Please ID this snake

Please ID this snake

Postby Manonafarm » Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:16 pm

Hi there. I work on a farm down on the south coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, so I have had the opportunity of spotting many of our scaly friends. I have seen black mambas, green mambas, boomslange, twig snakes, spotted bush snakes, redlip heralds, puff adders, night adders, cobras, the humble brown house snake, even the giant of the lot the african rock python. However my friend who works on the same farm as myself caught a snake recently that i can't quite identify. Please help me out, if i see the snake again i would like to know if it is safe to handle or if i must leave it alone. The snake was very placid in my friends hands which is a first for me because most snakes I have seen tend to try to get away, gape their mouths, or strike at us. I have added the pics to this topic please let me know what you think.
Thanks.
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Re: Please ID this snake

Postby Westley Price » Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:46 am

Looks like a Boomslang to me.

The problem with IDing Boomslang for the novice is that peple expect a green snake, but Boomslang are actually often olive brown (like this one), brown, green freckled, almost black, so there are a variety of colours around.

Looks like he didnt kill it, so well done for that!
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
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Westley Price
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Re: Please ID this snake

Postby Bushviper » Wed Apr 15, 2015 12:24 pm

Yip that is a Boomslang. They dont like it when you catch them by the neck.
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Re: Please ID this snake

Postby Manonafarm » Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:35 pm

Thanks for the ID, my friend likes snakes and frowns upon the killing of snakes. He would rather catch the snake and move if to a different location if possible. Unfortunately he doesn't always get to the scene in time as the staff are all terrified of them and generally will kill them if we don't stop them.
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