What kind of snake is this?

[Jozhua]

Hi all,

I'm new on this forum and don't know anything about snakes. On my trip to SA (I'm from Holland) I saw some snakes and got interested in them. Thanks to your forum I got some more information on them. However, I still have trouble to identify another snake that I saw in the Krugerpark. Can anyone tell me what kind of snake this? Maybe it is a cape wolf snake?

I've trouble uploading pictures to the forum so here's a link to my Picasa: https://plus.google.com/photos/105857655262900656267/albums/5943934445921016817

Thanks,
Josh

[Primogen]

I'm going to say its a Stiletto snake (Atractaspis bibroni).

[Jozhua]

Thanks a lot!

[Herald_23]

I second Primogen's reply- Stiletto snake

[fuscusV2]

Nice find!
Don't try handling the thing, it's not an easy snake to handle. They can be hot tempered and have a special trick where they slide one fang out the side of their mouth and pull back on their head to tag you. A bite from one is pretty nasty, though not deadly AFAIK.

[Tars]

These are beautiful snakes but very feisty with a PAINFUL bite, I should know, spent about a week in hospital and lost a finger after being bitten by one of them in the Thabazimbi area, first time in my life I got bit by a snake in the wild that I did not even try to catch, it came out of a log as I was making fire.

[Viper101]

Nice Stiletto ! yes they are dangerous, Tars did you really lose a finger?

[Tars]

Yes I did, well not the whole one but about 1 and a half segments of my middle finger, necrosis was very bad. Will post a pic when the switch on my pc.