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Mulga and Spotted Mulga of Western Australia |
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Mulga and Spotted Mulga of Western Australia |
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Mulga snake Pseudechis australis was previously named the King Brown but this name is no longer in use as it is not in the Brown snake group but in the Black snake group (Genus Pseudechis) but it can be brown in colour. It is an elapid snake, it has fixed front fangs. Dangerously Venomous |
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Shelters in any abandoned burrows, cracks, logs or under debris. |
Its colours are highly variable. Mulga's in the southern range can be almost black. Perth is the southern limit to this snake where it is throughout the rest of the state. It can be diurnal in the cooler weather and nocturnal in the warmer areas of Australia. Its total length is 2.0m-3.0m. It is the second longest venomous snake in Australia. It is found widespread throughout Australia in all subhumid and arid habitats from monsoon forests to deserts not likely in far southern areas. |
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An egg laying snake. If provoked it hisses loudly with neck and fore body flattened and raised in a curve swinging away from the target then lunging forward to repeatedly bite. |
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The snakes venom is really just its salvia modified to break down body tissue. The fixed front fangs allows the snake to deliver the venom quickly.
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These photographs were taken at the Armadale Reptile Centre in Perth. Here they have seen this snake strike at the food being offered. |
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What does it eat? This snake is more cold tolerant than a lot of other snakes. Preys on a broad range of vertebrates such as lizards, frogs, birds, mammals and including other snakes of its own species.
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I saw a Mulga snake on Marble Bar Rd in the Pilbara in December at night. It was in the middle of the road and by the time I backed up and turned the car side-on to it, it was off. It appeared to move very quickly but this could be due to its dark colours. Go Here to see our video of this snake from central Australia filmed at the Uluru "Preditors of the Desert" show. You wouldn't get this close in the wild. |
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All snakes shed their skin as it doesn't stretch like our skin does. Larger snakes may tear the skin as it is pulled off but smaller snakes pull out of their old skin like pulling your hand out of a sock once they have pulled their old skin off their mouth and nose. Snakes need humid conditions to help them shed. Young growing snakes will shed once a month but older mature snakes may shed only up to once a year. |
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This is a Mulga snake skin photographed at the Western Australian Museum |
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Spotted Mulga Pseudechis butleri Dangerously Venomous
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It is found in the arid mid-western interior of Western Australia on heavy soils dominated by mulga Acacia aneura woodlands and shrublands. Shelters in abandoned burrows, under dead vegetation, and in rocky or cave areas. Extensive throughout region. Its total length is approx 1.5m in length |
It is diurnal to nocturnal. This photograph was taken at Armadale Reptile Centre in Perth. |
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The female lays approx 9 soft-shelled eggs.
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What do they eat? Feeds mostly on reptiles but also on snakes and mammals. At the Armadale Reptile Centre this snake got frightened by a mouse and flared out its neck area.
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http://members.iinet.net.au/~bush/mulga.html
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written and graphical Copyright © Wildlife Education Services 2003. |
