I.D. this snake please?

Question

Is there a website I can go to for identifying snakes? I searched but did not find anything that was comprehensive. I was going to keep this for a pet, but I want to make sure it is not new or endangered.

Can you identify this snake? (sorry no pic)

Found in foot-hills of nepal

Size/Shape
Length 40-50 cm
Width .5(neck) to 1.5 cm, head is slightly larger than neck (.7 cm?)
Top scales are smooth.
Visible portion of top scales is hexagonal in shape.
Bottom scales appear solid across the width of the body,
Eyes are round, not like cats eyes.

Top coloration
Head is black from nose to just behind eyes, pale yellow to neck, black across neck
Body is deep red-brown, more red on the sides. Looks almost black when wet
4 black bands on top of tail
Single Black pen-stripe from tail to middle of yellow band on head
top scales number 14 across the back.
Top scales are smooth, not keeled
On each side there are 14 black scales just above the bottom, running from the head to the middle of the back. They are equally spaced except for the last 3 or 4 which are double spaced. I only counted one side.
I did not count the number of scales lengthwise, but based on the size of top to bottom scales, and estimating both by the number of bands I estimate 210 to 240.

Bottom is white with black bands.
Bands on bottom scales are often broken in the middle.
68 bands by counting one side. It could be up to 76 because I counted bands as one even if they were three times as wide as normal.
most bands were only the width of one scale
Anal plate appears divided but hard to see, tail scales are divided.

Answer 1

Sounds like either a coral snake or a corn snake but im not sure

Answer 2

People...this is found in Nepal, not the U.S! Read! Cornsnakes are not found outside the Southeastern United States. I went online and found listings for various Asian species. The shieldtail being most common. It's too bad you didn't get a picture. With the ability to have counted and measured, it would have been nice to have a photo. I found a photo of the copperheaded trinket snake. It fits a bit. The head is a little different in coloration, but it does have a stripe. http://www.natureswindow.dk/Coelognathus%20radiatus.html

that's the link to the photo and info.

Here is also a link to the Rainbow water snake: Enhydris enhydris It has a photo of one that's for sale and you can see both top and bottom.

http://www.adpost.com/my/pets/38275/

It was very difficult to find any photos on snakes listed for your part of the world, but if you can get a photo of the snake, it would be helpful.

Answer 3

That would be a coral snake i think, Im almost positive. take a look at this pic and tell me if im right



http://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2008/07/coral-snake.jpg

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamaria_pavimentata



Might be this genus - Calamaria has quite a few species.



http://farm1.static.flickr.com/96/223437425_34673f20e5.jpg