Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras?

I had the ideo of a thread like this for some time now, because this is a species that interests me alot and which i have been keeping for about a year now, and the more i have read about them the more interested i got in the lokal variants and how they differ as well as the natural history of this species.
When i first talked to people in Sweden about these cobras some people told me they were wery long slim and arboreal with a long prehensive tail, other people told me they were highly variable depending on lokality and subspecies and tat they were mostly terrestial all around predators that fed on a wide range of prey item.

And when i got my own individual home, a young ugandan animal with a beutiful black and white colouration it surprised me how heavily bodied she was and how incredibly heavy she was for her small size, also the tail was very short and stubby and actually shorter than the tails of most other Naja i have seen.
She is now about 2,5- 3 years old and around 160 cm long.

I have read about the diffrent subspecies (or is that species or even lokality?) which seems to be Melanoleuca, Subfulva and Aurata (Which doesent seem to be widely accepted, and i know almost nothing about it).

So i was thinking there could be a thread for forest cobras here just like the one for Montivipera in the evolution forum (If this thread should be moved then tell me or just move it Very Happy

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Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? N_mela10

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? N_mela11

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? N_mela12

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? N_mela13

Here are some incredibly crappy pictures o my Melanoleuca, including closeup on the head and tail (With some poo as an extra Laughing

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It would be great if some other people posted images of their forest cobras too regardless of local variant and species.

/Agust

This is my melanoleuca. He is about a year old now and over 110 cm in length. Very easy to work with but you really do not want to get too comfortable with them because they can go crazy in any second. Mine is btw from South Africa.

1.0 Naja melanoleuca subfulva:

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? IMG_1685

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? IMG_1685

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? IMG_1233

Variations, subspecies and localities in N. Melanoleuca or other species of forest cobras? IMG_2208

A very beutiful subfulva indeed Stefan Very Happy

Yes forest cobras seem to get pissed vary easily and can shift from calm to extremely agressive in the blink of an eye and then back a few moments later.
My female has chased me a few metres back but fortunately she is still small enough to be pushed back with relative ease (Will be diffrent though if she reaches 2.5 metres or something like that)

I have thought about keeping both Subfulva and Melanoleuca but that would require alot of space and for the moment Melanoleuca is enough, but i will probably buy a Male ugandan melanoleuca soon Smile

those are very nice.

» Forest Cobra (Naja melanoleuca) hatchlings.
» Cobras (N. siamensis, N. melanoleuca, N. naja)
» Bitis nasicornis localities
» Naja nivea localities
» Just did some changes in my forest enclosure