Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On my trip to South Africa I encountered this little snake. Now that I'm back home I'm wondering what it is exactly.

I saw it at an Ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. That area (little Karoo) is a semi-arid desert. The length of the snake was about 30-50cm (rough estimate). That's all I can tell you. The attached image is the only pictur I took.

Can you tell what it is?

Thanks in advance,

Karel Narie

My guess ( and it is a guess) would be a unusual morph of the herald snake. Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia.

While usually darker and with white speckles, there is a dark headed olive/grey morph

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

I agree, it looks like a Herald Snake to me as well. They are supposed to be quite common.
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Chris Harrison

I'll third the consensus. I was tempted to say Crotaphopeltis yesterday, but held back. Good to see others have the same opinion.
~~Greg~~

Well, three times confirmed, I'm convinced it is a Herald snake. I also looked around on the internet and found another picture of a herald snake that looks a lot like mine.(http://zoo.upe.ac.za/Grysbok/therps.htm)

So... thanks a lot for your help, and all the best

Karel Narie