Spotted Black Snake eating a Whip Snake

We found a Spotted Black Snake that had just caught a Yellow Face Whip Snake while we were bushwalking. It took the Black Snake less than 10 minutes to kill and eat the other snake.

In the struggle the Whip Snake managed to wrap around some grass and sticks on the ground. The Black Snake knew that we were nearby and tried to hide, but was not going to going to leave it's catch behind.

Spotted Black Snakes (also known as Blue Bellied Black Snakes) are common in the Upper Hunter. Closely related to the Red Bellied Black Snake and the Mulga Snake, a bite from the Spotted Black Snake is considered to be potentially dangerous.

It was a fairly warm morning with a fair bit of critter activity. We weren't expecting to take any photo's, so the video was recorded on an iPhone.

Music: "Mayday Mars" composed by Tillman Sillescu