Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Could use some help with this brown snake. 20-24" long, eats lizards, pinkish white mouth, non-aggresive. I had another one who's black speckling was more pronounced. Anyone?

Did you find this or did you buy it?

If you found it....where? Give us some idea and we can probably give you an answer.

It isn't a native north american snake.
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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

I purchased it through my pet shop was supposed to be a brown house snake. When it arrived it obviously wasn't. I tried to link and image before and will try again.

Without locality data, identification becomes very difficult. Superficially...it resembles one of the forest racer species of Central or South America. It also resembles some Mideastern racers. By the eye (round pupil as opposed to oval) it is probably safe to say it is harmless. It looks to be a vine type snake (arboreal).can you post a full body shot of this? Also you mention others with darker markings...can you describe?
Frank

The other one of the two looked remarkably like the one in Chris's picture. What the heck is a Mopang snake? I've never heard of it. The big question I have to answer is are they venomous? It's illegal in my state to own or offer for sale venomous snakes and I have to have an answer for this one for my state inspector. I think Chris hit it though. I'll try to get a full body shot tomorrow and post it later on.

Thanks for the help
BigT

If it does turn out to be Hemirhagerris, they are rear-fanged, although according to one old reference, the venom is of "no consequence".

~~Greg~~

Even mildly or no consequence venomous snakes are illegal here. I'd be better off saying it's a Mopane snake confuse the hell out of the inspector and not mention anything about it being a rearfanged. This snake has never ever even attempted to bite.

This state is so restrictive you can't even have a hognose.

Mopane snakes are named for the Mopane tree of southern Africa. The snake often occurs in a wooded savannah habitat called the Mopane Veld. It is often found under bark of trees or in rotten logs (thus the alternate name Bark Snake).

It is rear-fanged, but every reference I can find says it is not dangerous (I expect we are talking about a Lyre Snake type venom). They are supposedly docile and seldom attempt to bite. Branch states that they never bite.

It apparently eat small lizards (particularly skinks and geckos) and occasionally frogs. Max size is 43 cm (about 1.5 feet).

Cool snake!
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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

From your photo it looks like it does not, if this is the case it is not a Mopane. Also, from your photo the body and head look different. Can you post a Full body shot? But Above all you need to check those eyes that will be the indicator of whether or not it is rearfanged or just a nonvenomous snake.
Frank

,,,

In Frank Glaw's book; Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar there is a photo of a snake; Mimophis mahfalensis. It occurs with several variations Usually striped or with a pattern of small (viperine) markings on the back, but also inluding one that is right on to your photo in color, pattern and proportion. The pupils are round in this species though it is a rearfang.it fits the size range and is a lizard feeder. I checked on line but could not find another photo of this species to match the book's illustration.
Frank

The snake doesn't have the anterior dark markings of the African Mopane Snake (Hemirhagerrhis nototaenia) but it does have the right body shape.

There are three other species of Hemirhagerrhis (hildebrantii, viperina, kelleri) that I haven't ever seen a picture of. viperina is sometimes thought to be a subspecies of nototaenia.
It could be one of those?

Here is the link to the embl database species list.

http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/~uetz/LivingReptiles.html

Here is Paul Freed's picture of a Mopane Snake - the amount of patterning on the anterior of the body is apparently variable.

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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

Hope this helps. It has round pupils which, if I understand correctly, means it's not a Mopang. I looked in it's mouth and if it's a rearfanged they're too damn tiny for me to see. When fed a lizard though it just holds on, no constricting, no masticating. To me that would indicate some kind of venomous, NO? It's been a lot of years since I've seen any of the racer family eat and I can't remember if they're masticating or if they just hold on. Eventually after a few minutes it just uses it's mouth to manuver the lizard till it can start to swallow. By all visual indicators the lizard still looks alive when it's being swallowed. I can't tell for sure if that's just nerves reacting or if it's actually alive.

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Your latest photo is so on the money. It is a female Mimophis mahfalensis...Though males have a much more boldy patterned body, the specimen illustrated in the above (Frank Glaw-Field Guide to tha A&R of Madagascar)has the much reduced pattern and grayish brown color of the female.
Frank

I apparently had a pair originally then. The male died without any warning signs. Both were/are eating he just turned up dead one day. I've done a search and really couldn't find any info on these whatsoever. All I was able to come up with was a common name "Malagasay sand snake" any additional info you may be able to supply would be appreciated.

BigT

I don't have a lot of information at hand but there are websites you can scan under the genus name. They are related to the African sand snakes (Psammophis). Size to 39". Diet; lizards. Prefers a dry planted terrarium-Diurnal.
Frank