Excitement at rare sighting of endangered 'Collingwood' snake in north-east Victoria

A fresh sighting of the striking bandy bandy snake in north-east Victoria is causing excitement among experts. 

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action's (DEECA), natural environment program officer Glen Johnson said it was a "pretty uncommon event".

The snake — also known as Vermicella annulata — was found near Beechworth last week. 

 Mr Johnson says it is a nocturnal burrowing species that falls into the endangered category.

They tend to grow to about 50--60 centimetres and are about the width of a single finger, he said.

The species has distinctive black and white rings around their entire body which sometimes mean they get called a hoop snake. Or it might be easy to think of them as a "Collingwood snake", Mr Johnson said. 

Because of their pattern "they're a really difficult one to get the identification wrong," he said. 

Mr Johnson says he would appreciate if any sightings of a bandy bandy snake are reported to a local DEECA office.

"With any of the rare and threatened species, it's really great to get reports from the community, because that helps us in our understanding of the knowledge and distribution of these special creatures," he said.

Expanding territory 

The Vermicella annulata is the most common of six species of bandy bandy snake but it tends to have a smaller distribution in Victoria, "hence its endangered status" Mr Johnson said. 

They are traditionally found across northern Victoria through to the north-east, tending to be restricted to "drier inland forests". 

But, the discovery of one in Bright last year by local snake catcher Michael Gibson changed that. 

It was "pretty exciting" because they were not known to exist in Bright before, Mr Gibson said, although there had been some unconfirmed sightings. 

The detection in Bright expands the known habitat of the species Mr Johnson said. 

Bright is a higher altitude, with a "slightly wetter environment", he said. This is a good sign for the resilience of the species in a "climate-changing world".

"Additional refuges in slightly wetter or higher elevation environments might just mean that there's a greater capacity of species to be able to cope with what will be the myriad of climatic regimes that we'll be faced with into the future," Mr Johnson said. 

'Interesting diet'

The bandy bandy snake has an unusual diet.

"Their diet is principally snakes" Mr Johnson said. "One particular form or type of snake called blind snakes."

Part of why bandy bandy snakes are rarely seen is because they're usually underground searching for blind snakes to eat, Mr Johnson said.

The blind snakes themselves are a "pretty weird" species, mostly staying subterranean in pursuit of ants, white ants or termites. 

Although technically a venomous species, the bandy bandy isn't much of a threat. 

They have less toxic venom,  a "very small mouth", which isn't great for biting and a very mild nature, Mr Johnson said. 

The species is also an egg layer, with a breeding period from October to December and a hatching period from February to March. 

Mr Johnson said, people were most likely to encounter a Bandy Bandy snake on a warm humid night at this time of year.

In Mr Gibson's three years as a snake catcher in the Bright area he has only seen that one bandy bandy, in May last year.

He said he's "really keen to see more but I'm not holding my breath".