how to identify different snakes...
How can snake identification help me recognize the dangerous species? Skills in snake identification can help you tell the difference between a potentially fatal and other relatively 'harmless' types. Pythons are not venomous. However, you shouldn't pick them up, as they have nasty curved teeth and their bites result in a lot of blood! Pythons are a family of snakes that are relatively easy to identify. They usually have a distinctive 'diamond' shaped head, and they have a row of enlarged scales on their bottom 'lip'. Most other snakes are in one of two families which are hard to tell apart. However, it can be handy to spot the difference, for the species in the 'cobra family' the Elapidae include many venomous snakes, including taipans, brown snakes and black snakes, while the colubridae include non deadly snakes, such as tree snakes. To tell the difference between an elapid and a colubrid... Have a close look at the scales on the face...! The elapids lack a ‘loreal’ scale; this is the scale between the preocular scale (the scale in front of the eye) and the nasal scale (the scale with the nostril hole).
Of course, it is recommended you do not have a close look at an elapids head while the snake is alive and in the wild! Only compare scales like this for snake identification at close range if in captivity, or on a road kill specimen.
And to be on the safe side, give any brown coloured snake on the ground in the tropical grasslands and open woodlands a wide berth....
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