Viperine water snake

[Jools Blue]

We picked up a rescue the other day ( 2 yellow sliders) and when we arrived we were asked to take a snake as well.

It had been sold as a flower snake, the owner thought it was a royal rat snake - BOTH very wrong. we believe it is a viperine water snake and I heard on the grapevine there was someone here that keeps them, (possibly an admin) I was hoping to contact this person in the hope they could confirm our identification.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated

[ConcinusMan]

Looks like a rat snake to me. The head gives it away. Looks all wrong to be a natrix. This post belongs in "other pets" thread though. This section is for garter snake talk.

[snakehill]

OOPS!

[ConcinusMan]

Possibly Bogertophis ssp. ?? It looks a lot like the Baja CA rat snakes I used to find in San Diego. I'm not very good at rat snake I.D. but definitely has the right look for a rat snake. Could possibly be a hybrid.

[Jools Blue]

Initially said rat snake, but the eyes are very high on the head and after some research online finding nothing that matched the patterning, we went through our snake books (we have many) and found a picture and info about a small viperine that is a perfect match.

I've had plenty of rat snake exp, but none with the viperines.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Looks like a diadem snake to me which is a royal diadem rat snake.

[ConcinusMan]

I believe we have a winner there on the I.D.

we went through our snake books (we have many) and found a picture and info about a small viperine that is a perfect match.

As I was saying before, I don't think it looks anything like a viperine snake and the head shape/eye position screams "rat snake" to me. Maybe you were looking at a misidentified snake in the first place. Also, pattern is highly variable when it comes to rat snakes. It helps if you look at a lot of examples. Having done that, I think the I.D. is correct. (Spalerosophis diadema). Try doing a google image search for that species name and you will see a lot of pictures that look very much like your snake. Pattern of course, varies widely.

[snakehill]

Damn! Good call!!!!!!!!!!!

[RedSidedSPR]

Freaking right. Would have taken me a long time.