Saving Snakes

Category: 4. Colubridae - TYPICAL SNAKES | Date: Dec 01 2007 | By: admin

Last night a guest at Elsa’s Kopje in Meru spotted this little Black Tiger Snake Telescopus dhara on a handrail at the lodge. Anton was called to identify it and put it in a snake bag until the following morning so as to get a photograph in better light. The snake was photographed this morning and released safely back into the bush.

You will notice the the snake in first picture below is orange. This is the snake described above. The snake second picture is black in colour and is also a Black Tiger Snake, but is an adult specimen photographed at Bio-Ken earlier this year. They are one of the few snake species we have in East Africa, that the juveniles differ in colour to that of the adults, so much so, that one would very easily think they are different species. The Black Tiger Snake is also known as the Large Eyed Snake.

To compound this the Eastern Tiger Snake Telescopus semiannulatus, a related species, is black and orange in colour, hence the common name. These retain their colour through to adult hood although along the North coast of Kenya the adults have slightly faded black bands. I should point out that our Tiger Snakes should not be confused with the Australian Tiger Snakes which are very poisonous Elapids. Our Tiger Snakes although venomous, are so mildly so, that even a bite from one produces no medical consequences whatsoever. We therefore treat them as harmless. The third photo below is a juvenile Eastern Tiger Snake.

Photo by Anthony Childs

Photo by Mike Dobiey

Photo by Anthony Childs

Technorati : Black Tiger Snake, Easter Tiger Snake, Large Eyed Snake, Telescopus dhara, Telescopus semiannulatus

Share This