Red Belly Black Snake

Beauitful Red bellied black snake Native to the east coast of Australia they are sighted in cairns, brisbane, canberra, sydney, melbourne and adelaide. There habitat varys and are wide spread however they are commonly found around dams, streams, billabongs and any area with a good water supply http://www.brisbane-snake-catcher.com.au

A really nice snake the RedBellyBlack. I have always found them fairly quiet but like many snakes in Oz it can depend entirely on where and when they are encountered...eg. if a nest is nearby with babies, be very very careful. Oh yeah and the surfing hunties are a laugh... they can hang on at enourmous speeds even with their front legs flapping about. :)

Great sighting and photo! Beautiful snake! http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8082568

Awesome picture!

Guys - Brown snakes and Blacks DO NOT cross mate, Black snakes will kill the brown in a fight, always keep black snakes alive near your house, you will survive a red belly bite, and they keep browns away Browns are DEADLY and if you are lucky to get to hospital in time you will be really realy sick and in pain for several weeks or even months

A car surfing spider? Do you have a picture of that, by any chance?! :-)

I hear nice things about the place :) I guess now's the time to gather the molar.

Christiane you have the coolest spottings! I need to go to Oz for holiday one day..

Nice photograph!

Seen this? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14367603

We saw similar snakes in India called it Rat snake.

great photograph

Bad snake!!

Have heard stories of browns cross mating with the black snakes too. Whether that is correct, I don't know.

Fair dinkum Christiane, I've had the opposite reactions. Been put up a tree by eastern brown snake, almost trod on Red belly with no reaction.

Red Belly black snakes are sort of calm snakes compared to the Eastern brown.

Yeah, I did a search just on Red Belly Black, and it could be. See http://www.google.com/search?q=Pseudechis+porphyriacus&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=lAq&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yqXQTfynNeHr0gGLgY2cDg&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=786 for lots of photos. There is enough variability that it could be.

Yes, I'm not sure either. I've been doing some research and the several sources I found all say that many of the Australian snakes are extremely variable in coloration across the species. If you haven't found this source yet, it may prove to be valuable: http://www.gondwananet.com/australian-animals-reptiles-snakes.html

wonderful picture, not sure I would want to be close to it though

Is this a common brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis)? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake. If so, I'm not sure I'd want to see it in my garden!