Snakes of Romania

[Kaali]

Hi guys, today i want to talk about of snakes of Romania (my motherland), this will be a really quick and short guide of snake species, i won't go deeper into descriptions, i will list them maybe i will go deeper in further posts. The country’s habitats are so varied from the high Carpathians, to deep gorges, limestone massifs to dry steps and the mighty Danube ending in the Black Sea but not before forming the Danube Delta. Herpetofauna of Romania is characterised by a mixture of southern, Balkan species, many central European ones and a number of endemic taxa even though i will talk mainly about snakes. 10 species of snakes (șarpe, plural șerpi) are present in Romania but only 3 species are venomous (Ursini's Viper, Nose-horned Viper and Common European Adder).

• Javelin sand boa (Eryx jaculus turcicus), in September 2014 the snake has been rediscovered in Romania near the Danube after being extinct in Romania since 1937 when the last specimen was seen near Cochirleni: http://wilderness-society.org/javeli...ed-in-romania/
• Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca austriaca)
• Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) is a common species of whipsnake found in the Balkans and parts of Eastern Europe. This species was previously assumed extinct in Moldavia (eastern Romania, southern Ukraine and western Moldova), where it was only known from two sites and not observed since 1937. Three specimens were collected in May 2007 in Galați County, somewhat dispelling this belief. Though it is known to be common in the Dobrudja area, knowledge of its distribution in other areas is poor. It is believed to be very rare in these parts and may also be highly threatened. National legislation has declared D. caspius to be "a species of community interest" and thus must be strictly protected.
• Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus longissimus), this snake covers most of France except in the north, the Spanish Pyrenees and the eastern side of the Spanish northern coast, Italy (except the south and Sicily), all of the Balkan peninsula down to Greece and Asia Minor and parts of Central and Eastern Europe.
• Blotched snake (Elaphe sauromates) is a nonvenomous snake found in Eastern Europe. It grows up to 260 cm (102,36 inches) in length but the medium is 120 (47,24 inches) to 160 cm (63 inches). It is one of the largest European snakes.
• Grass snake (Natrix natrix) in my country it is called sarpe de casa (literally, "home snake"). In the Filiaşi area, the snake can be about 1m long, and it is not regarded as a bad snake, but lives near houses and eats mice, birds, milk, fish etc. This is the only kind of snake that occurs in Oltenia. In the east side of country, (Dobrogea) the so called sarpele casei is very important. No one kills this snake because it is considered as a protector of the house, a help against mice and insects. In the Danube delta, they are very big and strong and they eat a lot of fish.
• Dice snake (Natrix tessellata) curiously one of the most numerous populations lives in the vicinity of the ruins of Histria, in the Dobrogea region, Romania. This population has been recently discovered to be threatened by a parasitic nematode of the Eustrongylides genus. I suggest this study about gender differences in dice snakes of Histria and Southeast Romania: http://www.slu.se/PageFiles/6123/K%C...rtensiella.pdf
• Ursini's viper (Vipera ursinii) we have three subspecies of Ursini's viper: Danubian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis), Moldavian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii moldavica) and Renard's viper (Vipera [ursinii] renardi). This species is considered to be a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, due to habitat destruction caused by changes in agricultural practices and climate change in mountain areas, and to collection for the pet trade and due to this, this species is the most threatened snake in Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life...158_LAYMAN.pdf
• Common european adder (Vipera berus) is the viper species with the widest range, both in Europe and in Romania, being found from Great Britain, in the west to Sakhalin Island on the Pacific Coast, in the east and from northern Sweden to the Balkan Peninsula. In Romania there are three subspecies of V. berus: Vipera berus berus, Nikolsky’s viper (Vipera berus nikolskii)and Vipera berus bosniensis.
• Nose-hornerd viper (Vipera ammodytes), two subspecies are found in Romania: Transdanubian sand viper (Vipera ammodytes montandoni) found in Bulgaria and South Romania and Western sand viper (Vipera ammodytes ammodytes), the former lives in the South-West-Banat Mountains, Oltenia, Hateg County and the South of Apuseni Mountains, while the latter has a more restricted geographic range, being present in some habitats of the continental Dobruja. This species is the largest viper in Romania, reaching a maximum length of 90 cm (35,43 inches). Females are larger than males. Morphologically speaking it has a triangular, large head, distinctly separated from the neck. The sharp snout has a soft nasal horn, covered by two, three or four rows of transversal scales between the rostral and the apex. This is the main feature distinguishing the Sand Viper from the other vipers in Romania. What mainly differentiates V. a. ammodytes and V. a. montandoni is the rapport between the length and the width of the rostral (higher than both the one of V. a. ammodytes and V. a. montandoni) and the tail tip color (orange red for V. a. ammodytes and green for V. a. montandoni).

[Reinz]

Thank you for the education on those snakes across the pond from us. I found it interesting, especially the thought to be extinct Javelin Sand Boa! That is so cool that the snake has been rediscovered.

[Slim]

The Grass Snake seems quite interesting. Does anyone in Europe keep them as pets?

[Kaali]

Thank you. Grass snakes can be bred but you can't take them from wild since they are protected by law and it can be extremely difficult to persuade wild caught Natrix natrix to take dead food such as frozen mice that are available commercially. However in the Netherlands keeping (or disturbing) the grass snake is forbidden, in Germany you can keep them when you have some kind of prove that it was born in captivity, in England, grass snakes are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and cannot be harmed or traded without a licence, although they may legally be captured and kept in captivity. I sincerely don't know for Romania, in Italy, where i live, it is forbidden to keep/catch wild individuals, if you find a grass snake you have to let it where it belongs or release it if you decide to keep as pet because you break law.