Broad-headed Snake ()

The Broad-headed Snake.

Occupying sandstone habitats around Sydney the once common broad-headed snake is now considered endangered in New South Whales.  The broad-headed snake's range is confined to approximately a 200 kilometer, (125 mile), radius from Sydney, and it only lives in very specific climates in this area.  During the cooler months the snake lives on north or west facing rocky outcrops, hiding in sunny crevices to keep warm. In the warmer summer months the adult males and non-breeding females move to the woodlands at about 780 meters, (2560 feet), in elevation and live in hollows in trees. The younger snakes and breeding females remain in the rocky areas and try to find cooler rocks.

The broad-headed snake is on average 60 centimeters, (24 inches), long, but has been recorded up to 90 centimeters, (36 inches), in length. It is black with thin bands of yellow crossing its back at intervals of 3 or 4 scales.  On the sides of the snake there are yellow scales linking these cross bands and the belly is steely or blueish grey and occasionally has some yellow on it.  The broad-headed snake is venomous, with the fangs at the front of its mouth, and is potentially dangerous.

The broad-headed snake loves its home returning to the same few rocks or trees every year. Also, once it is in a hiding place it will stay there foe quite a while, spending an average of nine days in each crevice in the summer and up to 48 days in tree hollows in the winter.  Surprisingly enough this is also the broad-headed snake's hunting method. As an ambush predator it waits for small animals to enter its retreats then eats them.

Not surprisingly the snakes eat very rarely. In captivity they have been known to survive, even gain weight on a diet of one or two mice or rats per month.  One captive snake once went 12 months without eating and survived.  It is perhaps because of their very low food intake that the broad-headed snake breeds less than once per year.  When breeding does occur the snakes mate from autumn to spring and the babies are born live between January and April. The young are very large, 18 to 20 centimeters, (7-8 inches), long at birth, and are born in litters of four to twelve.  Once born it will take six years for the females and five for the males to reach maturity.

Further Information on the Broad-headed Snake:

Bibliography:

http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=295
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Broad-headed+snake+endangered+species+listing http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/PDFs/tsprofile_broadheaded_snake.pdf
http://www.deh.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1182