Dione Rat-snake

1 Overview

The Dione rat-snake — also called the black-spotted snake, hemp snake, or pillow-striped rat-snake — is a harmless colubrid whose binomial is Elaphe dione. It ranges across Beijing, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Xinjiang.

Chinese Name: Bai Tiao Jin She (Dione Rat-snake)

English Name: Dione Rat-snake

Binomial: Elaphe dione

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Serpentes

Family: Colubridae

Genus: Elaphe

Distribution: northern and central China, and across temperate Asia (see range list above).

2 Physical Characteristics

A very widespread non-venomous snake of northern China, it is stout and long, reaching over 1 m. The back is grey-olive, grey-brown or yellow-brown with three white longitudinal stripes. The head bears a large brown forceps-shaped marking, and a black streak runs behind the eye. The belly is grey-white or grey-brown with many black spots.

It has large, round nostrils opening between equal-sized nasals; one loreal scale; usually two preoculars; one supraocular; two postoculars; 8 upper labials (3-2-3) with the 7th largest; 10 to 11 lower labials. Dorsal scales mostly 25 rows at midbody (rarely 23, occasionally 27), 19 before the vent; ventrals 173 to 193 in males and 177 to 189 in females; subcaudals 63 to 69 pairs in males and 54 to 60 in females; anal scale divided. The head shows three dark-brown markings — the front one faint across the internasals, the second broader crossing the prefrontals, and the third widest across the frontal forming a distinctive ‘pillow’ or bell-shaped nuchal pattern, most pronounced in juveniles.

3 Care Requirements

Favoured by large snake farms, this hardy, temperate colubrid is widely used as feeder stock for larger rat snakes and is in considerable demand. It is robust, tolerant of starvation and thirst, fairly gentle and slow-moving, preying on small birds, lizards and rodents. It can fast for up to 18 months on record, and is generally easy to start feeding — quarantine new arrivals a few days to let them settle before offering food.

Because it is small, docile and attractively marked (under 1 m), it is readily accepted as a pet snake, and its following among keepers keeps growing. It is also one of the snake species most commonly released in religious merit-release practices across Chinese cities.

4 Enclosure Setup

Although easy to keep, environment still matters. Line the terrarium with newspaper, add a water dish and a hide, quarantine 3 to 5 days, then offer a small pinkie to start. Keep the temperature at 26 to 30°C, feed mice thereafter for balanced, easily absorbed nutrition about once a week, and avoid frequent handling — a frightened snake will refuse food. Let it grow accustomed to you before any handling, and never squeeze or restrict its movement.

5 Feeding

Like most snakes it enjoys geckos and pinkies. Adults can take small mice and birds; juveniles take small lizards and geckos. Keep a water dish in the enclosure, and keep the environment clean, airy and dry rather than damp.

As day length shortens and temperatures drop, help the snake into a safe hibernation — normal brumation is necessary for healthy reproduction. During hibernation it eats nothing. Though common, its colour forms vary widely; some captive-bred individuals abroad show striking patterns, and domestic selective breeding as a pet is still rare but worth developing.