Snake Identification - Lady Carrington Drive Royal NP
Posted: Sat 09 Jan, 2010 12:35 amWas still off work for the Christmas break so I finally got around to doing some MTB trail riding earlier this week. I rode the Lady Carrington Dr. shared bushwalking/cycling trail. It's 20 km out and back. On the return leg I was travelling at a fair pace along one section and barely missed running over a large-ish snake that had decided to take an afternoon nap across the track. I stopped to have look and the snake had barely moved. It looked a bit like a diamond python but the head was nothing like a python, being much smaller and narrow. Coloring was mid-grey with lighter "diamond" markings along the sides and a lighter coloured belly, maybe cream. It was probably close to 2 metres long and reasonably thick. As I was observing the snake another rider came from the other direction at high speed. I tried to warn him of the obstacle and by the time the message sank in he missed the snake by millimetres. I think his utterance of something like #*^@&$! and the excessive wheel wobble was to show his gratitude 
. After that the snake decided it had had enough and slithered off into the bush. Anyone have an idea what species it might be? I can't find a matching photo anywhere (didn't have my camera with me).
. After that the snake decided it had had enough and slithered off into the bush. Anyone have an idea what species it might be? I can't find a matching photo anywhere (didn't have my camera with me).
? A bit more research and looking at some diamond python photos is now starting to make me think that's what it was, albeit with a smaller head than usual. They're endemic to that location and nothing else seems to fit. And always the possibility of variation wthin a particular species I guess