Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi everyone,

i know i am always troubling you with identifying the snakes i get here in syria. every time i post a question, i get a definitive answer. it is so impressive.

i got the following wild caught snake which is supposedly venomous. i would appreciate help in terms of feeding and housing requirements, do i need a UV lamp, a heat lamp? would a substrate of newspapers be adequate?

i took these photos using a mobile phone and they may not be very clear.

thanks everyone.

bishr

here is another photo.

one more image

>>one more image
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Chris Harrison

due to picture quality but i think it resembles Vipera albicornuta,

However I may be wrong,

Scott Eipper

This is a colubrid snake which has venom glands (like most, and has been reported to cause some mild symptoms of envenoming (swollen hands etc.), but nothing too serious. They do a pretty good mimicry act of Daboia palaestinae (Palestine viper).

Don't know much about their husbandry requirements, but now that we have a species ID, you should be able to find more info.

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

>>This is a colubrid snake which has venom glands (like most, and has been reported to cause some mild symptoms of envenoming (swollen hands etc.), but nothing too serious. They do a pretty good mimicry act of Daboia palaestinae (Palestine viper).
>>
>>Don't know much about their husbandry requirements, but now that we have a species ID, you should be able to find more info.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>WW
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>> WW Home
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Chris Harrison

thanks a million for all the help. i will look into care information now that i have an ID. i will get much better photos of it using a decent digital camera instead of the low-quality mobile-phone camera.

again thanks to everyone.

Telescopus does not have head markings like that (at least what I have seen).

However, Coluber mummifer is very similar to the snake you have there. The is a photo in the Jordan book that shows a specimen from As Salt that looks right on.

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

I had meant to put the ID in the subject line, but it obviously dropped out - this is definitely Coluber nummifer, not Telescopus dhara - sorry for any confusion.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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