Rare detail captured in stunning photos of 'uncommon' snake stuns Aussies
Amazed observers said they had never seen anything like this snake before.
Common tree snakes are exactly as their name suggests — common. But the sighting of one this week has truly stopped Aussies in their tracks thanks to one rare detail.
On Monday, one of the snakes was spotted swimming along a river on Queensland's Fraser Coast with "extremely vibrant" blue tones. A walker managed to snap pictures of the snake, with its scales appearing to shimmer in the Aussie sunshine. A snake catcher told Yahoo News he's only ever spotted one blue common tree snake in his two-decade career.
"The colour [of the species] goes across a whole range, anything from black to gold to blue, but their standard colour is darkish with a yellow belly... the blue colour is particularly uncommon," Mathew Hampton said.
After the pictures were shared online, many Aussies praised the snake's beauty and said they've not seen anything like it before.
"A mermaid in snake form. What a stunner," one woman said, while others called the snake "stunning" and "beautiful".
Why is the snake blue?
The blue colour is simply down to genetics, and although it may not appear so, common tree snakes all have blue scales between their "normal scales" but this one simply has a higher density.
"The blue colour is referred to as a 'blue phase' — it's a genetic variation where the usual blue scales that are in between the normal scales are in a much higher density than usual, giving the snake an almost entirely blue appearance," Mathew explained. "The vibrancy varies among individuals and can be quite bland to extremely vibrant."
On average, common tree snakes grow to 1.5 metres and are "completely non venomous".
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Snake catcher warns snake season is coming 'earlier and earlier'
Hampton flagged to Yahoo News that the snake season came exceptionally early this year, observing snake activity in early September which usually occurs in October. He believes an "unseasonable weather change" is to blame.
"It definitely seemed to wake the snakes up earlier... it's well and truly above what we've experienced in the last decade
"As the planet warns and climate change happens, I think we're only going to see snake season creep a little bit earlier and earlier every year," he said.
Hampton started a Facebook group called 'Snake Identification Australia' eight years ago to help Aussies connect with verified experts quickly when they encounter snakes in their homes. He told Yahoo News the already 155,000-member-strong community has seen a real influx in recent months and believes this supports the theory that snake season is being pushed forward due to unseasonal weather spikes.
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