r/whatsthissnake Sep 01 '21

[Mod post] PLEASE READ: ID best practices and comment guidelines

215 Upvotes

/r/whatsthissnake has grown a great deal in the last year and we are very excited about connecting with more people who have an interest in snakes, snake identification (ID) and conservation. With growth often comes growing pains, and there are a number of trends in the sub that need to be addressed as we move forward. We attempt to clarify these below and offer some "best practices" in identification that should help our community.

What makes a good ID?

Good IDs are specific and informative. They tend to have the following information, in order of importance:

  1. Binomial name - Consisting of Genus specificepithet and placed in asterisks (*) to italicize. This is the most important component of a good ID. With only this, a person can quickly find out anything else they want to know about the snake species and it is an important part of every ID. The bot command !specificepithet provides more information on properly structuring a binomial name and how to get it to work with the bot, if an entry exists.

  2. Harmless or venomous - Please note that these terms are specific to their interaction with humans. While snakes such as hognose snakes Heterodon, gartersnakes Thamnophis, and watersnakes Nerodia are venomous, they are not medically significant to humans and should be labeled as harmless. This information is informative to a person's interaction with a snake and should always be provided. The bot responds to either !harmless or !venomous and will save time on these explanations.

  3. Common name - Common names are frequently variable and highly local. Sometimes, the same common name could be used for different snakes in different areas. In other cases, the same snake can have multiple common names depending on the area it was found. While we typically recommend providing them, it is not a vital part of an ID. An ID with only the common name is a low quality ID.

You can still contribute if you're not sure or think an ID is incorrect:

In some cases, you may be able to narrow down an ID to genus level, but don't know the diagnostic characters or ranges well enough to provide a more specific ID. This is fine. A genus level ID is very helpful, and specific enough to provide useful general information on the snake. So, if there hasn't been an ID yet and you can at least get to the genus level, post the ID.

You are also encouraged to provide any additional information or context you desire, but be mindful of links you post. The best IDs include informational links to be primary sources, or at least high quality science reporting on those sources. Many times this is done already in the bot replies, so see some of those for examples. Wikipedia is not a quality resource and should be avoided for informational links. Even resources provided by state wildlife agencies tend to lag ten to twenty years behind the science and should be viewed with a critical eye. For example, the very popular SREL Herp website, despite being associated with a major university, does not follow currently accepted taxonomy and, while it was a great resource for some time, is not the best source of current information.

However:

If you enter a thread in which a Reliable Responder has made an ID, or there is a highly upvoted ID, do not post a contrary ID unless you can provide specific diagnostic characters as to why the original ID was incorrect. Recently, incorrect IDs have appeared hours or days after the original correct ID was made, and therefore often go uncaught by moderators and reliable responders. These can create unnecessary confusion for an original poster, who is notified of each response. If you feel that an ID is incorrect and can provide diagnostic characters, reply directly to the ID comment rather than the original post. Incorrect late IDs may be warned and removed. Repeated violations may result in a ban at moderator discretion. Remember, our goal here is to be collaborative and work toward making a good positive ID. These incorrect late IDs greatly inhibit that goal. We value discussion in the comments and want to avoid locking threads in the way that other ID subreddits do.

Likewise, if a correct ID has been made, there is no need to post the same ID again. Just upvote the correct ID. You may post to add additional information or context to provide a better quality ID (adding the binomial, triggering the bot, etc.), but it is not helpful to simply say "corn snake" hours after someone has provided an ID with a full binomial and triggered the bot. More detailed IDs may be posted as top level comments to make sure that the OP sees them. Low quality/low effort IDs posted after a more detailed ID may be warned and removed.

We would also like to remind everyone of Rule 6:

Avoid damaging memes or tropes and low effort jokes: Avoid damaging memes like using "danger noodle" for nonvenomous snakes and tropes like "everything in Australia is out to get you". This is an educational space, and those kind of comments are harmful and do not reflect reality. We've also heard "it's a snake" as a joke hundreds of times. Infantilization of snakes and unhelpful rhymes will be removed.

This is one of our most broken rules. While it is somewhat vague, that is because it is nearly impossible for us to consider all possibilities. In addition to the things directly mentioned in the rule text, this rule also includes things like commenting with random names when someone posts "Who is this?", or posting things like "Pick it up and find out" in response to posts asking if a snake is venomous. Furthermore, these comments often break rule 11, "Posts and comments must reflect the reality of wildlife ecology." Misinformation spread through these seemingly innocuous jokes have been on the rise. Violations of this rule may be warned and removed, and repeated violations may result in a ban. Egregious violations may result in a temporary ban without warning. This is an educational space with potential real-world consequences, and while we don't want to discourage humor as a whole, we want you to think about what you are posting and whether it belongs in this space. While we recognize this is one of the best places to come to see pictures of wild snakes in their natural environment, it's not the best place to joke about cute pictures. /r/sneks is quite happy to accommodate snek jokes, humor and unabashed cuteness.


r/whatsthissnake Feb 13 '24

Updated Discord Link, Bot Notes, Merch Links [Feb 2024]

23 Upvotes

DISCORD

Reddit is an amazing platform by itself for educational subreddits like r/whatsthissnake and programs like Discord work in conjunction to help build a community by offering central repositories of information and live, personalized help. The bot functions we have on reddit work on this Discord just like they do here. Personalized help and resources like papers and books you can't share through Reddit are available to help you on your herpetological journey.

Just click the link, download the app on whatever platform you prefer, follow the instructions to accept the rules. Discord is an independent developer not unlike MS Teams or other professional development spaces.

The "friend of WTS" flair is unlocked after joining Discord and making regular contributions.


LINK: https://discord.gg/QpBQthS3TZ

MERCH

Check the Discord for one of a kind snake and evolution related 3D prints and other niche items to support snake ID and Snake Evolution and Biogeography [SEB]!


BOT UPDATES

There have been a number of silent bot updates.

We're now up to 260 species accounts, nearly comprehensive for North America. Please contact /u/Phylogenizer or /u/fairlyorange here or on the Discord if you'd like to participate in writing original short species accounts.


r/whatsthissnake 6h ago

ID Request [sharm el sheikh Egypt] who is this wee fella hanging around the beach

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278 Upvotes

First time spotting a snake (hopefully there's something similar looking called a banded snake eel) in the wild. It was prowling through the shallows, nosing around in the sand being followed by a few stripey fish.


r/whatsthissnake 2h ago

ID Request Pretty Fellow [Tallahassee FL]

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82 Upvotes

Is this a cottonmouth? It's a lot lighter in color than I usually see around here. Thanks!


r/whatsthissnake 1h ago

ID Request [Southwest Virginia] What is this snake? Found in leaves doing yard work.

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Upvotes

A quick google search has me thinking northern water snake, but he wasn’t found near any water so I wanted to ask the pros


r/whatsthissnake 38m ago

Just Sharing Stunning scrub python hunting on my step last night [Australia FNQ]

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Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 1h ago

ID Request What kind of snake is this? [Mississippi]

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Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

Dead, Injured or Roadkilled Snake [Madeira Beach] is this a snake or some other creature?

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19 Upvotes

Found this on the beach in the sand today. What is it?


r/whatsthissnake 21h ago

ID Request Snake ID - 2nd time this week! [Houston]

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439 Upvotes

For the second time this week I have had a snake encounter in Houston. What’s bringing all the snakes out? Can someone please ID this type?


r/whatsthissnake 5h ago

ID Request Eastern, North Carolina - Raleigh

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23 Upvotes

Was thinking Pine but apparently they’re Sandhills and southern coast


r/whatsthissnake 1h ago

ID Request who is this guy? [North Carolina]

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Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

ID Request Who’sssss thisss [SWFL]

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14 Upvotes

Not seen this one before in my yard. Usually it’s black racers in the yard.


r/whatsthissnake 7h ago

ID Request What is this snake? [Raleigh, NC]

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29 Upvotes

Might be a tough one to identify, but yall are the professionals haha. Covered in the classic North Carolina pollen going on right now. Basically stepped on him before he scurried off. Any ideas?


r/whatsthissnake 5h ago

ID Request [ Maryland]Can someone identify this snake for me please.

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18 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 6h ago

ID Request Is this just a water snake? [southeast Texas]

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16 Upvotes

They are crummy pictures, but I am terrified of snakes. TIA!


r/whatsthissnake 10h ago

ID Request Found in garden South Carolina

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27 Upvotes

Help


r/whatsthissnake 7h ago

ID Request [South Eastern, VA] watersnake?

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14 Upvotes

Found by our pier off the York River.


r/whatsthissnake 6h ago

ID Request Baby found in basement [NoVA]

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11 Upvotes

Approx 6” total length found in our finished basement before our puppy did. Released out in wooded area behind home.


r/whatsthissnake 1h ago

ID Request [Anne Arundel County, Maryland] What kind of snakes did I just find doin' it?

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Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

ID Request [East Central, AL]

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5 Upvotes

These are the best photos I could get since it was from a video my husband sent and unidentified snakes worry me (I’m trying to learn to identify snakes in our area).


r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

ID Request Two snakes in [upstate South Carolina]

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5 Upvotes

What are these cool dude/dudettes?


r/whatsthissnake 8h ago

ID Request What snake is this [Butwal,Nepal]

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12 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 6h ago

ID Request Snake Id, [Key Largo] on gulf side!

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7 Upvotes

Snake is moving slowly from left to right near the top of the video! Looked to be around 2ft long, best guess :)


r/whatsthissnake 21h ago

ID Request ID [north Georgia usa] snakey in the the stroller

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108 Upvotes

Snake crawled into our friends stroller in the garage would appreciate an ID


r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

ID Request San Antonio,Texas riverwalk

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5 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 2h ago

Just Sharing Found this little buddy in my front yard! We thought he went inside but nope, hiding in the door.[South Alabama]

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3 Upvotes

I found his shed too, it's gorgeous! If I can figure out how to attach pictures of of messenger I'll send in the door pics too


r/whatsthissnake 7h ago

ID Request Snake ID [Charlotte NC]

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7 Upvotes