Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Try and find the name of this snake! To see a pic click on link.

Looks like Imantodes cenchoa to me. ~Greg~~

Def. Imantodes! I agree, but I have no clue on the seperate species, but cenchoa seems to be the most prevalent in pictures, so I will stick with that part. Andy
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Dipsas indica
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Chris Harrison

I think you put the URL in the `image' box, rather than the `link' box. So I've appended it as a link to this message...

I'm with Chris, at least most of the way. It's certainly Dipsas, and it looks like Dipsas indica. But, since there are a lot of Dipsas I've never seen any illustration of, for all I know it could be some other species in the genus.

Patrick Alexander

Forgot to put it in on the last post. Oh well...

Patrick Alexander
Link

Y'all may well be right about it being Dipsas, howsomever, Mehrtens states in his "Living Snakes of the World" that Dipsas tail is not prehensile like most of the other arboreal snakes. The picture leads me to believe that the snake has a truly prehensile tail.

~~Greg~~

Yor snake is Sibon nebulata (a slug eating snake). it is very closely related to Dipsas but is distinguished by it's gray color, (Dispas tend to brown) and the presence of a midline mental groove (on chin).

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Sibon usually has a busier pattern than that (between the bands) and I don't know if Sibon nebulatus occurs in French Guyana (where this picture was taken).

It still looks slightly more like Dipsas to me, but maybe we won't ever know?
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Chris Harrison

It is very similar to a Sibon I obtained from Surinam. The keys I checked mention gray for Sibon and more brown for Dipsas. The tiny white spots on the sides is also like what mine had, though the pattern is a little cleaner than my specimen. The labials look more like Sibon and a clear view of them and also the groove in the chin would have made it positive. but without a clear view of them it makes the whole thing a "best guess" situation. It makes you wish you were there...

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

That's not Sibon nebulatus... and whether the coloration is grey or brown is irrelevant for distinguishing Sibon and Dipsas--there are brown Sibon, such as Sibon dimidiatus (see: http://www.uta.edu/biology/campbell/guatemala/images/Sibon_dimidiata.JPG), and there are grey Dipsas, such as Dipsas indica (see: http://www.animals-online.be/reptiles/ringslangachtigen/bigheaded_snaileating_snake.html). The pattern of the snake pictured fits that of Dipsas indica, but not that of Sibon nebulatus, and AFAIK no Sibon occur in French Guiana.

Patrick Alexander

Not to be arguementive. but what is your source on that information? It contradicts the two keys I found in my reference books. One of the points made there was the lack of brown in Sibon (an indication that my library is most likely out of date on this topic since it doesn't list the species you mentioned). Such being the case, I would like to upgrade my library. So if you can please supply the liturature I would appreciate it.

As to range, I can only document to Surinam which of course is right next door to F.G. I had a very similar specimen from Surinam which had the mental groove. Which is what I mainly used as a possible match.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Let me amend that.....(my Dumb post of the day....will check your posted sites). Still would not mind getting something in book form.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

This seems to be my day....Tried to access the sites you mentioned but when I typed them in (correctly) It showed my typed address above a search that referred me to AMAZON.COM, REPTIBID and EBAY. Obviously the search engine on my comupter did not do it's job correctly and that made checking your info impossible for me. Is there anything in "Hard Print"?

I did look up Dipsas indica and yes...my photos show it as being (except for the brown)very similar to the snake pictured. I am not so confident about the head as none of my photos showed the heavy spotting that was there (poss. variation?). Still, without a clear view of the chin (to check for the mental groove) it is a closer match than the Surinam Sibon I had and it may well be the correct ID. This really is where better photos are called for.

Frank

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Greg longhurst, you are right im sorry it took so long it is a blunt headed tree snake imatodes whatever