Posted by Anne Katrine Leadholm on January 5, 2007

Q: Whiie on a diving vacation to Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi we found a light brown (with almost white underbelly), very skinny and roughly 18 in long snake with a triangular head wrapped around the bottom of a chair. No one could identify the snake with a name we could relate to and wouldnt say if it was poisonous or not. My family and I are very curious as to what type of snake this was! So if anyone could help us it would be great!

Habitat: suburban/yard

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: Oh my, identifying a snake in southeast Asia is not an easy task. There are about 450 different species of snakes in Indonesia but according to my research, only 5 are poisonous. From your photograph, I'm quite sure this is one of the whip or tree snakes but I don't know which one. Whip snakes live in trees and bushes and their long, thin body is well adapted for this arboreal life. One source did mention that at least one species is mildly venomous but I couldn't find any other reference to this. Does sound that they pose an extremely small threat to humans, if any at all! You might want to see if you can find a book on southeast Asian snakes and see if you can find a match. Check out this website for a photo of two species of whip snakes and a bit of info on them. Check out www.naturemalaysia.com

Sorry I can't nail this for you but hope I've got you much closer to what you want to know.

Hope this helps. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( January 5, 2007)