Keeping the Eastern Brown
NATURE 4 YOU – Tie and Scott Eipper
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The Eastern Brown Snake is a species of snake that must only be kept by experienced elapid keepers. The toxicity of the venom combined with the fact that they can be unpredictable make the Eastern Brown a species suited for the more experienced keeper.
We at Nature 4 You do not endorse the keeping of venomous snakes without suitable experience and only when you have the appropriate permits and facilities to care for the animal properly.
SPECIES OVERVIEW:
COMMON NAMES: Eastern Brown Snake, Common Brown Snake
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pseudonaja textilis
PRONUNCIATION: sue-don-nah-yah tex-til-is
ETYMOLOGY: Pseudonaja - false cobra, textilis - woven
ADULT SIZE: 210cms
ADULT WEIGHT: 2.5kg
LIFE EXPENTANCY: Eastern Brown Snakes have been known to live over 15yrs in captivity.
The Eastern Brown Snake is native to Australia, found across most of Eastern Australia with the exception of Tasmania. Isolated populations occur in the West MacDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory and near Gordon Downs, Western Australia. This species is also present in Papua New Guinea. Eastern Brown Snakes inhabit most of the drier habit types throughout their range, including open woodlands, rocky outcrops and semi-arid plains. They will seek shelter under logs, under rocks and other ground debris including man made rubbish. Eastern browns vary in colour. Above is usually light grey to brownish black, but some specimens are reddish to olive green. Juvenile banding remains in some populations all the way through adulthood. Specimens from south-east Queensland often have scattered black scales on the first quarter of the body. The underneath is cream to pale yellow with red to orange flecking. Extremely dark specimens sometimes have greyish ventral's without orange markings. They have excellent vision, and are among Australia's fastest snakes. A large elapid with a slender body they are not shy when it comes to human interaction. Their venom is strongly neurotoxic and has powerful procoagulants. Brown snake venom contains potent presynaptic neurotoxins. Also present are postsynaptic neurotoxins, which are less potent but more rapid acting than the presynaptic neurotoxins. Brown snake venom also contains potent procoagulants. Brown snake procoagulants are amongst the most powerful snake venom procoagulants known. Eastern Brown Snakes are commonly kept in captivity.
Adult Eastern Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis in situ.
HOUSING:
A single Eastern Brown Snake needs a terrestrial enclosure about 600mm wide X 1200mm Long X 450mm High. The housing of juveniles is best done by housing them in plastic style enclosures with ventilation holes either drilled or melted with a soldiering iron. This plastic tub can be placed inside the larger enclosure. Plastic tubs are often utilised for small snakes as they are cheap, easy to clean and seal very well. This is important as a small snake is able to escape through very small gaps, which are often present in timber enclosures. Juveniles can be kept in smaller conditions but should be kept by themselves. Not only can cage-mates turn on each other, the unpredictability of their nature combined with the toxicity of their venom makes one snake per cage a lot easier and safer to deal with. We house our juveniles singularly in plastic tubs. These tubs have clips on the side to lock the lids in place, are readily available and easy to modify. We start our hatchling Eastern Browns in 7L tubs measuring 32cms L x 21cms W x 12cms H and move them up to appropriately sized caging as they grow. We use paper towel on the bottom of these tubs as it is easy to clean - simply remove the soiled paper towel and replace with new.
Juvenile Eastern Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis
The adult cage can have a variety of substrates ranging from bark to paper. We personally use either a kitty litter made of recycled paper – it helps absorb some of the smell and clumping “deposits” or newspaper or butcher’s paper as its easily cleaned. Other effective substrates include synthetic grass mats, bark chips and paper towel. If using the bark chips for a more natural look make sure no fertilizers or chemicals have been added by reading the bags and try to avoid as much dust in the enclosure as possible. If using synthetic grass, you should have 2 pieces cut to size so when one gets soiled the other can be put in while other gets washed. Pet shops sell a variety of suitable substrates as well as the synthetic grass and bark chips that are available from hardware shops.
Eastern Browns need cover in which they can hide. This can be provided by a
hollow log or a rock near the back wall, leaf litter etc. Pet shops have an ample range of naturalist looking hides readily available also. At least one hide should be in the warm end and one in the cool end of the cage. The use of trap boxes as hides is an excellent idea with this species.
The cage also needs to be well ventilated. A series of cupboard vents cut into
both the front and back of an adult enclosure work well allowing the air to flow though. In housing for younger animals the holes should be placed in both the lid and around the sides of the plastic containers.
The water bowl should large enough for the snake to soak in. This is invaluable in the hottest parts of summer and also for sloughing. This should be situated in the cool end of the cage. The water bowl should be washed when clean water is added, not just topped up. Not washing the bowl and continually topping up the water can lead to illness in the animal and a green water bowl.
The cage should be cleaned out at least once a week to prevent the build-up of germs etc. Cleaning out weekly will also allow you to check the animal over whilst removing them from the cage. This is when you will pick up things you may miss from just looking at the animal in the enclosure. However, traces of faeces and urine should be cleaned as soon as it’s noticed.
HEATING:
All heating should be placed at one end of the cage and controlled by a thermostat. This creates a thermal gradient. This is vital for the survival of the occupants. If the cage is either too hot or to cool the snake has a place to retreat to. Excessive heat will kill your snake very quickly - ideal temperatures for the Eastern Brown Snake are approximately 32 degrees Celsius at the warm end of the cage and 26 degrees at the cool end of the cage.
Ways of heating include light bulb(s) placed at one end of the cage connected to a thermostat. A light makes viewing easier as well as heating. A heat mat or heat cord at one end, or both the light bulb and the heat mat/cord. Any light globes inside the enclosure should be placed in such a way that the snake is unable to come in contact with them. A mesh type globe cover is ideal as it prevents the snake coming in direct contact with the globe but the allows the heat generated from the light to escape. Uncovered light bulbs usually result in nasty burns to the snake. Heat cord under the enclosure is another way to heat the cage effectively. Heat rocks are commercially available, however we do not recommend using heat rocks with any animal as they are not reliable and may cause fire. We use heat cord in a rack system for our younger animals and for our older Eastern Brown Snakes in cages we run heat cord under tiles on the bottom of the enclosure.
LIGHTING:
If heating the cage with a globe set up, the cage should have dark coloured globes
such as green or blue. This will then not interrupt its photoperiod. The Eastern Brown Snake is mainly diurnal (active during the day). Thus the photoperiod of 14 hours light to 8 dark in summer and 12 hours light and 12 dark in winter is acceptable.
COOLING:
Cooling allows for the males sperm to be produced and the in the females ova to be made. The temperature of cooling should drop to about room temperature. However this drop should not be sudden, by turning on the heat for 4 hours in the morning for 4 weeks either side of the cooling period (1-month) this will allow the snake to gently go into torpor. (In Australia most reptiles don't truly go into hibernation.) Eastern Brown Snakes should be cooled from early May. While being cooled the animal should not be handled or fed. If fed, the food may kill the snake as it may not be digested properly, and may just sit and rot within its stomach as heat also plays a role in digestion. You SHOULD NOT cool juveniles, gravid (pregnant), sick or under weight individuals as this can lead to the death of the lizard. When your Eastern Brown Snake is an adult (over 100cm Snout to Vent (S.V.L.)) its should be cooled in the winter months.
FEEDING:
Your snake should be feeding on mice or small rats. The size of the prey item and the amount of them is dependant on the snake in question. As juveniles, they should be fed weekly, but once at adult size this can be reduced to once every fortnight. A suitable feed for the snake is a meal that will cause a slight bulge in the snake’s mid body. Eastern Brown Snakes will also readily take day old chicks, quail. Food should generally not be offered while the snake is coming into or having a slough.
REPRODUCTION:
Male introductions should be from August - November. The males can be removed in and out of the females enclosures, allowing them time to rest. Male Combat has been observed in this species. Eastern Brown Snakes are oviparous. The clutch can vary from 6 - 28 eggs with an average clutch of about 15 eggs. These take about 52 days to hatch when incubated at 30 degrees Celsius. Eastern Brown Snakes can be cannibalistic, so they should be separated straight away.
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References and recommended reading:
Ehmann H. 1992 Encyclopedia of Australian Animals - Reptiles, Angus & Robertson, Pymble
Eipper S.C 2012 A Guide to Australian Snakes in Captivity - Elapids & Colubrids, Reptile Keeper Publications, Burleigh Heads
Eipper S.C & Eipper T 2019 A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of Australia, John Beaufoy Publishing, Oxford