Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I've been trying to ID this thing for quite a long time without succes. It's about 150 cm long, very agressive though it didn't eat since I have it..about a year(got it form a local pet store for free as corn snake...nobody didn't want it, becouse of its agression).

Thank you for help
Bostjan

Pictures of snake

montpellier snake aka false cobra malpolon ssp of some kind i think north african in origin. i could be wrong tho.

It does look like it COULD very well be a Motpellier Snake.
(Malpolon monspessulanus)closely related to Whipsnakes(Masticophis)

They are indigenous to Western Morocco,Spain,Portugal, and over to the west to coastal France and northwestern Italy.

If that is indeed the case, be aware of the fact that they are
VENOMOUS!!!!...(rear fanged) and are quite capable of inflicting a nasty bite that is very painful. It can cause heavy swelling, and headaches.

I would donate the animal to a local zoo or serpentarium if they show any interest. It would be in both your interests, especially since Montpellier's are venomous, as well as the fact that you can't get it to feed.

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

That is the "false cobra" or "hooded snake" (Malpolon moilensis). It is mildly venomous, but I don't believe it is dangerous to man. You should handle it with care all the same.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

as a corn snake? Dear god.

Yeah, couldn't bealive it myself too.
t was marked as Corn snake (Elaphe gutata). When I first saw it, I said, that this is wrong, that this is NOT corn snake. They didn't bealive me and they also didn't want to tell, where did they get it. After a few months, the snake was still in a shop. Nobody didn't want to buy it, becouse of it's agressive behaviour. I asked, if they can can give it to me for free, and they agreed. The snake is with me since then.

Boy!,...that store has NO business BEING in business!LOL

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

Man, if I was at a pet shop and they had that snake marked as a corn snake and they wouldn't listen to me when I told them it was definitely NOT corn snake, I'm pretty sure I would resort to violence.

I hate it when pet shops don't even go to the trouble to figure out what they are selling people.

I hear ya!!,..........

I'm always seeing mislabelled snakes in pet stores! then when I go to tell them EXACTLY what they have including the scientific Latin name, they sort of go....yeah(as they continue doing other things) without really even paying any attention whatsoever to what I just told them!..........Then of course, months later you go back and see the same mislabelled tank!

Just recently, I sold an adult Andean Milksnake to a girl at a pet store,...I very clearly told her(and WROTE down) what it was, including the latin name. I go back weeks later to sell her some Hondurans, and I notice the tank is marked "Indian Milksnake"...again I sayed,..."AN-DE-AN" Milksnake!....you know,.......from the "AN-DES" mountains around Colombia in South America!

Another dumb pet store owner had a leucistic Texas marked as a
"lencistic" Texas Rat...with the (U) upside down, because the idiot that labeled it didn't think it looked right to him/her to have the (e) and the (u) together in a word!LOL

Same girl I sold the Andean to later had a Rough Green Snake in tank that was marked..."Green Ratsnake"!!LOL, she told me she just couldn't get the stupid snake to eat the pinky that was in the cage!!LOL......I straightened her out on that, and told her it ate insects, NOT mice!........she said, Ohhhhh, really?

Went to another Pet Store, and saw a board on display on the wall with a list of their snakes. I look it over, and see they have Honduran Milksnake on the list. I just got done looking at all the snakes they had, and didn't remember seeing a single Honduran there. So I asked the guy,....I notice you have Hondurans listed on your list up there?, did you already sell it?. He says,...No, it's right over here....he then leads me over to a tank I had just got done looking at, and he was referring to a beautiful Chihuahua Mountain King(L.p.knoblochi)!!LOL....This thing was 2 feet long and very thick and healthy.

what's really funny is he ONLY had the snake marked at $99.00
He complained to me about he just couldn't seem to get rid of the thing, even if he practically gave it away!!..........Some things just don't make ANY sense at all!!LOL

Those stories are just a small few of what I see at stores!LOL
I'm sure you have some good ones of you're own too!LOL

best regards, ~Doug

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

I'll add a few stories too. Few years ago at a local pet shop I noticed they had the labels for a longsnake and a kansas glossy snake switched. I told the shop owner that the labels were switched and he just looked at me without saying anything. Then I told another person who was working there. I go back a few weeks later and the labels were the same. So I tell them again and they still refuse to fix it. I just don't see how those two snakes are so hard to tell apart.

There is a different local pet shop that always has their ribbon snake's cage marked "eats crickets" with lots of crickets running around in the cage. The ribbon snakes are all extremely skinny.

Yet another local pet shop is selling a snow (albino-white side) bullsnake as an albino. They always refused to purchase any of my beautiful hatchling bulls because they are not allowed to be sold in Oklahoma. I told one of the owners that the bull is not just an albino, but a snow which is two morphs and worth more money. She completely ignored what I said as if I was a child.

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

At a petsuop in New Jersey I saw a snake labled as "Velvet Ratsnke"

I told them was a normal corn, but they acted uninterested.

I later found out why - Cornsnakes are protected in New Jersey.
They knew they were breaking the law and trying to get around it.

Where's F&W when you need 'em?

John D
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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.1 Eastern Kingsnakes

...to try and tell them they have something labeled wrong, and they completely ignore you. What's even worse is when they argue with you! A pet shop here had the snake in the following pics labled as an albino corn snake, and would not believe me when I said it wasn't, even argued with me, telling me why it WAS a corn! About 3 months later I get home and there's my wife, holding that snake lol they had marked it really low because "it was very aggresive and mean to everyone." Well, it's as gentle as a lamb and has yet to strike at us, although it will rattle it's tail from time to time when startled.

Now, although at the time I wasn't sure of the exact type, I knew it was a gopher snake, but no one would listen!
Makes ya just wanna hit them over the head sometimes
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
0.0.1 betta fish (Captain Morgan)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer