Herps--reptiles and amphibians

Off Australian snakes for a while.

The brown tree snake. Boiga irregularis.

This is a rear-fanged colubrid. The colubrids are generally thought of as harmless to man. Some--the rear-fanged ones-have enlarged teeth in the rear of the mouth, but the venom is weak in most species and useful only for subduing small prey. Boiga irregularis venom is considered harmless to people except for the youngest.



The snake is of interest because of the ecological problem it has caused on the island of Guam. Accidentally introduced there in the 40s or 50s, it has thrived and reproduced without check because of a lack of natural enemies or competition. They are so common as to have decimated populations of birds, small mammals, lizards, and other small creatures. Population density has reached up to 20 per acre in forested areas. An acre is approximately the size of a football field. The only other snake on the island is an introduced tiny blind snake living in the soil.

Why are there no snakes in Ireland?

Was it Saint Patrick drove them out or is that just a Christian story expressing the anti-nature nature and anti anti-snake attitudes of the fundamentalist Christians.

Three species of snakes reached Great Britain before the split with Mainland Europe 6500 years ago, but Ireland had split from Great Britain 2000 years earlier, therefore no snakes reached Ireland. In fact there is only one native species of reptile in Ireland a, common lizard. No snakes and no turtles and no crocodilians. There are some sea turtles that inhabit the coastal ocean waters but they never come ashore.

Great Britain itself has only has three species of snakes, the common European adder, Vipera berus, a grass snake of the species Natrix natrix, and a smooth snake.


Common European adder--Vipera bet is.

I don't know how many times I gotta say this, but it wasn't Saint Patrick. It was the weather.

Maybe it was the drunks.

At any rate there's another species of snake discovered in England, another species of grass snake, Natrix helvetica, which formerly had been considered just a subspecies of Natrix Natrix. Natrix helvetica, the barred grass snake, is common in mainland Europe.

The smooth snake is incredibly rare and classed as endangered. Actually I've never seen a snake in the wild over here, I've seen a few slow worms, but never a snake.

Is there much wild habitat in England suitable for snakes? I was thought the common adders were pretty cool, but I've never seen one in captivity.

We've got quite a bit of countryside still, but snakes tend to be very shy.

I live just down the road from here.

http://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/info/20090/wildlife/149/reptiles

The New Forest National Park is a nice, big wild piece of land but, I'm somewhat confused at the difference between the New Forest Park and The New Forest area. It seems to have pretty diverse plant and animal population. I was wondering how much regulation there is in the National Park. In the U.S, national and state parks have pretty high entrance and camping fees. Is that true of the UK as well?

I remember an episode of "Doc Martin" where the constable goes hiking in what was probably the New Forest National Park and, of course, gets bit by an adder. Stuff like that gives people the impression that snakes are everywhere you step. In reality it's hard to find the damn things.

Doc Martin is set in Cornwall, he wouldn't go hiking in the New Forest, not unless he wanted a nice long drive first. He probably went to Bodmin moor.

It doesn't cost anything to get into the New Forest, individual land owners charge their own prices for camping, but there's still area you could put up a tent and not get noticed.

The New Forest area is bigger than the part where animals can run free. That part you have to drive over a cattle grid and the speed limit is 40 mph.

It's nice though, you see things like this.

Poisonous snakes of France


Common European Viper Vipera berus



Asp viper Vipera aspis


Meadow viper Vipera ursinii

Vipera ursinii

Vipera asperi--asp viper

Vipera berus--common adder

Water python from Australia.Liasis fuscus. There are some snakes other than elapids in Australia.

Well, of course there are. Those that can't poison you can crush you.

Water pythons don't get as big as a lot of the other pythons do. We had one at the zoo where I worked, just a small guy, but they only get to be a maximum of about 8 feet. They're just a plain brown color, but the iridescents can be stunning.

Could be trouble ahead:

Researchers Warn of a Spreading Fungus Deadly to Snakes



NYT

Thanks for the information. Another sad problem for snakes which are already suffering from loss of habitat and poor human attitude.

Another Australian python, the diamond python. Morelia spilota spilota

Beautiful!