Snake Identification : Istanbul Turkey

alpha · 05-06-15, 09:14 AM

Hello all,

I am new to this place and hope to find useful information here.

Can someone please help me identify this snake ? I saw it in Istanbul Turkey.

Thanks

**Aaron_S** · 05-06-15, 10:02 AM

No clue. It's too far to really tell. The head LOOKS like a viper of sorts but it's so difficult to tell that I'm just making a random guess.

alpha · 05-08-15, 06:13 AM

i could not get a better picture as it just stopped for a little while and then ran away ...

alpha · 05-08-15, 06:26 AM

Here is a zoomed in picture , hope it helps ...

Albert Clark · 05-08-15, 05:20 PM

Definitely a viper! What locale were you in?

CrotalusR#1 · 05-08-15, 05:48 PM

Defiantly not a viper, the vipers in turkey are all pretty distinguishable from the non venomous. Looks like some sort of whip snake.

FWK · 05-08-15, 06:42 PM

Hello alpha! That's an interesting critter you've got there, I'm really not sure what it is but I do have some ideas. It doesn't look quite right to be a Viper to me either (the tail looks rather long and thin, the body to lean and the head is just weird lol) but I'm not willing to rule a Viper out just yet, you seem to be within the range of Macrovipera sp. and the picture is fuzzy enough that a specimen with a muted pattern could slip by. My initial thought was either the very common Dice Snake (Natrix tessellata) or, as CrotalusR#1 suggests, a Whip (possibly Hemorrhois nummifer?). If you could give us a bit more detail about the snake and where exactly it was found I'll look at it more in depth in a couple hours when I have more time. Would you describe as having smooth scales or rough (keeled)? Is the pupil round or elliptical like a cats eye? An elliptical eye does not necessarily mean it is a Viper. Roughly who long is it? What sort of habitat was it found near? Grassy fields, water, bushes, etc. Also, if it is possible, uploading the picture to a photo hosting site and linking it could help big time, this forum compresses photos far more than a photo hosting site will.

CrotalusR#1 · 05-08-15, 09:07 PM

If you take a look at the eyes in the pic you can tell there almost protruding out exactly like a garter snake dose, kinda hard to explain but any one here who has kept them will know exactly what I'm taking about and that is NOT somthing the native vipers share. That and along with what FWK said, very long tail, which is why I was thinking whiptail..

PatrickT · 05-09-15, 07:01 AM

You guys crack me up. Its natrix tesselata we also have them in germany but they are rare. Totally harmless. They live close to water, eats mostly fish and frogs. You guys need more knowledge about european snakes. Its totally harmless.

SnoopySnake · 05-09-15, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatrickT

You guys crack me up. Its natrix tesselata we also have them in germany but they are rare. Totally harmless. They live close to water, eats mostly fish and frogs. You guys need more knowledge about european snakes. Its totally harmless.

We need more knowledge about European snakes? Seriously? How much do you know about North American snakes?

I don't know what it is, and I'm not gonna take a guess without better pictures.

PatrickT · 05-09-15, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnoopySnake

We need more knowledge about European snakes? Seriously? How much do you know about North American snakes?

I don't know what it is, and I'm not gonna take a guess without better pictures.

I think i´m pretty good in north american snake species as well. I can distinguish crotallus, copperheads, thamnophis, coluber, pantherophis, lampropheltis and coral snakes pretty good.

Roman · 05-10-15, 04:24 PM

Patrick what’s wrong with you? Until this thread you seemed to be such a nice guy, but most of your statements here where arrogant and rude (and provoked the responses you got).

First of all, you were right, it is a dice snake Natrix tessellata.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatrickT

You guys need more knowledge about european snakes.

Why? This is an American (and Canadian) forum, so most users here are naturally interested in reptiles which are either living in this area or are available in the local pet trade. What kind of impact do you think have European snakes in the US pet market? Especially if you are lucky to get your hands on a captive breed European snake with all papers here in Europe. Even in Hamm (for you US guys the quarterly expo in Hamm/Germany claims to be the biggest Reptile expo in the world and it is at least the biggest expo in Europe) you have to be lucky to get more than Natrix natrix or Natrix tessellata, other local expos don’t have any European snakes most of the time.

I was surprised when I saw that CrotalusR#1 actually has a European viper in his collection, a Vipera ammodytes (Long-nosed Viper).

Your boast to be able to identify all these snakes only by a picture without any information of the locality where the picture was taken is optimistic to say the least. There are several rattlesnakes out there which even specialists would be hard pressed to identify only with a picture.

Quote:

Our education system in germany is one of best in the world and i had Leistungskurs Biologie.

Agreed, our educational system seems to have improved over the last years, but “one of the best in the world” ?? Seriously, even the latest PISA survey didn’t place us under the top 10 (we were 16th over all), so nothing to brag about. And what does having biology as your “Leistungskurs” has anything to do with your skills in identifying snakes? During my time (which is some time ago) there were no snakes mentioned during the two years at all. Even during the academic studies in biology there was only one day of practice identifying some European snakes.

Being direct has nothing to do with arrogance or rudeness, your English is good enough to be able to phrase anything you said without being offensive.

So Patrick, please be nice again. We are some sort of representatives for Germany here, so there is no place for this kind of behavior here, there are enough a…s who still think they are the best of the best – we don’t need this kind of arrogant crap.

Roman

PatrickT · 05-09-15, 08:40 AM

Its natrix tesselata. The eyes, head shape and coloration is a 100% hit.

The only other species that looks like this would be the closely Natrix maura. But Natrix maura lives in western europe. Both, Maura and tesselata live in germany, but are very rare. Tesselata is very common in greece, the entire balkan region and the istanbul region.

pet_snake_78 · 05-09-15, 09:26 AM

It's a king cobra

FWK · 05-09-15, 10:05 AM

I agree with you PatrickT, Natrix tessellata was my initial thought as well. But I have zero hands on experience with this species and if I'm not completely confident in my ID I'll say so. Given the low quality of the photo and my lack of familiarity with European species I was not confident. I also agree I need to learn more about European species, and I'm working on that. You have piqued my curiosity, if you'd care to demonstrate just how superior your ability to ID North American species is over my ability to ID European species I have some pictures for you to consider.