say, snakes vary alot in colouration within a species. If it was coiled up in long grass and didn't have any pattern, and didn't bite him when he trod on it, I would take a potshot guess and say Copperhead.... but really it could of been anything. How big was it?

 

[dtulip10]

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Images/5955/Juvenile-Eastern-Brown-Snak.jpg

this is a juvi p.textilis did it look like this.

 

[kkjkdt1]

was about 4.5 - 5 foot.
didnt look like that one

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

colour not a good inication

 

[dtulip10]

i might go with jasons suggestion of copper head. but there is heaps of possiblities.

 

[kkjkdt1]

just went back to see if i could get some pics of it but it was gone.
my first thought was a copperhead but never seen one that browny/olive colour before.
thanks for all the answers though.

 

[redbellybite]

colouration isnt a 100% to go by ...as you get all sorts in the EB's ...what are the common elapids found around your area? if you can round it down to say a few ..the punt might be as was said eastern brown or copperhead ...

tell ya big tough mate next time, he would have been better standing still and let a mud mullet slide down his leg ,then jump around near a EB ..

 

[kkjkdt1]

hahaha yeah i told him to stand still next time.
we get mainly browns, tigers(alot) and rrb but who knows whats out there.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Yes, the copperheads colours vary heaps, this one has a darker head as some do.

And this one is a sort of olive colour.

In an old book i saw a pic of an australian copperhead that had patterns extending down its body, much like an american copperhead,
A couple more variations

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Here is eric worrells old pic of a
different looking copperhead and the book it is in.