Does New Zealand has any poisonous or venomous snake?

Question

My wife said that New Zealand has the biggest venomous snake in the world. I told her she's just making it up and I said that the biggest poisonous snake is in Australia and not New Zealand, Am I right or wrong?

Answer 1

You are both wrong. New Zealand has no snakes, other than the occasional sighting of sea snakes off the coast. The largest venomous snake in the world is the King Cobra and they can be found in India, S.E. Asia and Southern China. The largest venomous snake in Australia is the Tiapan, closely followed by the King Brown snake.

Answer 2

Yes and no. New Zealand has no terrestrial (land) snakes either native or introduced. However due to New Zealand’s sub tropical climate it is visited irregularly by two species of sea snake. The yellow-bellied sea snake, Pelamis platurnus, (the most widely distributed of all sea snakes) is an infrequent visitor to our shores with more than 35 sightings around New Zealand shores since 1930. An even more unusual visitor is the banded sea krait, Laticauda coumbrina. The banded sea krait is distributed from India and South-east Asia through New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Both species of snakes are highly venomous but, due to their size, are highly unlikely to be able to penetrate human skin.

Answer 3

I was looking through some of my snake books and couldn't find anything other than the seasnake that is plentiful around the waters of both places, but if I remember rightly, you are correct that the biggest venomous snake is found in Australia.

Answer 4

three countries that have no native snakes
Answer: New Zealand, Iceland & Ireland

Answer 5

no
there are no poisonous/venemous snake in NZ......i think theres no poisonous spiders either

Answer 6

king cobra n rattlesnake r quite common in n.z.

Answer 7

nO my friend is from there and he said no

Answer 8

I guess not