Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found this in my garden in Malaysia. My place is in the vicinity of a rainforest. It's about 12 inches long, has a off-white belly. The closest species I've found is the indo-chinese rat snake from

http://www.ecologyasia.com/FOW_Pages/singapore-snakes.htm

I've been reading up on herp and found a lot of useful articles so far from this site. I haven't found any place here that sells frozen rats/mice, so I'll be buying worms and mini frogs from the pet stores nearby. Meantime, I'm keeping it in a plastic box with an ashtray of water.

Any further suggestion/advice is appreciated.

Although I can't identify the snake or tell you that i have any extensive knowledge about them, i think the first thing you need to do is try and find out if it is a Juvenile or an adult.

From what people have told me here is that wild caught snakes are
not very good in captivity especially if they are adults.
From what I have gathered it is o.k if they are hatchlings because they will be brought up in captivity.

Maybe you should check this out first and then decide what you want to do, and remember it is not going to be enough just to feed it, you will need to have the correct environment set up for it too.

Thanks for the advice. How do I go about checking whether it's juvenile or adult? As I mentioned earlier on, I think it comes from a wet environment. When I found it, its body was wet.

...probably Lycodon caprincus. grows to 76 cm. Eats geccos, frogs and other lizards, (harmless).

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

I read up on Australian Snakes. The Keelback Freshwater Snake & the Macleay's Water Snake have a close resemblance to this one. I checked on it last night to find half its length immersed in the water dish. It likes water. The mentioned snakes eat geckos, frogs, toads, tadpoles, and fish. Here's another picture, badly taken, not in focus. I will try to post a better pic next time.

The size will indicate it's maturity though from your photo i would think it is an adult 9the pattern would likely be bolder on a young specimen.

Information about this snake is easy to obtain. Just look in any book on snakes of Malasia and you will find it. Or put the name in your google search engine and you will probably turn up lots about it there. They are by no means an uncommon snake.

No it is not a watersnake. It does hunt though, around water. Think moist forrest floor and you are there.

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