Australian Elapids

[AustHerps]

A few of our venomous pets ranked least venomous to most...

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Collett's Snake. Pseudechis colletti.
This species was the first venomous species I ever kept. They are pretty well temperamented, and can grow quite large (though I've seen 4ft adults). This one's female, subadult, and is 4.5 feet.



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Red Bellied Black Snake. Pseudechis porphyriacus
This species is commonly recommened as the most appropriate hot to start with in Aus. It ranks about 20th in the world in terms of toxicity, but they are generally very docile.



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Mainland Tiger Snake. Notechis guttatus.
Tiger snakes are gorgeous animals, with such a hugh variation in size and colour.



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Death Adder. Acanthophis antarcticus.
These are fantastic animals. They're like little fat sausages, but are incredibly fast strikers. They tend to sit very still for the vast majority of the day, being ambush predators.



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Eastern Brown Snake. Pseudonaja textillis.
This species is the most time consuming! Brown snakes are notoriously aggressive, lightning fast, and the second most venomous snake.





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Inland Taipan (Fierce Snake). Oxyuranus microlepidotus.
One of my favourite elapids, they are darker during winter months, and lighten up for summer. They are very intelligent, but can have quite a good temperament depending on the individual.







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Enjoy!

Cheers,
Austy.

[Sleepy_FF]

lovely. i like the red bellied personally, what a cute little devil

[Fenderplayer108]

Hey that was fun!

What type of venom does that taipan have?

Ryan

[AustHerps]

Originally Posted by Fenderplayer108

Hey that was fun!
What type of venom does that taipan have?
Ryan

Taipans are extremely venomous, being classed as the most toxic in the world.

As to the actual composition of the venom, and the mechanics behind it, here's a good site

http://www.toxinology.com/generic_st...om_taipan.html

Originally Posted by abovementioned website

There is often pain and swelling at the bite site, though this is not always so and a trivial looking bite site does not imply a trivial bite. There may be rapid development of major systemic envenoming, including headache, nausea/vomiting, collapse, convulsions (especially in children), paralysis, defibrination coagulopathy, myolysis and kidney damage. The paralysis may be severe, with major respiratory paralysis developing within 2 to 6 hours of the bite in some cases. The coagulopathy is often profound, with complete defibrination within an hour of the bite and a potential for major haemorrhage, including cerebral haemorrhage. The myolysis, if present, is often not as severe as seen with some tiger snake and mulga snake bites. The kidney damage is by no means a constant feature of taipan bite but does occur sometimes, possibly as a secondary phenomenon. There is one case of renal cortical necrosis following taipan bite.

Cheers,
Austy.

[VoodooChile]

In other words, "don't get bit" :P

[Fenderplayer108]

Originally Posted by AustHerps

Taipans are extremely venomous, being classed as the most toxic in the world.
As to the actual composition of the venom, and the mechanics behind it, here's a good site
http://www.toxinology.com/generic_st...om_taipan.html
Cheers,
Austy.

Thanks, thats a great source of info.

Ryan

[Gregg]

AustHerps,
First, welcome to the site and second, Great pics of awesome animals... That tiger is the one I like best but they are all stunning...

Thanks for the pics!!!

[Wrasse]

Gee Austy, is there anywhere you don't follow me ?

hehe

[BWSmith]

Very nice specimens.