# What nonvenomous snakes look like a venomous species?



## lizardminion (Aug 9, 2012)

Are there any species that are in the pet trade and are a mimic of venomous species? (but they aren't venomous) I know there are, but I just can't quite think of them on the top of my head...


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## pnshmntMMA (Aug 9, 2012)

lizardminion said:


> Are there any species that are in the pet trade and are a mimic of venomous species? (but they aren't venomous) I know there are, but I just can't quite think of them on the top of my head...


There's a coral snake lookalike. Can't remember it at the moment tho


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## Aviara (Aug 9, 2012)

Lampropeltis triangulum annulata, the Mexican milk snake, is a coral snake morph. As for non-venomous snakes that mimic the angry, slit-pupiled faces of most other venomous snakes, none come to mind. Some rat snakes will, however, mimic venomous snakes by flattening out their jaws. On multiple occasions I have seen my Texas rat snake flatten out its jaw in addition to vibrating its tail in imitation of rattlesnake species that share its natural range.


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## cmack91 (Aug 9, 2012)

What venomous snakes do you want to see a mimic of?


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## skar (Aug 9, 2012)

Do you mean completely non venomous, or can't really hurt you much non venomous ?


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## lizardminion (Aug 10, 2012)

Oh ding ding ding, Milk Snakes, that's what I was thinking of.oh:
My brain isn't working today at all. Moments like these...

I guess I'll make use of this thread and continue forth. Isn't there a relatively rare-in-the-hobby snake that mimics a coral snake? (In the human eye, it doesn't look like a coral snake at all, but rather a "fruit sherbet" snake... It has a sunset-colored gradient on its body.)
What snakes share the appearance of a viper?
Also, what booids are mimics?


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## Thistles (Aug 10, 2012)

lizardminion said:


> What snakes share the appearance of a viper?
> Also, what booids are mimics?


...Viper boas?


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## Scorpionidae (Aug 10, 2012)

False water cobras, hognose snakes, watersnakes...


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## Tarac (Aug 10, 2012)

Some king snakes.  The hognose mentioned before will sometimes dance like a cobra with neck flattened.  Several aquatic snakes that are patterened like juvie Agkistrodon and likewise a few rattler mimics.  It really depends on how closely you want a mimic, there are many that are loosely similar enough that it is discouraging to predators in the wild but maybe not that impressive to the human eye.

The coral snake does not have slit pupils, neither does a Boomslang or Mambas.  Boas do.  It's not a strict rule, just a general trend, so if you don't know a snake's identity don't use that character to decide if you should kiss it (though that rule does work in most of North America and Europe).  

The viper boa mentioned previously is a pretty cool look alike.  I have a friend with a pair, they're pretty nasty temperament but I'm not sure if that's normal or because these aren't handled much.  But many green, arboreal species of snake will resemble venomous tropical species (like a mamba) and for that matter so would a gray-black.  It really depends on what you are going for- a black racer is not that different looking than a black Mamba frankly- long, slender, gray.


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## Shrike (Aug 10, 2012)

Tarac said:


> The hognose mentioned before will sometimes dance like a cobra with neck flattened.


Hognose snakes can flatten their necks to some extent but I don't really think their threat display is similar to a cobra's.  This isn't mimicry.  The hognose snake is simply trying to present a larger, more intimidating target to predators.  Many snakes do this.



Tarac said:


> a black racer is not that different looking than a black Mamba frankly- long, slender, gray.


Likewise, this isn't mimicry.  The whole point of mimicry is to fool potential predators/prey into thinking you're something you're not.  That something needs to live where you do in order for this evolutionary trick to make any sense.


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## Tarac (Aug 10, 2012)

No, none of those are classical mimicry of course.  It's a matter of why the OP is looking for a "mimic"- something that just looks like a venomous snake because they want the appearance without the punch or something that really is a mimic in the classical sense, i.e. Batesian, as a talking point or something.

In this area, it's only some of the king snakes and some of the aquatics that are modeled after the Agkistrodon complex and even those are unclear.  Many of the species once considered Batesian mimics have been re-classified since the advent of better genotyping.  Hard to claim something is a Batesian mimic if the trait evolved in the so-called mimic first, right?  



Shrike said:


> Likewise, this isn't mimicry.  The whole point of mimicry is to fool potential predators/prey into thinking you're something you're not.  That something needs to live where you do in order for this evolutionary trick to make any sense.


Sure, you have to take into consideration allopatry- why evolve a mimic if the model and its predators don't overlap with the "mimic" at all historically.  This is the case with the vast majority of so-called mimics, which has only been brought to light recently with the aforementioned advent of fast and more sophisticated molecular techniques.  Usually just plain old, ordinary aposematism.  

I took this post to mean the OP wanted a snake that "looked dangerous."  I guess I should've clarified but we were already getting non-true mimics and the syntax of the original post being considered... so I assumed that it was the "look" not the evolutionary dynamic they were interested in.


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## Low (Aug 10, 2012)

Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides

As far as I know this is the closest "mimic" to the coral snake.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk


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## Najakeeper (Aug 10, 2012)

​


Thistles said:


> ...Viper boas?


Candoia asper are decent Death Adder mimics, here is an example:

http://www.scserp.com/SCSPhotoGalleryBoasFullSizeImages/ViperBoa001.JPG

Real PNG Death Adder, was one of my own actually:

http://www.venomousreptiles.org/data/classifieds/images/27449.jpg


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## groovyspider (Aug 10, 2012)

african house snakes have the vertical pupils similiar to vipers none venomous and have personality


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## lizardminion (Aug 10, 2012)

What I was inferring by mimic is not behavioral, but physically appearing.


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## The Snark (Aug 10, 2012)

I can't think of the name (But I'm sure somebody here will remember it). A snake around S.E. Asia that looks a lot like the green tree viper. (From a distance, anyway.) ??


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## Scorpionidae (Aug 10, 2012)

The Snark said:


> I can't think of the name (But I'm sure somebody here will remember it). A snake around S.E. Asia that looks a lot like the green tree viper. (From a distance, anyway.) ??


_Ahaetulla prasina_


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## The Snark (Aug 10, 2012)

Scorpionidae said:


> _Ahaetulla prasina_


 Dats the puppy. You see a bright green snake in a bush or tree and can't quite see the head, it's probably one of the two. Those ruby eyes are the give away.


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## pouchedrat (Aug 12, 2012)

Egg eaters look and act like vipers


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## Tarac (Aug 12, 2012)

lizardminion said:


> What I was inferring by mimic is not behavioral, but physically appearing.


But do you mean a true mimic, i.e. an animal that evolved the look because it had an advantageous model or any snake that you can get that looks like a venomous snake anywhere out there.  There is a distinction between a true mimic and a look-a-like.  There are lots of look-a-like examples but fewer true mimics.


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