"False King Cobra"?

I was at a reptile show about a month ago, and I've been meaning to ask about this snake.

I saw a very tiny snake, maybe 10 inches long, it looked like a baby black rat snake, it was for sale for very cheap... I think maybe 25 dollars. But the tubs they were in were not labeled. So I asked the vendor, what are these young snakes and he said that they are False King Cobras. He went on telling me that these are hatchlings and that they can grow up to 11 feet long and they're indeed ratsnakes and they can hood sideways like a False water cobra. And that the babies he had were the only captive born False Kings in the world, because they are rare and they have awful personalities when found in the wild. He said his buddy owned the mating pair that produced the young, and that the parents were wild caught and very "pissy" as he put it. He also said that when they are older, they look exactly like a King Cobra. I think I recall myself giving a sceptical look.
But he reassured me that the snakes he had were indeed False king cobras.
But if they were a large, rare, colubrid, wouldn't they be more money? Especially for hatchlings? That's not my point really.... my point, or rather, question, is whether or not these snakes are real. Is there a such thing as a False King Cobra?

I would be highly skeptical... I have never heard of False King Cobras (although that doesn't mean much :P).
I would assume that those are probably False Water Cobras....

Found this through Google: http://board.reptilechannel.com/Topi....aspx#bm176172

I looked on the JHReptiles site.....
I don't even know where to begin.... lol. It's rather sad that there are people spreading lies about reptiles... and making people who own and care for reptiles look like bumbling idoits. The prices for some of their snakes are either grossly over-priced or amazingly under-priced. This person clearly has no idea about reptiles and should not EVER have the right to sell them. He's probably a flipper, and a VERY uneducated one at that!
Ironically.... I believe that is the vendor I was talking to... but I may be wrong... they had no venomous species for sale... except for some rear-fanged colubrids.
UGH this has me all worked up... I can't even think straight or make a valid sentance lol

Hmm...
now that I took a closer look........
this may be not only the vendor I talked to, but the same one I bought my Indonesian Garter snake from...... (not from online, but from the show we were both at)
But honestly, it's only a hunch...

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Originally Posted by valhalha30

Ironically.... I believe that is the vendor I was talking to... but I may be wrong... they had no venomous species for sale... except for some rear-fanged colubrids.

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No venomous, but plenty of "venemous" species! Depending on the show, venomous might not have been permitted, or the vendor might just have chosen not to bring them. Not definitive, just saying it doesn't rule out them being the same person.

No, the show I was at had plenty of venomous er... venemous species. They're allowedt there... which I like, since I like looking at hots.
I'd buy a "weak" venomed snake, or a rear-fanged colubrid...
Anyways....
The list of species is very similar... but I can't be all that certain since there isn't a picture of the guy I saw at the show on thier page.
DANG, I wish I would've grabbed a buisness card from him.

If this IS indeed the guy I was dealing with and bought a snake from, I must at least say that all his animals (that were at the show) are healthy.
They are all well fed and well kept, and he's a pretty kind person. I've heard him talk to other buyers in person, and he's fairly knowledgable and accurate about his animals. I don't have any complaints about the guy.... but... I may be talking about a completely different person, and not the person in question (the website person).
Either way, there are too many coincidences, and I don't believe in coincidences... so... I'm not going to let this off easy.
Next time I'm at that show, I'll see if it is that guy, and if he's the same guy as the one in the website, I'll give him a "report card" on here...
Still, the guy at the show I was at HAD "False King Cobras"... he called them something else too though... maybe Indonesian Ratsnakes, or something like that... but for the life of me I can't remember. :mad:

If anyone tried to sell me a "rare" snake for $25 I would probably run.

If anyone tried to sell me a false king cobra id probably run..... Someone needs to change this crap with common names, especially at conventions and we need to start using scientific names, this would help eliminate some confusion...

He has an add on fauna with the taxonomic name listed as Ptyas mucosus. Heres a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptyas_mucosa

P. Mucosa are claimed king cobra mimics - but having seen both animals, I'd chuckle at the comparison.

What they are, however, are prey for O. Hannah.

Well, at least it's a real animal... and not some make-believe species....
It's kinda pretty, in my oppinion at least.
I do agree that the common name and scientific name should be written on the containers of all the herps at a reptile show so no confusion is had when making a purchase.
Turns out that JHReptiles is on the vender list at the reptile show I frequent... and is more than likely the guy I talked to.
I'm a little wary of his legitamacy... but I found nothing to complain about when dealing with him in person. Tread with caution

Was at a very reputable reptile shop and the guy had 3 baby "false cobras". (These were definately NOT baby falseys, I have an FWC.) He said they get huge, and ultimately look just like a King including the hooding.
He wanted $300.00 each, said they were incredibly hard to find, maybe one clutch a year from his source and the usual "we may never see these again, yadda yadda".

Did not indicate if rear-fanged or not. If I had the cash, I may have bought one.

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Originally Posted by mackynz

If anyone tried to sell me a "rare" snake for $25 I would probably run.

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I second that.......

Yea, a rare snake for $25 isn't going to happen. Simple translation for rare = $$$.

Common names are basically useless. And I would personally never even consider buying from a business that
a) can't spell venomous lol
B) uses a hotmail account for their email. I mean really how unprofessional, not to mention untraceable.

well, idk if it's just a coincidence or not.... but he didn't go the the next reptile show in my city after my original post.....
I don't think I've seen him there at all since then...... but then again, I wasn't exactly focused on whether or not he was there, I was more focused on what neat little critters were at the show lol.

Once again, I'll say this much, when I was talking with him, he was really kind and offered all the information he knew about whatever I asked about... he even told me to look up care sheets online to get more info.....

I have seen these false king cobras at other vendor's tables with a higher pricetag (50 for smaller ones-75 for bigger ones) idk.... just all seems too odd to me. Maybe they can sucker some poor chap into buying it... but I'm just staying away from people with cheap "rare" reptiles....

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Originally Posted by Neal

Yea, a rare snake for $25 isn't going to happen. Simple translation for rare = $$$.

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Just because it's "rare" doesn't mean it's expensive. I have seen plenty of "rare" animals that are uncommon simply because they are not highly sought after. Rare doesn't translate to high dollar 100% of the time.

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Originally Posted by jason_ladouceur

Common names are basically useless. And I would personally never even consider buying from a business that
a) can't spell venomous lol
B) uses a hotmail account for their email. I mean really how unprofessional, not to mention untraceable.

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What's wrong with using a hotmail account. Just because somebody doesn't do it the way you want it to be done doesn't mean they are a bad person. I use a yahoo account. Know why? Because that's the one I have used for 10 years and it's simple and convenient for me to check everything in one place. I get replies out faster because it's all in one place. Doesn't mean I'm a bad guy looking to be shady.