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Snake ID question

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ORIGINAL POST
Posted by neko2007 18 yrs ago
My friend and I were out hiking in WanChai Gap today and came across a snake but can not find it with an online search. Wondering if anyone could assist.


It was around a meter long, red neck around 10 cm or so and body was a dark green, quite slender. I have found a reference to Natrix subminiata (Cantor's rat snake; Red-necked Keelback) that sounded similar, but the photos I saw were not. The skin was solid colour, so solid red blending to solid green. It went into a hole in the bank to escape.


Thank you for any assistance you may be able to provide.


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COMMENTS
hortons 18 yrs ago
Dont know whether this will help but try...


http://www.hkras.org/eng/

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neko2007 18 yrs ago
Thanks. We used list of snakes to check on google, but nothing so far. Wondering if we found a new species in HK :-0


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2006 18 yrs ago
It was Rhabdophis Subminiatus, aka the red-necked keelback. Quite common in HK. Rear-fanged and mildly venomous. Often gets stuck in catchwaters (they eat frogs), as you can see at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael-hansen/290129342/

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hkkm 18 yrs ago
The AFCD has a great web site for identifying all kinds of wildlife in HK at:

http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/conservation/hkbiodiversity/hkbiodiversity.html

They have photos of most of the living creatures in HK, including some nice ones of the red-necked keelback.

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neko2007 18 yrs ago
Those photos are much better than the ones I saw elsewhere of the same snake, which had led me to keep looking for a while longer. But that is the snake we saw.


Thanks for the help.


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bontheka 18 yrs ago
Since we're on the subject of snakes, a baby snake was found swimming in our residential pool. I didn't see it personally but a picture of it was put up in the lift. It seems to have a golden/yellow head and body is bands of yellow and black. Anyone knows what type that might be? I've seen photos of snakes on some of the above mentioned websites but can't seem to find it.

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2006 18 yrs ago
bontheka, was the one in the pool a vivid yellow? If so, it might be this krait, which is very common in HK (not one I would fancy in my pool, btw - more venomous drop for drop than any cobra):

http://worldwidefauna.com/popup_image.php?pID=995

But I doubt it, as it is not a "baby" snake (unless it was a newly hatched juvenile - unlikely in Feb); and it is usually inactive by day. But are the colours right? - If so we could narrow the field.

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bontheka 18 yrs ago
The colours on the body are right but the head doesn't have any black on it unless that's common in the baby kraits. Are there black and yellow coloured bamboo snakes cause the ones I've seen on the internet are all green in colour?

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