About Brown Snakes

The Eastern brown snake is a highly venomous snake native to the Eastern region of Australia. They can grow up to 6 feet long but remain relatively slender as adult snakes. As the name implies, the Eastern brown snake is brown in color, with a cream or yellow colored belly.

  1. Geography

    • The Eastern brown snake is native to Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and the Eastern portion of Southern Australia. Populations of the Eastern brown snake are also found in the Western and Southern regions of the Northern Territory.

    Climate

    • The Eastern brown snake inhabits a variety of climates, including the temperate rain forest, scrub lands, open grasslands, coastal regions and the desert. The Eastern brown snake is typically found in dry, warm areas in eastern Australia, although it can tolerate more humid climates.

    Diet

    • The Eastern brown snake eats small animals, including other snakes, lizards, birds, small mammals and rodents. The rats and mice the Eastern brown snake eats are not native to Australia, but rather are introduced species. The Eastern brown snake is often found in areas where these animals congregate, particularly farmland and barns. It kills its prey with its highly potent neurotoxic venom, which attacks the nervous system and leads to heart or respiratory failure.

    Venom

    • The Eastern brown snake is one of the deadliest snakes found in Australia and the entire world, possessing highly potent venom. Even a bite from a baby Eastern brown snake can kill a human quickly, and Eastern brown snakes were responsible for the majority of snakebite deaths in Australia before antivenin was widely used. The neurotoxic venom produced by the Eastern brown snake easily shuts down the human nervous system, leading to difficulty breathing, respiratory failure and heart failure. Death can be rather sudden in some cases, but in most cases death takes longer than four hours. Antivenin is made by using the snake's own venom to create antibodies that can be used to treat snakebites from this particularly venomous snake. According to the Australian Reptile Park, today the Eastern brown snake only kills one to two people annually.

    Other Brown Snakes

    • The term "brown snake" is also sometimes used to describe the Storeria genus of North America. These snakes include the Northern brown snake, the Northern red-bellied brown snake and the midland brown snakes, all non-venomous smaller species of brownish-colored snakes that are native to much of Northeastern North America.