Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any ideas what species of snake this is?

Thanks

Is it possible to post a clear pic of the overall snake?

Was it wild caught?.......or bought?

If wild-caught, from what location, country, county, etc.....

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Sorry,

I know nothing about the origins of this snake. It was abandoned in a residence. It is approximately 24 inches long and eats mice.

The reason I ask is that my gut says psuedonaja or psuedechis but I am just not sure.

Hopefully these pictures are better but they were taken through glass.

Thanks

BTW If you are thinking "Well if it bites a mouse and it dies of any envenomation than it is HOT". The first group of mice were frozen thawed and the white ones it constricted. As it swallows the prey it never opens its mouth wide enough to see fangs. If it is a colubrid then I have no idea what it is. It's body structure and scaling definitely look elapid.

Where are you located in, Australia? Need some better local info. If it was a Pseudechis (black snakes) or a Pseudonaja (common brown snakes), I would be giving it wide birth they are of the genus elapid, very venomous!

Yeah, that first pic screamed elapid. I didn't respond due to lack of locality info & I thought perhaps the poster was having fun.

If the residence the snake was abandoned in happens to be in Australia (leaving info like that out makes things a bit difficult), then I would say it is definitely a dangerously venomous snake.

~~Greg~~

Same thoughts here, I hope he posts more info. Not a snake for the faint hearted!

I wish I could post more info but that is about all I have. I am by far not a novice when it comes to snakes and especially venomous although I have not maintained any of the Australian/New Guinea elapids but have kept cobras.

The snake was abandoned in a residence in Central Florida. I do not know who the previous resident/owner is.

When I first looked at it it reminded me of cobra / elapid morphology. Heck even the faint monocle like pattern looks weird on the neck although it does not have hood structure.

It fed readily on frozen thawed mice, the black ones in the first pictures in it's original aquarium it was found in. I attempted to get a look inside the mouth as it went to swallow the last bit of mouse and would take a gapping yawn. It never did. It eats like a milksnake (Lampropeltis) very closed mouthed.

The next thought was to feed it live prey to see if it causes an envenomating bite. It contricted the prey so I was unable to tell if it succombed to venom or contriction.

I look at it and I see elapid, most likely psuedonaja or psuedechis. My concern, among many, is that this is not a "common" kept venomous species if it is one of the brown snakes. So how did this person get it, especially without a permit (actually I can imagine how unfortunately)? Most first time venomous keepers in our area would start off by having one of the indigenous species.

I was called in to identify the snake and this is where we are at now. I was hoping someone else may have more experience with the "browns" to id it as I want to be 100% sure of its species as opposed to "I think it is".

Thank you for any assitance you can give.

Erring on the side of safety is first and you're probably right to assume it's venomous.
At first I did not assume it was...could've been bad for me..
Still not sure however, since it constricts as well.
There was a snake that had lots of people stumped last year and it was a colubrid of sorts. Looked very similar to yours.
Some said it was a brown (melanistic) Cal king while others said it was a house snake...
You may have to count scales (safely in a tube) to get the right i.d.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

...and it may be the same snake for all I know.
Check it out.

Now if we can find the original poster, we should have a better idea. (assuming he ever found out himself!)
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

>>Any ideas what species of snake this is?
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>>Thanks
>>
>>
>>
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WW Home

Sorry - previous post went off prematurely...

But no, it's not an elapid - the side shot of the head very clearly shows that the snake has a loreal scale (a small squarish scale between the preocular and the nasal), which elapids do not have, so it's neither a Pseudonaja nor a Pseudechis. I don't know what it is, but it is definitely not a front-fanged snake.

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

Did you see the photo I posted?
Is that the same animal?
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

>>Did you see the photo I posted?
>> Is that the same animal?

Hard to tell without scale counts etc. There is no shortage of brown colubrids....

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

and this forum really goes hog-wild!

That snake is obviously a chocolate cal king. You can even see the faint striped pattern on it.

I do agree it does suggest an elapid, but as Wolfgang points out, it can't be.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I didn't notice the stripe in either picture & I certainly should have.

~~Greg~~