Beautiful Bandy Bandy Snake on Australia Day 2012

Happy Australia Day!
After enjoying a fantastic Australia Day on the Beautiful Darling Downs, I was really thrilled to see a Bandy Bandy Snake while walking back to the house from the shed that night. I simply was walking down the driveway to the house and spotted it to the left of where my torch light was shining.  It is almost three years since we have had a sighting of one here at Jarowair, Our Patch on the Darling Dows.  This one was smaller in size than the one we saw previously in March 2009 (See HERE for previous Post). The white stripes were more narrow than the one that we saw previously (which was fully grown). This one was approximately 35-40cm in length.  It was fairly quiet as most nocturnal snakes seem to be, but it was obviously not very impressed with having the torch light shone on it, and it was raising the middle of its body into a loop, which I read is a characteristic of this snake when provoked or threatened.  I think i must have possibly either disturbed it when I walked up to the shed initially, as it already had its body raised when I first spotted it with the torch on the driveway.    After racing back to the shed to get the camera and to show Brendon, we were able to get a few photos for you all to enjoy and to document this exciting wildlife sighting.  Its great to see that this species is still thriving at Jarowair.  We obviously have plenty of supply blind snakes to keep the Bandy Bandys Fed!

Bandy Bandy Snake raising its body into a loop 26/01/12


The Bandy Bandy (Vermicella annulata) is a nocturnal hunter, feeding solely on Blind Snakes and small lizards. During the day, the Bandy Bandy can be found under logs, or burrowed deep into the earth.
The Bandy Band is found throughout Eastern Australia, and apparently is numbers are secure. The Bandy Bandy is an egg laying species with females laying between 2 - 15 eggs with young being seen in early Autumn.  Newly hatched snakes measure abut 175mm in length. The Bandy Bandy's it is not believed to be dangerous to humans and is only rated 1Flag for Dangerous in the Wildlife of Greater Brisbane Book. They grow to a total length of just one meter, making them one of our smaller snake species.

A closer photograph to show the markings of the Bandy Bandy Snake 26/01/12

A fantastic sighting for the New Year!

J & B

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