Animal Species:Red-bellied Black Snake

The Red-bellied Black Snake is widespread on the coast and ranges of eastern Australia.

Identification

The Red-bellied Black Snake is, as its common name suggests, black on top with a red or crimson belly.

Size range

1.5 m

Distribution

The Red-bellied Black Snake is found in eastern Australia from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and south-eastern South Australia. It is one of the more common species of large venomous snake still found in the Sydney region. It possibly still occurs in remnant bushland and the larger reserves on the northern foreshores of Sydney Harbour.

Habitat

The Red-bellied Black Snake is found in a wide variety of habitats but tends to be seen in moister areas, particularly near water

Feeding and Diet

Frogs form a large part of the Red-bellied Black Snake's diet.

Life cycle

The Red-bellied Black Snake gives birth to 8 - 40 live young at a time.

Danger to humans and first aid

Venomous and potentially dangerous

Classification

Species:
porphyriacus
Genus:
Pseudechis
Family:
Elapidae
Order:
Squamata
Subclass:
Lepidosauria
Class:
Reptilia
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Phylum:
Chordata
Kingdom:
Animalia

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Tags snakes, reptiles, vertebrates, identification, wildlife of sydney, venomous, dangerous,

7 comments

Cecilie Beatson - 2.04 PM, 30 April 2012

Hi J,

I couldn’t find an exact reference that gave me the number of bones in a Red-bellied Black Snake skull, however I did manage to locate a diagram of a typical elapid snake skull showing all its elements (see attachment at the bottom of this comment). Looking at the diagram there seems to be around 47 individual bones (some of these bones are fused and can appear as a single element). Although there are slight differences in the size and shape of these bones between species, all member of the Elapidae family (which includes the Red-bellied Black Snake) share the same basic skull anatomy.

Here's a photo of a Red-bellied Black Snake skull to compare with the attached diagram.

Regards,

C.

Comment Attachment

Skull Duggery - 9.04 AM, 29 April 2012
Can you please tell me how many bones in the skull of the Red Bellied Black Snake? J
GAB52 - 1.04 AM, 22 April 2012
I have seen an RBB on my property in SE Qld. My dog at the time alerted me to its presence. It was approximately 4m long (in 's' shape), so I imagine that stretched out it would have been approximately 6m. The body at its largest spot would have been about 120mm diameter and the head around 150-200mm long, and very big. Though it was only a few metres away from me, it seemed to be intent on going somewhere and didn't bother either me or my dog, thankfully! It was distinctly black and red.
brucejudylane - 3.10 PM, 29 October 2011
thanks Cecilie for your note on the RBB snake. Just chased a juvenile out of the shed. regards Bruce Lane
Cecilie Beatson - 4.10 PM, 13 October 2011

Hi Bruce,

Sorry to hear of the loss of your pet. To answer your question, the size of a Red-bellied Black Snake’s home range depends largely on the snake’s sex and the time of year it is active. According to renowned herpetologist Prof. Richard Shine, who has done a number of studies on the ecology and behaviour of Red-bellied Black Snakes, males snakes are particularly mobile during the spring mating season, and may cover an area up to 70 hectares (approx. 173 acres) in their search for females. The males are constantly on the move and can travel as much as a kilometre per day (average distance is 350 m). This is the time when most encounters happen between RBBs and people (and pets). Females on the other hand don’t tend to move very far from their shelter sites, and outside of the mating season both sexes would only wander through a small range < 1 hectare (2.5 acres).
The number of snakes in a given area can be hard to estimate since most snakes are very secretive and difficult to observe. RBBs are most commonly found around moist environments, such as swamps, waterways and dams, as they hunt for mainly for frogs. The number of black snakes that may reside on your property will depend on several factors, such as the availability of prey, shelter sites, etc. so if you have several dams with frogs in them, with bushland or vegetation nearby, then you can expect at least several snakes to be around – even if you don’t see them. Unfortunately, even if you get rid of ones you do find, there is little that can be done to stop more snakes moving through your property.

CB

brucejudylane - 10.10 AM, 11 October 2011
Over what area of ground does the rbb snake range? Or how many rbb snakes would I expect to find in any given acre? I have two dams near our house and one of our dogs was bitten by a black snake yesterday. Died within a couple of hours.

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