Upper Blue Mountains NSW Snake Identification Needed

[johnw]

I went for a walk on my own last Saturday. Absent mindedly wandering a long a recently re-opened section of track, I almost trod on what initially looked like a metre or so long red-bellied black snake lying across the track.

I backed off and it quickly slithered away but I noticed that the underbelly was bright-ish yellow rather than red.

Unfortunately too quick to get a photo. But my research so far suggests it might be either a Highlands Copperhead or a black variety of the Green Tree Snake. Do either of these sound credible? Any other ideas of what it could be?

Tiger snake nearing a sloughing?

[tasadam]

Yellow bellied black snake?
http://www.snakewise.com.au/common_snakes.htm
That should help.

[Son of a Beach]

...sleeping on a red rock?

[luke_vic]

Copperhead would be very likely - plenty of them around the Victorian High Country too

http://www.avru.org/general/general_copperhead.html
http://www.avru.org/general/distrib_copper.html

[johnw]

Thanks guys . Based on those sites and further looking it up in my snake book, I now think it most likely to be the Common Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulata) ..."snake identification can be difficult"... "green, grey, black with a yellow belly (wrongly called yellow belly black snake)"... . However I won't completely rule out highlands coppperhead. I did encounter one of those a couple of years ago while walking off track in long grass but it was much lighter/different in colour to this snake.

[WarrenH]

There is a snake that is found in the Blue Mountains called the Mustard-Bellied Snake (Drysdalia rhodogaster).

The snake can appear dark brown to smoky black, with the mustard belly, depending on the habitat and the season.

Warren.

[johnw]

There is a snake that is found in the Blue Mountains called the Mustard-Bellied Snake (Drysdalia rhodogaster).

The snake can appear dark brown to smoky black, with the mustard belly, depending on the habitat and the season.

Warren.

Thanks very much Warren. I suspect you could be right, I think there can be quite a bit of variation in that species. Unfortunately my memory is getting vague now on that particular encounter and sadly no photo. I did once see a very small Drysdalia rhodogaster while descending into Valley of the Waters, but that one had a very bright coloured yellow band around its neck. Spectacular looking thing.

I had another "up close and personal" snake incident earlier this week and I'm having trouble identifying that one also. Completely different location so I'll post a separate topic.