Project: Pale Headed Snake

                 Photo: Australian Venom Research Unit, Melbourne University

This is a snake that I have wanted to see in the wild for some time, and while I knew that Larnook was well within the overall distribution of this species, I really didn't think there were would be any within the general neighbourhood of Larnook/Kyogle.  However, recently I happened to have a look at a distribution map for this species made up of actual sightings/specimens now lodged at the Australian Museum and was surprised and not a little excited by the fact that was about half a dozen sightings of this snake within 30 km of Larnook.  Woo hoo!
I am going to make finding a pale headed snake a project for 2013. I shall let you know how I go.
The genus that this snakes belongs to, Hoplocephalus (broad or big headed) has three species in it: the pale headed snake, the Stephen's Banded Snake and the Broad Headed Snake. The latter is one of Australia's rarest and most vulnerable species and only lives in sandstone habitats within a radius of 100km or so of the CBD of Sydney. Consequently I have never seen any in the wild. However, when I worked at Nature Wonderland at Maitland while I was at high school and uni, we actually had the only captive broad headed snake at that time, so I 'worked' with that snake for about 5 years (it eventually died at the age of around 17 which is very good for a small snake).
And I have seen a number of Stephen's Banded Snakes, most of which at our friends, Ros and Kev's property, Yeranda, outside of Dungog, although I am yet to see any up here. I actually think/hope that both species inhabit the country just outside our property boundary under the Billen Cliffs. So bring on spring and summer, and let me find these snakes.
Exciting News: I head down to Melbourne tomorrow afternoon to attend the launch of the exhibition catalogue for an exhibition called: Venom: Fear, Fascination and Discovery, which is to be held at the Medical History Museum, University of Melbourne, tomorrow evening.  My colleague from University of Newcastle, Nancy Cushing (with whom I wrote Snake Bitten, Eric Worrell and the Australian Reptile Park) and I, contributed two essays to the catalogue, so yeah, I'm excited about this quick little trip down south.