NORTHERN SUBURBS BRANCH JULY MEETING REPORT.

The term “snake charmer” took on a new meaning when long-time Club member, Gane Doyle Jnr. entertained his audience with stories and slithering exhibits at our July meeting.

Gane and his father, Gane Snr. have had a long association with the Club and were regular suppliers of reptiles, particularly snakes, for the Wildlife Shows until they ceased in the early 1970s.

To begin the evening Gane showed photos and told us about a few of the snakes they have at their facility: the West Australian Reptile Park. Some of the things we learnt were:

• Dugites (Pseudonaja affinis affinis) come in many colour variations, including banded. The largest Dugite Gane has come across was the 2m snake that was shown at the Wildlife Show at Wanneroo in 1974.
• Tiger Snakes (Notechis scutatus) don’t always have bands but are always yellow on the underside. They have a very flat head like a Cobra, due to the lack of bone. Care has to be taken in housing Tiger Snakes because they cannot control their body temperature and if the temperature continues to rise, the snake will overheat.
• The Mulga Snake, aka King Brown, (Pseudechis australis) is actually a black snake. It can live for a long time. The one Gane brought a picture of was caught at Red Hill over 30 years ago. The locals only grow to 2m but in the north they can approach 3m. Mulgas will eat other snakes.
• Banded Western Browns, aka Gwardars, (Pseudonaja mengdeni) usually have a distinctive black head but body colour is highly variable including a light and dark banded form.
• Southern Death Adders (Acanthophis antarcticus) are “lazy”; they wiggle their tails to lure prey. The one Gane showed us a picture of was caught in the Serpentine area.
• The Desert Death Adder is one of the fastest striking snakes in the world—and one of the most venomous.

We were also very lucky to have in the audience two other long-term members with lots of snake experience and snake stories to tell: Don Howe and Wayne Merritt. It was not long before Don and Wayne were on their feet and acting as Gane’s assistants.

First up a small Ramsay’s Python, aka Woma, (Aspidites ramsayi) used Wayne’s arm as a tree branch and happily coiled itself around his arm (below, left, D Poynton).

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Don had a much more active snake, this time a 2m Carpet Python (Morelia spilota) which demonstrated how a snake, because of its bone structure, can hold itself rigid (above, right, D Poynton).

Snake stories abounded and as the night went on, the stories got taller (or should that be longer?) We even heard how at the end of one Wildlife Show, Harry Butler had a python left which he had no way of taking home. Little did the people on the late bus that night know what Don Howe had coiled up in his briefcase!

Don Poynton