Reptilia · Squamata
Hoplocephalus bitorquatusJan, 1859
Pale-headed Snake
Photograph placed in the public domain, CC0, via iNaturalist
A tree-dwelling, nocturnal, meat-eating snake from the Australo-Pacific region, reaching 950 mm nose to tail.
Reptilia › Squamata › Elapidae › Hoplocephalus
- Grows to
- 950mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Nocturnal
- Lives up to
- 15years
Longer than 54% of all elapid snakes anyone has measured.
The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 219 to 5,710 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.
What is known
38 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.
Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.
Standing in the world
- Still living
- Extant
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2017
The animal itself
- Limbs
- None
- Colour on the back
- Black, Brown
- Pattern on the back
- Uniform
- Venomous
- Yes
- Fangs
- At the front of the mouth
- Longest recorded life
- 15years
- Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
- 23.1°C
over 14 years (Eipper and Eipper 2022) so I write 15
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 780mm2 ft 7 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 524mm20.5 in
- Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
- 950mm3 ft 1 in
- Hatchling length · snout to vent
- 200mm7.75 in
- Hatchling length · nose to tail
- 258mm10 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 159.3g5.6 oz
- Body mass at hatchingmeasured
- 5.6g0.2 oz
800 mm total length (Feldman et al. 2016), Eipper and Eipper 2022 (mean 700 mm, 95 g, max 950 mm, 190 g, neonates 258 mm, 6.8 g), Shine 1994 (32 males 36.2-57.2, mean 46 cm SVL; 67 females 38.4-78, mean 52.4 cm SVL; hatchling SVL 200 mm)
snakes only in this source
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Nocturnal
- Where it lives
- Arboreal
- Habitat
- Forest
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
- Region
- Australo-Pacific
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Elevation · above sea level
- 60–928m
- Range size
- 901,341km²
frogs, lizards and small mammals (Eipper and Eipper 2022)
(Mirtschin et al. 2017), predominantly nocturnal but basks (Eipper and Eipper 2022)
Mirtschin et al. 2017
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Viviparous
- Sex decided by
- Genes, ZW/ZZ
- Average clutch
- 4.7eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 2–11eggs
- Mean clutch
- 4.7eggs
Feldman et al. 2015, Meiri et al. 2019
2-11 (Mirtschin et al. 2017), 2-11 mean=4.7 n=17 (Shine 1983b), 2-17 (Eipper and Eipper 2022), Shine 1994 (2-11, mean 4.7, n = 17 clutches)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Serpentes
- Infraorder
- Alethinophidia
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Jan
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- Yes
- Described in
- 1859
- Type locality
- Australia
Keeping one
2 ft 4 in × 18.5 in × 4 ft 8 in(71 × 48 × 143 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes snakes as a fraction of total length: 0.75 × 0.5 × 1.5.
Lives in vegetation, so height and climbing structure matter more than floor space.
Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.
From this animal’s own total length of 3 ft 1 in (950 mm), at 0.75 × 0.5 × 1.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 74 °F (23.1 °C).
Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.
Feeding
A prey item should be between the same width as the widest part of the snake's body and about 1.5 times that width.
Widely used across snake husbandry references. An alternative formulation gives prey at 10-15% of the snake's body mass. This is established practice, not a measurement.
18kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 159 g, the heaviest recorded for Pale-headed Snake — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.
An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.
What nobody knows
These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.
- — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult mean
- — Female length · mean, nose to tail
- — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
- — Length nose to tail · adult mean
- — Largest female · snout to vent
- — Largest male · snout to vent
- — Largest female · shell length
- — Largest male · shell length
- — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- — Largest juvenile · shell length
- — Egg length
- — Egg width
- — Body mass · a typical adult
- — Body mass · adult female, mean
- — Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How it hunts
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Clutches in a year
- — Clutches a year · fewest
- — Clutches a year · most
- — First breeds from · youngest recorded
- — First breeds by · oldest recorded
- — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
- — Hatchling length · largest recorded
- — Age at first breeding · female
- — Mature from · youngest recorded
- — Mature by · oldest recorded
- — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
- — Size at maturity · largest recorded
- — Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
- — Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
- — Pupil
- — Population trend
- — Red List criteria
- — Active season · shortest recorded
- — Active season · longest recorded
- — Density · lowest recorded
- — Density · highest recorded
- — Home range · largest recorded
- — Active in
Others in Elapidae
Take this data
Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.
This species as JSON · the whole dataset
Cite this page
The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Hoplocephalus bitorquatus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/hoplocephalus-bitorquatus
@misc{hoplocephalus_bitorquatus_2026,
title = {Hoplocephalus bitorquatus},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/hoplocephalus-bitorquatus}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.