Clifford’s

diadem snake

Francis Cosquieri has long been a passionate admirer of Clifford’s diadem snakes (Spalerosophis diadema cliffordii).

We catch up with Francis to get the big picture on these little known and often under-appreciated animals.

A note on species and subspecies from Francis:

There are two North African and Middle Eastern genera called ‘diadem snakes’ - the small, sand-swimming Lytorhynchus diadema, which is also called the awl-headed snake or crowned leaf-nosed snake; and snakes of the genus Spalerosophis.

While I keep both Lytorhynchus and Spalerosophis, it is the latter genus this article is concerned with: Spalerosophis.

Currently either six or seven species of Spalerosophis are recognised, depending upon the author:

Spalerosophis arenarius (red-spotted diadem snake)
Spalerosophis atriceps (royal diadem snake)
Spalerosophis diadema (diadem snake)
Spalerosophis dolichospilus (Werner’s diadem snake/ moghrabin diadem snake)
Spalerosophis josephscortecci (Scortecci’s diadem snake)
Spalerosophis microlepis (Jan’s diadem snake/ zebra snake)
Spalerosophis schirazianus (Persian diadem snake) – only by some authors

At time of writing only two of these species are present in the reptile hobby in any numbers - S. diadema and S. atriceps. By far the most commonly encountered diadem snakes in the pet trade are those imported from Egypt, which fall under Clifford’s diadem snake, Spalerosophis diadema cliffordii and it is this subspecies that I keep and which this article is concerned with – although the care advice should apply equally to other members of the genus.

Diadem snakes have always had a rather low-key presence in the hobby. They have been present for many decades and are to be found even in quite ancient books on snake keeping, where they have often erroneously been labelled ‘diadem rat snakes.’ In fact they are rather more closely related to whip snakes and racers such as Hemorrhois spp (to which they can bear a passing resemblance) than to true rat snakes.

Sadly, snakes of this genus have never quite ‘taken off’ in any way - they have always been present on the fringe of the hobby, even the more sought after and attractive Royal diadem snake (Spalerosophis atriceps) with its eye-catching black and orange coloration.

The reasons for this appear to be twofold. Firstly, most members of the genus tend to be generically nondescript and boring in coloration at first glance - usually some shade of brown or beige; nothing that really catches the attention of the would-be keeper. Secondly, and an even graver nail in their proverbial coffin; they are known to be irascible, defensive and unhesitating in their willingness to bite. And, when disturbed, they won’t hesitate to advertise this with some of the longest, loudest hissing you will ever hear a snake this small utter - which in itself may be enough to discourage the more frail-hearted snake aficionado. To summarise; they are THE archetypal ‘grumpy brown snake.’

While all this may be true, and certainly worth bearing into consideration for the prospective keeper unused to dealing with defensive snakes that don’t have the ‘puppy dog tame’ personality of most Corn snakes and Royal pythons, it is not the whole story.

Diadem snakes, in spite of their supposed shortcomings, are exceptionally hardy in captivity and very willing feeders on rodents - which means that although they won’t fail to inform you of their dislike toward you whenever you are near, they will grudgingly make sure to eat well and keep themselves healthy so they can continue to make you aware that their grudge against you burns as bright as ever and they have no intention of relinquishing it.

If treated with patience as what they are - snakes to be watched and enjoyed from afar rather than handled - then keepers of a less nervous disposition that like a snake with a bit of attitude and character, and who can appreciate the subtle beauty amidst the various shades of brown, beige, sandy yellow and apricot these snakes possess, will find Diadem snakes can make fantastic and extremely hardy ‘beginner to intermediate’ level pets that will live a long time in captivity.

Species profile

COMMON NAMES

Blotched diadem snake
Blotched royal snake
SCIENTIFIC NAME

Spalerosophis diadema cliffordii
ORIGIN

North Africa
Middle East
HABITAT

Desert and semi-desert
SIZE

Adults can reach 1.8m or 6’
DIET

Gerbils
Birds
Lizards
LONGEVITY

Can exceed 20 years
EGGS

5–21 eggs per clutch
IUCN REDLIST STATUS

Least Concern

Appearance

As a genus, Spalerosophis are all medium sized snakes that have quite slender bodies and a distinctive long, triangular head that is well set apart from the neck, which they can flatten out to give a convincing viper-like appearance when disturbed. The eyes are large, with round pupils and a row of scales in between the eye and the supralabials.

Schlegel’s original description of Spalerosophis diadema in 1837 (in French) translates as such:

‘Keeled scales. Plates 230+60. Colour: earth brown with a black band between the eyes. From India.’

However his description incorporated S. atriceps, S. dolichospilus and S.diadema schirazianus, all of which have been elevated to full species (S. schirazianus only by some authors, others have synonymised it with S. diadema). As such the original description cannot be said to be accurate across the board.

Despite Schlegel’s description, the dorsal scales of S. d. cliffordii are smooth on the flanks and slightly keeled on the back, with an undivided anal plate but paired subcaudals (Anderson 1898). The tail is short.

One of the markers separating S. d. cliffordii from S. d. schirazianus is that the latter has over 80 subcaudal scales (Schatti 2010) and from S. d. diadema by the latter having over 100 subcaudal scales (Marx 1959).

The largest Egyptian specimen measured 1545mm (Flower 1933) although most adults remain between 1200 to 1300mm.

In terms of coloration and pattern, at first glance this species could be described as the archetypal ‘dull brown snake’ although this is not entirely fair and they are very variable in terms of both ground colour and pattern.

The ground colour of the dorsum is usually some shade of brown, sand, greyish, brick red, buff, beige, tan or orange.

There is a single row of 69 - 95 polygonal, light-edged darker blotches running down the back; the blotches may be round, hexagonal, or dumbbell shaped. There is another row of blotches running down each flank, which sometimes fuse to form lines of variable length (especially on the neck).

There is usually some spotting or marbling on the head scales, which is more obvious on juvenile animals and fades with age. Between the eyes there is usually a spectacle-shaped or horseshoe-shaped mark which superficially can make the animal resemble a whip snake of the genus Hemorrhois; there is also a darker streak extending from behind the eye to the back of the jaw.

The ventral scales are white to cream and usually have no pattern.

In the subspecies S. d. cliffordi, there are:

Loreals: 2

Prefrontals: 2-3:

Supralabials: 11-14

Ventrals: 218-242

Subcaudals: 70-78 (paired)

27-31 scale rows at mid-body

(Baha El Din 2006)

Whats my name?

Diadem snakes have also been known by other scientific names in the past, such as:

Coluber diadema
Coluber cliffordi
Zamenis cliffordi
Zamenis diadema

In the wild

In the hobby

Husbandry

Feeding

Diadem snakes have a couple of factors against them for some people; fairly nondescript coloration; a less than winning temperament… Luckily there is seldom any problem whatsoever when it comes to getting them to eat though!

These snakes will willingly take frozen-thawed rodents with very little trouble. In fact their straightforwardness when it comes to accepting prey is one of the species great strengths as a pet snake.

Prey enrichment has been shown to be one of the types of enrichment that elicits the most profound behavioural response in at least some reptiles (tied with thermoregulation/ basking). So varying types of prey is a very easy and good way of mixing up a pet snake's diet and providing change and variety for them. In the past, we've never really had as much choice in what we can offer as easily available frozen-thawed prey. Nowadays however with the advent of bespoke reptile shops and online sellers, you can easily get hold of mice and rats of all sizes and ages, gerbils, hamsters, african spiny mice, multimammate mice, day old chicks, quail chicks, baby guinea pigs and baby rabbits. I like to feed all these things to my snakes.

Young or freshly imported snakes may require tease-feeding, which entails jiggling a thawed rodent on the end of a pair of long forceps to elicit a strike and bite. Once they bite into the prey, let go. Usually the snake will continue to chew and if you do not disturb it, should finish swallowing its meal before it gets back to the business of attempting to bite you.

Adult Diadem snakes are fed every two weeks or so. In addition to varying type of prey I like to vary size of prey; one feed I might feed a couple of rat pups; another, a weaner rat; the next, two or three adult mice; the feed after that maybe a handful of fluff mice.

Breeding

Diadem snakes are not difficult snakes to breed by any means and provided they have been cooled over the Winter, you should see the male making amorous advances toward the female the following Spring. Usually the female will see off such unwanted attention aggressively and the male will hold off for a while, but by May she should be receptive and you may witness the male mount the female with a series of lateral undulations and begin to copulate.

The female lays eggs from July to August. If you provide a humid hide, chances are she will have already scouted this out as the ideal place to deposit her eggs and you will find them there. If not, you must provide a lay box for her, which can be an opaque container with a hole in one side filled with soil and damp sphagnum. Snakes that are not provided a satisfactory place to lay eggs may retain them longer than they should, or else lay them haphazardly at random in the enclosure. The last place you want to find a clutch is in the water bowl!

Literature states the females lay 3 to 16 eggs, however I have seen as few as five and as many as 21 eggs in one clutch. The eggs are absolutely enormous - they can range from 52mm x 21mm to as large as 80mm x 30mm, which is huge considering these snakes are only around the size of a Corn snake. Smaller clutches tend to result in larger eggs, and the size of the egg does not seem to be related to the size of the female, but rather the size of the clutch.

Diadem snake eggs, like those of other North African desert species, do not require too much humidity. I first attempted incubating a clutch suspended above water at 100% humidity and only had a partial success. Instead I use vermiculite inside an incubator and have been rewarded with higher success rates.

The eggs hatch after between 59 to 70 days incubated at a temperature of around 27C. Some sources have cited incubation temperatures as high as 30C but I prefer to err on the lower side when it comes to incubation temperature.

The babies hatch out around 35-40cm in length and are more boldly marked than the adults. Some may have complex and beautiful patterns of black speckles on their head scales.

Baby Diadem snakes are well able to take pink mice after their first shed. Some may hold out and refuse food initially (one assumes in the wild they more normally feed on small lizards at this size) but if they refuse to feed on f/t pinkies after a few tries, I have never had one refuse a live pink when it was offered. After one or two of these they readily switch over to f/t prey.

After a few sheds the size of the meal can be increased to two pinks or a fuzzy mouse. Female Diadem snakes grow more quickly than males and soon the difference in size becomes obvious. The species is relatively slow growing and it takes a few years to reach adult size. Once they are feeding, the babies should present no problems at all in care and will soon be hissing and striking at you with all the energy of their parents.

Conclusion

Diadem snakes offer ‘something different’ to the snake keeper and mix the familiarity and ease of keeping a hardy, rodent-eating Colubrid with the zest and adventure of dealing with a grumpy, bad-tempered and obnoxiously irascible snake.

If the prospective keeper can look past that initial bad temper and sticks at keeping this species with patience and sensitivity, after a certain period (which can range from mere months to years) eventually Diadem snakes will calm down and become well behaved pets that, while they may never quite tolerate handling with grace, learn to recognise and accept their keeper and stop greeting him with undisguised malice. That moment may by itself be worth the patience required to deal with their moodiness up to that point… but when you get there, it will all seem worth it and you will be rewarded with an exceptionally hardy, easy to keep and long lived pet.