Australian Snakes and Lizards

by Roz Glazebrook (subscribe)

I recently read Australia has around 140 species of land snakes and 32 recorded species of sea snakes.

There are also 617 species commonly known as goannas, skinks, geckos, dragon lizards, and flap-footed lizards (also called snake-lizards or legless lizards). I've only seen some of these reptiles, but feel very lucky to have seen the ones I have seen. I try and get photos of any reptiles I see on bushwalks and post them on the Australian Reptile/Amphibian Identification Facebook site. The experts there always identify them very quickly.



I grew up in Tasmania and always knew the three varieties of snakes there were all venomous, including tiger snakes, copperhead snakes and whip snakes (now called white-lipped snakes). I lived in the city so never saw any snakes there. My family used to go camping at the beach every Christmas. I remember one time a group of children set out on a walk through the bush. My elder sister who was five years older than me gave us all a strong talk before we set out. She said if anyone saw a snake, they were to yell snake and we were all to run as fast as we could back to camp.



After a short time, someone did yell snake, but instead of running, we all gathered around to have a look at it. Luckily it turned out to be a blue tongue lizard and not a deadly snake. It was my first sighting of a blue tongue lizard.



I didn't see any snakes until years later after I started bushwalking in my late teens. I didn't see many snakes on trips, although I remember one overnight walk I did into the Lake St Clair area. We walked past Lake Petrarch and climbed Mt Byron. The following morning I remember seeing lots of snakes out sunning themselves on the grass. I had to walk carefully between them.



I don't remember much about any lizards I saw at that time. I moved to Queensland In my twenties.

Since moving here I have fallen in love with reptiles. On a trip to Cape York, we camped at the Archer River. I went for a short walk and was amazed to see a huge sand goanna. I'd never seen anything like it and was fascinated. It was digging in the sand eating something, which I think may have been eggs. Every so often it would sit upright on its tail, swallow and look around. I sat quietly watching it for a long time.



The sand goanna (Varanus gouldii) is a species of large Australian monitor lizard, also known as Gould's monitor, sand monitor, or racehorse goanna. I don't think I have ever seen another one, although I did see some large goannas on Hinchinbrook Island but I'm not sure if they were sand goannas or lace monitors.



I lived in North Queensland for many years and saw a taipan once. We had a friend visiting from Melbourne and were standing out the front of our house looking at the moon over the water. The snake crawled out of a gap between our deck and slithered across our friend's foot and went down into our front garden. Luckily he didn't see it, and we never told him. We never saw it again. I sometimes saw dead sea snakes on the beach north of Townsville. I have never seen any death adders or Eastern Brown snakes.



I got back into bushwalking in Queensland and have since seen many snakes, lizards and goannas. I've seen quite a few red-bellied black snakes on bushwalks and even in my local Brisbane park. I saw a beautiful red-bellied black snake on a walk at Lamington National Park.



My friend Jenny was visiting from Darwin, and we had gone down to stay at Binna Burra for a few days to do some walks. On one of the rainforest tracks, we came across two Swiss women who were shaking with fear. There was a large red-bellied black snake lying across the path.



We reassured them the snake wouldn't attack them, and we all just waited quietly until the snake slithered away. One of the women got a great photo of the snake with her telephoto lens and emailed me a copy to use. Red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus) are very common in Eastern Australia. This one must have felt threatened because it had lifted its head and upper body off the ground in a defensive pose.





I have seen a couple of rare Stephen's Banded snakes at Lamington National Park. Stephens Banded snake (Hoplocephalus stephensii) is a highly venomous tree snake in the family Elapidae. They are grey to black with brown or cream crossbands. They grow to 1.2 metres and are found in coastal southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.



They live in rainforests, moist forests, heaths and vine thickets. I've been lucky to see a couple on different rainforest walks as they are largely nocturnal and rare in some areas. They are good climbers and spend most of their time up in trees.



This species is potentially dangerous and a ready biter. Its venom affects blood clotting. If bitten, you need to apply first aid and seek urgent medical attention. They feed mainly on frogs, reptiles and small mammals.



Pythons are very common in Queensland and I've seen lots of them on bushwalks. I've also had them in my back yard, on my deck, and on my roof. I love having them around.





I've also had blue tongue lizards in my Brisbane backyard, and even on my bedroom window.

On a 4-day bushwalk on the Three Capes Track in Tasmania a few years ago, I saw a beautiful tiger snake (notechis scutatus) sunning itself beside a boardwalk at Munro hut.



On other walks back in Tassie I've seen some interesting lizards, including a Metallic Cool Skink (Carinascincus metallicus) at the Walls of Jerusalem, and some Tasmanian Tree Skinks (Carinascincus pretiosus) on St Patricks Head near St Marys. The Metallic Cool skink only lives in Southern Victoria, Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands and the Tasmanian Tree Skinks are only found in Tasmania.





Years ago on a trip to Flinders Ranges in South Australia I saw some Shingleback lizards.



A skink became a tasty morsel for a Lord Howe Island Currawong.



In Queensland I've seen a Brown Rock Skink, or McPhee's skink, (Egenia McPheei} on top of Mt Mitchell at Cunningham's Gap and a Murray's Blue spotted forest skink (Karma/Silvascincus murrayi) in Lamington National Park. I also saw an Eastern crevice skink (Egernia mcpheei) on Mt Cordeaux, which is across the road from Mt Mitchell.



Lamington National Park is also a good place to see the largest skink in Australia, the Land Mullet (Bellatorias major). I've seen quite a few land mullets at Lamington.



I've seen venomous and non-venomous snakes on bushwalks and often there is no phone reception, so it is important to carry snake bandages, and to know first aid on how to treat snakebites. It is also important to carry a personal location beacon to call for help in case of any emergency, including a snakebite.



There are lots of Eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii around South East Queensland. Some of my friends don't like them because they have seen them eating tiny ducklings in Roma Street Gardens, but I like them.



I've seen lots of Lace Monitors (Varanus varius) on bushwalks. I often see them climbing trees. They can reach 2 metres long and up to 14 kilograms in weight. I saw my first Eastern Bearded Dragon on a bushwalk into the Lower Portals in Mt Barney National Park.



I'm looking forward to meeting many more of our wonderful snakes and lizards.

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