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Yellow-faced Whipsnake  -  Demansia psammophis
Yellow-faced Whipsnake
Demansia psammophis
These entwined snakes are either mating of fighting. There are no reports of fighting by members of this species although males of at least one other species in the genus fight by "plaiting" themselves together.
This snake has extremely variable colour schemes in three subspecies across Australia. Subspecies psammophis is generally olive to olive green or grey in colour, up to 1 metre long, with slender body, long tail and large prominent eyes. The underside colour is lighter. Scales are broadly dark-edged forming a prominent reticulated pattern. The eyes have a dark margin around them extending down towards the mouth; an interrupted white circle around the dark margin varies in extent and can be readily seen. A narrow yellow-edged bar runs between the nostrils. Adult males are larger than females.

The three subspecies are widely distributed around Australia in a variety of habitats including woodlands, heath, margins of rainforest, penetrating very arid regions via eucalyptus-lined watercourses.

Diet is mainly (more than 70%) lizards, especially skinks, with some frogs also eaten. This snake is active all year during daylight using good eyesight to search for lizards then chasing and catching them. The whipsnake's slender body and long tail facilitate this active lifestyle. Laying eggs instead of giving birth to live young reduces the time in which females' mobility is hindered while reproducing.

Female D psammophis ovulate in spring, laying 3 to 8 eggs per clutch. Young are about 17 cm long at hatching, reaching 40 cm after 12 months. They are sexually mature at 20 months old.

A bite from a large member of this species may cause painfull local reaction in a human but the species is not normally considered dangerous.

Information.
  A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia by Steve Wilson and Gerry Swan, published by Reed New Holland, 2003, reprinted 2005.
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