Cylindrophis: Pipe Snakes

Introduction

Cylindrophis is the sole genus of the Family Cylindrophidae, the Cylinder or Pipe Snakes. They are rarely seen in captivity and their fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle makes them of little interest to the average snake keeper. Their care is not however impossible, and there may be contributions which amateurs can make with these species.

Cox et al give a brief overview of the genus: head small, indistinct, with large symmetrical shields; eyes small; body cylindrical, can be flattened; tail pointed and very short; body shields smooth; ventral shields only slightly enlarged.

This genus is somewhat obscure, so information will be added over time to this page.

	QUICK INDEX
C. aruensis, Aru Cylinder Snake	C. boulenger, Boulenger's Pipe Snake	C. engkariensis
C. isolepis, Jampea Island Pipe Snake	C. lineatus, Ceylon Cylinder Snake, Pipe Snake	C. maculatus, Ceylon Cylinder Snake, Pipe Snake
C. melanotus, Black Pipe Snake	C. ophisthorhodus, Island Pipe Snake	C. rufus, Red-Tailed Cylinder Snake
C. yamdena

Species	Common Name	Origin	Adult size	Notes
Cylindrophis
C. aruensis	Aru Cylinder Snake	Indonesia (Aru)	?'	??.
C. boulengeri	Boulenger's Pipe Snake	Indonesia (Timor, Wetar, Babar)	?'	??.
C. engkariensis		Malaysia (Borneo)	8-12'	??.
C. isolepis	Jampea Island Pipe Snake	Indonesia (Jampea, Sulawesi)
C. lineatus	Blanford's Pipe Snake	Indonesia (Borneo, Sarawak)
C. maculatus	Ceylon Cylinder Snake, Pipe Snake	Sri Lanka
C. melanotus	Black Pipe Snake	Indonesia
C. ophisthorhodus	Island Pipe Snake	Indonesia (Flores, Komodo, Lombok, Sumbawa)
C. rufus	Red-Tailed Cylinder Snake, Red-Tailed Pipe Snake	China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, W Malaysia, Indonesia (inc. Komodo, Java, Borneo and Sumatra)	70-100cm	This species is found in humid lowland areas, where it tends to be somewhat fossorial or aquatic by day, foraging for other snakes and eels by night. The orange tail in adults is used as a decoy if the snake feels threatened, being waved while the head is tucked under the body. Dr Werner Frank (see Bibliography) gave the following details for captive care of this species: cage containing at least 10cm depth of soil substrate with humus/leaves; container large enough for bathing; small live fish as diet (geckos, small lizards and snakes were also mentioned, but I am assuming that most amateur herpetologists would be reluctant to offer such fare). Coloration: overall black to dark purple; white crossbands on belly; subcaudal area orange; young paler, with distinctive white bands on body. Reproduction: up to 13 young.
C. yamdena		Indonesia (Yamdina)

Bibliography

Boas & Other Non-Venomous Snakes, Dr Werner Frank, TFH 1995, New Jersey. Rather mixed book containing some gems of information and some which is frankly completely outdated. As the book was originally published in German in 1978, this is probably not Frank's fault: herpetology has simply progressed more since then. However it does give brief care details for C. rufus and C. maculatus (see above).

A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Peninsular Malysia, Singapore and Thailand, Merel J Cox, Peter Paul van Dijk, Jarujin Nabhitabhata, Kumthorn Thirakhupt, New Holland, 2006.

The Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians, J C Daniel, Bombay Natural History Society, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002.

Snakes of the World, Chris Mattison, Blandford, 1986/1992, London. A good book with the only reservation being that applied to Dieter Schmidt's, ie some of the taxonomy/classification is now out of date. See also Mattison's Keeping and Breeding Snakes (Blandford) which is probably more immediately useful to snake keepers.

Links

JCVI reptile database Cylindrophis listing

Wikipedia article on Cylindrophis

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