Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend recieved these, and does not know what they are. Here is what he post:

"i am looking for any help in identifying these snakes . they were sold to the shop as chinese water snakes , but i can't find anything on them . they are about 18 or so inches long , but we had one that was a good bit bigger . maybe 24 inches , so i know they can at least get that big . how much larger i have no idea .

If anyone knows what they are , where i can find info on them , or knows someone who might know something about them , i'd apreciate any help you can give me . i figure with the group we have here , some one must know something about them .

they are sort of soft bodied . that's the only way i can discribe them . smooth scaled and kind of an olive top color with red and black bands on the belly . these guys so far are super docile , seem very curious of there new suroundings , and have not seemed interested in eating anything we offered . i went ahead and bought one pair , and have the last pair on hold till i find out what they are . i like the way they lookand if i can figure out how to keep them alive , i'd like to try breeding them . any ways here's the pics . thanks for any help anyone can give . "

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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Looks a hell of a lot like something callled a Mountain Watersnake. I learned it as Natrix percarinata though I think it's now Sinonatrix. Very uncommon in the wild but I have no way of knowing if it's common in the pet trade. The thing holding me back is that the Mountain Watersnake is supposed to have keeled scales...

Anyway, if this is what it is then try feeding it fish and frogs. It's reported to do very well on Rana paraspinosa though I highly doubt that exact species is available to buy. If I had to guess they are in a new genus now too...

I'll check a few other sources and try to find a better ID. If you snakes have smooth scales as you say then I'm most likely wrong.

Cool snakes either way.

I should clarify -- they are uncommon in the wild in hong kong. I'm not too sure of their abundance elsewhere. Nocturnal, inhabits precipitous torrents and is a powerful swimmer.

There is such a thing as a "chinese watersnake" but that is not it. The chinese watersnake, Enhydris chinensis, is olive brown to gray with scattered black spots from the nect to the tail and has a white or kind of yellow lateral stripe along each side that make a sort of zig zag pattern. The belly is yellow or white and each ventral has a dark edge. It's mildly venemous but can't cause serious harm to humans (headache, nausea, etc). Some photos of it are on the webpage linked blow down at the bottom. Definitely not what your friend has but since it was sold under this name then it's worth knowing about.
Link

thanks for the info . i'm the guy with the unidentified snakes . after looking at the picture you posted , i'm pretty sure that's it . here's some of the pics i have of them .

as soon as i started looking for info on these i knew they werent what they were sold to us as . i found info on the real "chinese water snake" but could not find anything on these guys . i had already sort of assumed that fish and frogs would be the ticket for food . it might be that they just havent settled in well enough yet to start eating . i've got a large water dish in their tank for now (have them together till this weekend when i'll set up individual tanks) i also have some bull frog tadpoles in the water for them .

do you have any info on temps for these guys ? i'm gonna go do some searching now that i have an idea what i'm looking for , but any extra info would be greatly appreciated .

once again thank you very much for the help in identifying these critters .

oh , as to the keeled scales , this snake seems to have smooth scales on the sides with slightly keeled scales on the back .

I pretty much told you everything I know about the species and the book I have on the herps of hong kong has nothing to add except that they get up to 110 cm though 70 cm is more common. They occur at altitudes at least up to 200m and might be found higher. My assumption is that given their natural habitat and behavior: fast-moving mountainous streams at night, that they do not have high heat requirements. Setting up a tank with a standard 80 to 70 F gradient would probably be sufficient. I really hope somebody posts here who knows more about care for this species. You might want to try posting in the watersnake section of the kingsnake boards. Now that we know what it is somebody there who has more experience with closely related species and genera will be able to help you more. It's very likely nobody on that board has cared for this species exactly but anybody with captive watersnake experience will be more useful than me.

Thanks again for sharing.

i'll do that . thanks once again for all the help . i've already done some searching ,but it doesnt looks like there is much on them out there .