Wild Venomous Snake Encounters?

TeaLovingDave said:
Depends on how one defines the Netherlands of course ;) after all, Aruba is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and that certainly has venomous snakes!

As for personal experiences, I've come across European Adder on numerous occasions when hiking in the Scottish Highlands, Northumberland and Lake District.... and also, on a few occasions, in the garden of Helly's parents who live out in the Northumberland moorlands.

It is thanks to the latter that I took these photographs:

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Nice photos!
 
Australia has many venomous snakes that are not too hard to find.
Red-bellied black, Eastern browns and Tiger snakes are fairly easy to see. In drier areas the King browns can be seen and Fierce snakes are also fairly common in places.
The R.B black, Tiger and Fierce are usually not aggressive, unless disturbed, and can be quite easily observed. Not so the Brown, which is highly aggressive. Stand quietly, a few feet/metres away, and they are OK.
There are several other species that can be found, as well as several non-venomous species that can be found. Whip snakes appear on my veranda now and then, and sometimes get into our house, but these are not really aggressive, and easily removed. Although not as venomous as the others I have mentioned,
 
Terry Thomas said:
Australia has many venomous snakes that are not too hard to find.
Red-bellied black, Eastern browns and Tiger snakes are fairly easy to see. In drier areas the King browns can be seen and Fierce snakes are also fairly common in places.
The R.B black, Tiger and Fierce are usually not aggressive, unless disturbed, and can be quite easily observed. Not so the Brown, which is highly aggressive. Stand quietly, a few feet/metres away, and they are OK.
There are several other species that can be found, as well as several non-venomous species that can be found. Whip snakes appear on my veranda now and then, and sometimes get into our house, but these are not really aggressive, and easily removed. Although not as venomous as the others I have mentioned,
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Australian snakes and easy to find should not be in the same sentence.

I constantly visit hotspots for Venomous Snake activity in Victoria such as the Nobbies and many suburban river environments (Banuyle flats etc), and I still to this day have never seen a snake or even evidence of a snake being there.

The most common species snakes sighted by people don’t have horrible luck really depend on the environment they are in, rivers, lakes and wet forest are almost always dominated by Tiger Snakes with sightings of Red Bellies and Eastern Small Eyes showing up occasionally. Mountainous environments are more likely to show Copperheads and White Lipped Snakes. Scrub and dry forest is usually Eastern Brown Territory with Little Whip Snakes sighted too.
 
Yoshistar888 said:
I constantly visit hotspots for Venomous Snake activity in Victoria such as the Nobbies and many suburban river environments (Banuyle flats etc), and I still to this day have never seen a snake or even evidence of a snake being there.
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I can't speak in regards to Australian snakes, but what you describe has been my experience with our local rattlesnakes. I'm routinely in known rattlesnake territory when I'm out birding, but I've never seen one in those areas. I know people that routinely see the snakes in those areas. The one rattler I have seen was in a totally unexpected location. I've seen more wild Bobcats than wild rattlesnakes, which is quite the opposite of everybody else!
I've actually seen all but one of the non-venomous snakes in my county, rattlesnake was almost my last to find snake!
 
In Kenya I saw a cute little green snake slithering up a shrub a couple feet away from me. After looking at pictures I wondering now if it was a green mamba. I think I actually don't want to know...
 
Great Argus said:
I can't speak in regards to Australian snakes, but what you describe has been my experience with our local rattlesnakes. I'm routinely in known rattlesnake territory when I'm out birding, but I've never seen one in those areas. I know people that routinely see the snakes in those areas. The one rattler I have seen was in a totally unexpected location. I've seen more wild Bobcats than wild rattlesnakes, which is quite the opposite of everybody else!
I've actually seen all but one of the non-venomous snakes in my county, rattlesnake was almost my last to find snake!
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Unlike in the USA where there are both venomous and non venomous snakes, in the Australian state of Victoria unless you travel to the extreme east of the state or to the extreme north west of the state all snakes that are encountered are Elapids.

What makes it worse is snakes are suffering harsh unnoticed declines in Suburban areas, around a decade ago my older cousin said he saw a Tiger Snake at least once a week at Banyle Flats and twenty years ago a few minutes walk my house my uncle used to see dozens of Red Bellied Black Snakes, mind you my house is only around Ten kilometres from the CBD.
 
DavidBrown said:
In Kenya I saw a cute little green snake slithering up a shrub a couple feet away from me. After looking at pictures I wondering now if it was a green mamba. I think I actually don't want to know...
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Most likely a species of Bush snake. Green Mambas are mostly arboreal.
 
As has been said, snakes are common in Australia especially in rural areas. Most people though walk past them without ever seeing them though. Here at Moonlit we have tiger snakes and copperheads and these are regularly seen, usually by staff but occasionally by visitors. Our medical system is well set up to cope with snake-bite and death by snake-bite is an extremely rare occurrence.

The only venomous (dangerous) snake I can recall seeing overseas was the Sri Lanka green pit viper, a very beautiful little snake pointed out to us by a guide. When I say dangerous I read claims it was the 5th most dangerous snake in Sri Lanka but then I found out there were no actual facilities recorded from it's bite.

However anybody considering chasing snakes in third world countries should remember that WHO says that "Around 81000 to 130000 people die each year because of snake bites, and around three times as many amputations and other permanent disabilities are caused by snakebites annually." Most third world countries countries do not have any reasonable stocks of antivenoms, nor the medical infrastructure to respond in a timely manner.

Here is a list of snakes I have seen in the wild, but keep in mind my list is only 2 years old and it is just what I have seen, I normally don't "chase" reptiles. I consider the most interesting snake I have seen to be the earth snake, not the venomous ones.

Schneider's earth snake
Oriental whip snake
Common rough-sided snake
Grass snake
Oriental rat snake
Sri Lanka green pit viper
Lowland copperhead
Tiger snake
Red-bellied black snake
 
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Yoshistar888 said:
Australian snakes and easy to find should not be in the same sentence.

I constantly visit hotspots for Venomous Snake activity in Victoria such as the Nobbies and many suburban river environments (Banuyle flats etc), and I still to this day have never seen a snake or even evidence of a snake being there.

The most common species snakes sighted by people don’t have horrible luck really depend on the environment they are in, rivers, lakes and wet forest are almost always dominated by Tiger Snakes with sightings of Red Bellies and Eastern Small Eyes showing up occasionally. Mountainous environments are more likely to show Copperheads and White Lipped Snakes. Scrub and dry forest is usually Eastern Brown Territory with Little Whip Snakes sighted too.
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Never realised there were no non-venomous snakes around Melbourne.

Finding snakes is essentially a case of being in the right place at the right time. Sure you can put yourself in the right place but that doesn’t always mean your there at the right time. Never once have I seen a snake when I’ve been looking for them.
 
MRJ said:
As has been said, snakes are common in Australia especially in rural areas. Most people though walk past them without ever seeing them though. Here at Moonlit we have tiger snakes and copperheads and these are regularly seen, usually by staff but occasionally by visitors. Our medical system is well set up to cope with snake-bite and death by snake-bite is an extremely rare occurrence.

The only venomous (dangerous) snake I can recall seeing overseas was the Sri Lanka green pit viper, a very beautiful little snake pointed out to us by a guide. When I say dangerous I read claims it was the 5th most dangerous snake in Sri Lanka but then I found out there were no actual facilities recorded from it's bite.

However anybody considering chasing snakes in third world countries should remember that WHO says that "Around 81000 to 130000 people die each year because of snake bites, and around three times as many amputations and other permanent disabilities are caused by snakebites annually." Most third world countries countries do not have any reasonable stocks of antivenoms, nor the medical infrastructure to respond in a timely manner.

Here is a list of snakes I have seen in the wild, but keep in mind my list is only 2 years old and it is just what I have seen, I normally don't "chase" reptiles. I consider the most interesting snake I have seen to be the earth snake, not the venomous ones.

Schneider's earth snake
Oriental whip snake
Common rough-sided snake
Grass snake
Oriental rat snake
Sri Lanka green pit viper
Lowland copperhead
Tiger snake
Red-bellied black snake
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Having said all that I now remember I used to hunt for white-lipped snakes with my cousin as a teenager, so will add them to my list. White-lipped snakes are elapids so venomous but too small to be dangerous.
 
DavidBrown said:
In Kenya I saw a cute little green snake slithering up a shrub a couple feet away from me. After looking at pictures I wondering now if it was a green mamba. I think I actually don't want to know...
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Unlikely, especially if you were away from the coast (which is the only place with Green Mamba). There are many species of Green Snake which are all pretty common.
 
lintworm said:
Unlikely, especially if you were away from the coast (which is the only place with Green Mamba). There are many species of Green Snake which are all pretty common.
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Thanks. Definitely not a green mamba then, as it was in Meru National Park inland.
 
I've encountered about 15 venomous species in the wild. Interestingly, I've come across two on zoo grounds: Copperhead at the North Carolina Zoo and Western Diamondback Rattlesnake at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
 
We have a brown snake living under the house at my parent's place (where I grew up) on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia.

Have had plenty of experiences with snakes while out camping in South Australia as a kid, including having a brown snake slither between my legs while sitting around the campfire eating lunch. Have also seen tiger snakes, king browns.

In rural areas of Australia, living with snakes is a normal part of life and you just take precautions - avoid walking through long grass, wear long pants, assume that any piece of corrugated iron lying around has a snake under it (or red back spiders), avoid hay stacks in hot weather, etc.

Around here in Sydney, I most commonly see red-bellied black snakes in the bushland while out riding my mountain bike. Saw one last Autumn sunning itself on the side of a busy walking track at Narrabeen Lagoon on Sydney's northern beaches, as lots of families with kids rode their bikes and walked past. Seemed quite unperturbed by the passing traffic.
 
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