Eastern Brown Snake
S6, Adult, Eating Shingleback
Ellura
Eastern Brown Snake
S6, Adult, Swallowing Shingleback
 
                      
Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Reptiles (Reptilia)
Order: Scaled Reptiles (Squamata)
Family: Venomous snake (Elapidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis)
This Photo:     🔍S6, Adult, Eating Shingleback🔎

Thank you Connor Margetts for identifying and Matt Campbell, Ralph Foster, Mark Hura, Asimakis Patitsas, James Nankivell, Adam Brice & Michael Jacobi for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere
S6 shows an Eastern Brown Snake, eating an Eastern Shingleback (Tiliqua rugosa ssp aspera). This sequence was taken over 35 minutes. The shingleback was a very small one.
We estimate the snake was about 1.5m long.
We were surprised it seemed to be using a python like mechanism to kill it's prey. Guessing the shingleback skin was too hard for it's fangs to penetrate?
We believe this will sustain the snake for over a month.

Copyright © 2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 28-Sep-2024
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)