Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What are these snakes?

ciao
nazzza

My guess:

Elaphe quatuorlineata
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

They are Z. lineatus, for the pattern they should seem quatuorlineata, but the head and the body are of longissima. Before was considered a ssp of longissimus(E. l. romana) now is a sp.
There are some longissimus that have lines as lineata, but the most evident difference is that longissima have brown eyes, while lineata red. Where I live there is the border beetween their range, so here they should choabit; snakes in pics are definitely lineata, they are from sicily
ciao
nazzza

>>They are Z. lineatus, for the pattern they should seem quatuorlineata, but the head and the body are of longissima.

I did not even consider Z. lineata. As soon as I saw Herman's guess I knew I was wrong.

The head shot did confuse me. But it was 4:30 in the morning and I had not gotten nearly enough sleep.

Thanks for the pictures and good luck with the snake.

Do you still have the same e-mail address as last year? I have not written you in a long time.

Zamenis lineata?

Yes it is,
Zamenis lineatus!
I hope to breed them this year, seem impossible to find cb specimen

Congrats! You are one of very few people I know of who keep this species. I sure would like to get some of your offspring, should you ever breed your specimens (propabely not too complicated, like Zamenis longissimus).

Do you live in Europe, Italy perhaps?

I live in south Italy
regards
nazzza

I haven't kept up with ratsnake taxonomy so I wouldn't have been able to name them, but they are really a pretty green. Any pics of juveniles?

They almost look like dark Senticollis with stripes.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

I hope to have pics of juvenils next year

Are they from Eastern Europe or is there another similar species?? I just saw a snake for sale locally called "Four line Ratsnake(From Bulgaria)". Thanks for any additional info......
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Lloyd Heilbrunn

Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

Lloyd,

I think the similar species you are referring to is Elaphe quatuorlineata, the species I guessed originally. I have heard it called Four-Lined Ratsnake and Bulgarian Ratsnake. I think it has a much larger range than Bulgaria, though, so maybe the commonly available form was derived from Bulgarian stock?? Just a guess.

At any rate, I'm sure that's what you saw locally.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

E. quatuorlineata as a big range, here isn't uncommon in central and south Italy, but the range is Southwestern Europe up to southwestern Asia; Zamenis lineatus range is little, inly south Italy and Sicily
here there are some pics from www.herp.it, there you can find pics of all european reptiles and amphibians

juvenile pattern