Australia’s #1 Deadly Snake: The Brown Snake.

The Brown Snake. That’s it. That’s the best name they could come up with.

It’s our deadliest snake, for Pete’s sake. Why couldn’t they have called it the ‘Goliath Serpent’, or the ‘Tyrannosaurus Viper’? Surely ‘Brown Snake’ far too unglamorous for the snake that has been responsible for more snake bite deaths than any other in Australia.

The main reason it’s so dangerous? It’s as common as mud. The Brown Snake is pretty much everywhere people are, and is often found even in urban areas. The most common variety is called, amazingly, the Common Brown Snake – sometimes it’s known as the Eastern Brown Snake. Either way, it’s pretty obvious that no-one sat up all night trying to figure out a catchy name for it. If you want to sound clever, though, feel free to call it Pseudonaja textilis.

The Common Brown has a couple of close relatives: The Western Brown Snake (Pseudonaja nuchalis), sometimes known more interestingly by its aboriginal name, the Gwardir; and the Dugite (Pseudonaja Affinis), which is a spotted brown snake.  There are a few other related species, and whilst still relatively dangerous, they tend to be shyer, less common, less venomous, or less likely to be in contact with humans. Whatever the case, the logic of hanging around to positively identify whether or not it’s a dangerous species is, for most of us, pretty flawed.

While we’re on the subject of identification, think about this: if you show up to a hospital with your snake-bitten friend, the staff will ask you, “what sort of a snake was it?”. You’ll almost invariably say, ‘It was brown and so many feet long’. This is like identifying your car by saying ‘It’s red’. Hospitals have been issued with venom identification kits which allow them to identify the snake by its venom within about thirty minutes. If you don’t get a really good look at the snake, don’t chase it! And don’t try kill it to take with you. The nurse at the hospital will simply scream and faint. (Besides, a high proportion of snake bites are as a result of the victim trying to kill the animal).

Brown snakes are mostly active during the day, except on very hot days. They are far less active during the winter months, but winter sightings are not unheard of. They are generally shy and will avoid contact with humans where possible. Their preferred prey is small mammals – mice and rats in particular – and attacks on humans are almost invariably defensive strikes, either from being stepped on or threatened.