Snakes ‘N’ Adders
Intermediate Series
Episode 20: Mandarin Rat Snake
(Euprepiophis mandarinus)

First described as Coluber mandarinus by Theodore Edward Cantor in 1842.

Cantor was a Danish physician, Zoologist & Botanist. Cantor worked for the British East India Company and collected animals whilst on expedition particularly from Penang & Malacca in Malaysia.

He was the first to describe many species of reptile & Amphibian including:

1836

Ophiophagus Hannah (King Cobra or Hamadryad)

1839

Bungarus bungaroides (North Eastern Hill Krait)

Bungarus lividus (Lesser Black Krait)

Oligodon albocinctus (Light barred Kukri Snake)

Oreocryptophis porphyracea (Bamboo Rat Snakes)

Pareas monticola (Common Slug Eating Snake)

Trimeresurus erythrurus (Red Tailed Bamboo Pit Viper)

1842

Oocatachus rufordoratus (Red Backed Rat Snake)

Naja atra (Chinese Cobra)

Ptyas dhumnades (Cantor’s Rat Snake)

1847

Lycodon effraenis (Wolf Snake)

Plus he also described a number of fishes and seahorses.

The genus Cantoria was named in his honour as were:

Pelochelys cantorii – Cantor’s Giant Softshell

Trimeresurus cantorii – Cantor’s Pit Viper

Taxonomic history is as follows:

Coluber mandarinus – Cantor 1842

Coluber mandarinus – Boulenger 1894

Ablabes pavo – Annandale 1912

Elaphe mandarinus – Stejneger 1925

This is the first time we see the use of Elaphe which for a long time was a huge melting pot of Rat Snake species.

Elaphe was first used by Johann George Wagler in 1833 (Of Wagler’s Pit Viper fame)

Elaphe takasago – Takahashi 1930

Holachus roulei – Angel & Bourret 1933

Elaphe mandarina – Smith 1943

Elaphe mandarinus – Fleck 1985

Elaphe mandarina – Das 1996

Elaphe mandarina – Schultz 1996

Euprepiophis mandarinus – Utiger 2002

This is the first time we see its current taxonomic name.

Euprepiophis was first used by Leopold Fitzinger in 1843.

Euprepiophis mandarinus – Gumprecht 2003

Euprepiophis mandarina – Zhao 2006

Euprepiophis mandarinus – Chen 2013, Pyron & Burbink 2013 and finally Wallach in 2014.

Natural distribution of the species is widespread and includes:

Extreme North Eastern India past Bhutan and Bangladesh

Arunchal Pradesh, Mizram & Nagaland Regions

Northern Myanmar (Burma)

Laos

Northern Vietnam

Hoa Binh region

Taiwan

Which came as a surprise, having looked at the weather data I assumed it would be too warm.

Southern China Westward to Tibet.

Shaanxi

Chehiang

Fujian

Guangdong

Kweichow

Sichuan

& South through to Beijing.

Type locality is given as:

China Zhejiang, Chusan Island (Cantor 1842)

Weather data for this species can be misleading. The data is collected from airstrips usually located in warmer more sheltered flat valley floors and basins. Mandarin Rat Snakes are mountain side snakes in cloud forests at mid to high elevations.  Regardless, data from Hangzhou Airport 212km away from type locality region.

Hot season: JunSept (2834 c) DTH

(2125 c) NTL

Cool season: Nov – Feb (811 c) DTH

(29 c) NTL

Wet Season: Mar Aug (76142mm)

Dry Season: Oct – Dec (2838mm)

Whilst we are not necessarily going to follow these to the letter it does afford us a shap shot of seasonal shifts. Day to day in captivity upper DTH is around 26 Celsius. This is reflective of the elevations this species is found at.

Historically, this is somewhat of a mythical mystical snake, impossibly beautiful and equally impossible to keep alive. This and the 100 Flower Rat Snake Orthriophis moellendorfii were at the top of many 80’s and 90’s keepers wish lists

Wild collected animals were teeming with parasites, were usually very badly dehydrated, suffering with infections and stress. Even in experienced hands these animals would quickly perish.

too quick to treat

fussed them too much

kept them too warm

Keepers also failed to understand the inefficacy of antibiotics at lower temperatures. Most drugs formulated for 37 Celsius blood.

Because of the above they were written off as impossible, advanced and a waste of time.

Fast forward 25 years and thanks to some early keepers dedication they are now captive bred in very respectable numbers. Some animals are 3rd, 4th, 5th generation captive bred. These babies are posing very few of the original problems.

They are still kept cool and secluded but for the most part they make ready feeders. Their metabolism is somewhat slower than other rat snakes and they will never feed or growth with the speed of a Corn Snake. They simply are not hot enough to digest it quick enough.

Take longer to mature than other snakes as well as a result.

Trick is not to rush them, allow them to come on at their own rate.

Size can vary from Locale to locale – anything from 3ft to 4ft in adult length. Animals from China are known to be larger locales.

Vivarium should be 36x18x18 approx.

Basking temperatures should be 26 Celsius during the day reducing to 20 Celsius at night. It is imperative it has thermostatic control to avoid overheating.