Your spring guide to the snakes commonly found in South Australia

Snakes emerge in spring looking to bask in the sun after lying dormant in the colder months. Over 45 species of snakes are found in South Australia in various urban and natural habitats. Some are venomous, others are non-venomous.

Let’s take a closer look at 6 snakes you might encounter in your travels in SA.

1. Eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis), also known as common brown snake

Venomous

Location: Arguably the most well-known snake in Australia, the eastern brown snake is highly venomous and commonly found throughout eastern Australia, except Tasmania. In South Australia, eastern brown snakes can be found across much of the state, including the Greater Adelaide region, Riverland and Murraylands, Limestone Coast, Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula.

Habitat: Eastern brown snakes live in various habitats, though they seem to prefer open landscapes such as open woodland, scrubland and grassland.

Appearance: Eastern brown snakes are a medium-sized snake that averages about 1.5m in length with a slender to moderate build, and a small, round head. Their body colour can be any shade of brown, usually uniform on its upper surface with its underbelly ranging from cream, yellow or grey with orange blotches. Juveniles vary even more in colour, with the top of their head usually black, with a red or orange stripe and another dark band following. Some juveniles have stripes that may fade as they mature.

Despite the Eastern brown snake’s reputation of being the second most venomous terrestrial snake in the world, they act as a natural rodent control, having developed a preference for rats and house mice.

Caption: Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) by Matt Clancy under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

2. Red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus)

Venomous

Location: The red-bellied black snake is commonly seen in the eastern states of Australia. Within South Australia, this species is often observed in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges region as well as the Fleurieu Peninsula, except for Kangaroo Island.

Habitat: Red-bellied black snakes are associated with moist environments, favouring those with water in both natural and urban habitats. They are found in natural streams, swamps, lagoons within forests, woodlands and grasslands, or within built environments such as drainage channels and farm dams.

Appearance: Living up to their name, red-bellied black snakes are uniformly black on their upper surface, pale brown at the snout, with an underbelly of distinct crimson red, fading towards the middle. They have a glossy and smooth appearance.

Red-bellied black snakes are venomous and have the potential to cause deaths to humans. However, to date no deaths had been recorded in adults from red-bellied black snakes in Australia.

Red-bellied black snakes can swim, and can feed on many aquatic species including frogs, fish, lizards or other snakes.

Caption: Pygmy Copperhead (Austrelaps labialis) by Max Tibby under Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication.

3. Pygmy copperhead (Austrelaps labialis)

Venomous

Location: Pygmy copperheads are only found in South Australia, in the Mount Lofty Ranges within high altitude forests, and on Kangaroo Island in coastal dunes, grasslands, woodlands, and agricultural areas.

Habitat: Just like other copperhead species, they prefer moist environments, living in areas near water.

Appearance: The smallest of the copperhead species found in Australia, pygmy copperheads grow to an average of 80cm in length. Similar to other copperhead species, they have varying coppery-brown heads with blackish to grey, brown scales that are semi-glossy with a lighter-coloured underbelly.

All copperhead species are ovoviviparous, meaning they give birth to live young rather than eggs. Copperhead snakes produce eggs that are retained within them while the embryos develop into live snakes, which are then birthed.

Caption: A female death adder in Smoky Bay, South Australia by Luke Allen under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

4. Common death adder (Acanthophis antarcticus)

Venomous

Location: The common death adder lives mostly in coastal southern and eastern Australia in South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.

Habitat: They live in forests, woodlands, grasslands and heath, often taking shelter amongst leaf litter and under logs or rocks. They prefer areas where they can hide or lightly burrow under groundcover to ambush any prey that gets too close.

Appearance: Common death adders have a distinctive triangular head and variable colours, ranging from greyish-brown to reddish-brown with lighter bands. They are stumpy, ranging between 40-100 cm in length with a robust build that tapers towards the tail. The tip of the tail looks like a grub and is cream or black, to act as a lure. The coloured-bands help them to camouflage in leaf litter, where they coil up with their tail close to their snout.

Unlike most other venomous snakes in Australia, the common death adder sits in one place and waits for their prey, rather than actively seeking out prey. They can twitch their tails imitating worms or grubs to attract unsuspecting prey to get closer to investigate, and then strike swiftly as the prey gets close enough.

Caption: Eastern Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus) by Matt Clancy under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

5. Tiger snake (Notechis scutatus)

Venomous

Location: Tiger snakes are found in the southwestern and southeastern area of Australia, including Tasmania. Within South Australia, they are found in Kangaroo Island, Fleurieu Peninsula, Limestone Coast, Riverland and Murraylands, Eyre Peninsula and Yorke Peninsula, as well as the Flinders Ranges.

Habitat: Tiger snakes occupy a range of different habitats but are most often seen near waterbodies.

Appearance: Named after their tiger-like stripes, tiger snakes are often described to have dark brown and yellow-brown bands. However, contrary to their names, not all tiger snakes have bands, and some do not have any bands at all. In general, their underbelly is lighter in colour with no bands compared to the rest of their bodies. Tiger snakes are relatively short compared to other snakes, usually between 1-1.5 m in length. Their head is slightly wider than their necks.

The most common cause of snake bite fatalities used to be attributed to tiger snakes in Australia, as their distribution overlaps with high human population density areas. However, the eastern brown snake is now the most common cause of snake bite fatalities in Australia.

Caption: Mulga Snake (Pseudechis australis) by Max Tibby under Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication.

6. Mulga (Pseudechis australis)

Venomous

Location: Mulgas are found in all states and territories, except for Victoria and Tasmania.

Habitat: They are found across South Australia in woodlands, grasslands, scrublands as well as the gibber and sandy deserts. Despite sharing their name with the acacia species mulga (Acacia aneura), they are not limited to only mulga habitats.

Appearance: The mulga snake is the largest terrestrial venomous snake at an average of 2.5m in length, with the largest individual recorded at 3.3m. Their colour can vary across the region from light brown in inland desert areas to darker brown colour in  cooler regions of South Australia. They are two-toned, with brown scales on its upper side and cream or salmon-coloured underbelly. Mulgas have a broad head and smooth snout.

Commonly referred to as the king brown snake, mulgas are in fact, not in the same genus as the brown snakes (Pseudonaja sp.), but rather in the black snake genus of Pseudechis along with the red-bellied black snake.

Adult mulgas have few enemies in the ecosystem given their size, while juveniles may be preyed upon by large birds of prey. Mulgas feed on a various prey, including frogs, birds, reptiles and occasionally invertebrates and carrion.

Top tips about snakes

Whether a snake is venomous or not, they should be left alone if encountered. Most snake bites occur only when someone attempts to handle or kill a snake.

Most snakes are shy and tend to move away from humans if not threatened. They are usually reclusive and uninterested in humans. They tend to avoid confrontation and would rather slither away quietly than drawing attention to themselves. However, they can be aggressive if provoked or feel threatened.

Interestingly, most snake species have varying colours and patterns across the same species. This means appearance alone should not be used in isolation for identification purposes. To identify a snake accurately, you need to consider multiple traits and context such as habitat, behaviour and range, along with appearance.

More information on snakes in South Australia: 

• What to do if you see a snake in the wild

• Living with wildlife – snakes

Main image caption: Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) by Matt Clancy under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.