Zhejiang Herping Expedition I
The province that’s known for the advanced infrastrature, highly modermized, and high population density. Also surprisingly over a hundred species of herpetofaunam called this place home. In this expedition, we will look for both lowland suburban herps and mid to high elevation subtropical montane forest dwellers, with the famous Five Pace Viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus) and the King Ratsnake (Elaphe carinata) to be our main targets.
July 6th-July 12th, 2026
Itinerary
July 6th 2026 Day 1 Xihu District, Hangzhou
July 7, 8th 2026 Day 2-3 Jingning She Autonomous County, Lishui
July 9th 2026 Day 4 Taishun County, Wenzhou
July 10, 11th 2026 Day 5-6 Longquan City, Lishui
Picking up location could be Hangzhou International Airport or Hangzhou East Station.
We will be meeting up in a Starbucks around 3pm. near the first spot in Hangzhou.
We can drop you off anywhere around Hangzhou after the trip is over.
Day 1 📍Xihu District, Hangzhou
The first day of our herping expedition will start on suburban area in Hangzhou city—the biggest city in Zhejiang province. Hangzhou is a large city with over 10 million population, but with a surprisingly great herpetofauna diversity.
We will meet up in a Starbucks near the first spot in the afternoon after all of us are picked up, with some quick introduction to each other we will head to dinner and get ready for the first night of herping. The low elevation suburban herping can turn up many surprises, our main target will be the beautiful Chinese Bamboo Ratsnake (Oreocryptophis p, vaillanti) as these elusive snakes are relatively common in this suburban area, and also the venomous snake that caused the most bites and fatalities in China— the Short-tailed Mamushi (Gloydius brevicauda), melanistic morph Fujian Green Pitviper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri) and melanistic morph Red-banded Wolfsnake (Lycodon rufozonatus) have been found in here several times so there is a possibility to find some wild mutations. Many amphibiams living in this area, the inconic Chinese Giant Flyingfrog (Zhangixalus dennysi) are very common here. Even the habitat might look a bit too disturbed in this area, there are still a great number of snakes living in this area.
The herping spots in Hangzhou is relatively small and quick to wrap up, but we will visit two spots on the first night (or potentially three) and drive to the hotel once we finish herping, we will staying in a very nice and moderm hotel that is very close to the highway entrance.
Day 2-4 📍Jingning County, Lishui & Taishun County, Wenzhou
On the second day morning, we will head south to Jingning She Autonomous County, we will stay in a mountain resort for the next three days, and all of our following herping spots will be very close to where we are living.
In the next three days, we will be herping in Wangdongyang Wetland Park, Wuyangling National Park and a mountain road which connects Zhejiang and Fujian province border, this is a relatively high elevation area for Zhejiang province standard, and we will mostly focusing on finding the montane dwellers here. Many mountain vipers can be found in here—Five Pace Viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus) will be our top target, Taiwan Mountain Pitviper (Ovophis makazayazaya) can be found if it rains heavily, Sharp-scaled Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus) are very common in mid elevation, and the green beans— Fujian Green Pitviper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri) are everywhere in this place, if the condition were right, finding a hundred of them in a single night is possible in one of the spot! False Mamushi (Pseudagkistrodon rudis), Gray-bellied Green Ratsnake (Gonyosoma frenata), Chinese Bamboo Ratsnake (Oreocryptophis p. vaillanti), Chinese Many-toothed Snake (Sibynophis chiensis), King Ratsnake (Elaphe carinata) and many more interesting colubrids were found here in previous expeditions. The elusive Elapidae such as the Fujian Coralsnake (Sinomicrurus kellogi), Annulated Coralsnake (Sinomicrurus annularis) and the Chinese King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) (but DORs only) were found in this place in the previous expeditions. The high species diversity in this place will make the results of every single night quite different. In the Wangdongyang Wetland Park, we can also encounter a very unique and range restricted amphiam—Orange-back Warty Newt (Paramesotriton aurantius), we found a secret spot that can guaranteed to turn them up!
Since we are living in the mountain resort, the chance of turning up dinurnal snakes are much higher, the owner found many snakes in the resort before, he once saw a Big-eyed Ratsnake (Ptyas dhumnades) eating a frog in the yard, and we found King Ratsnake (Elaphe carinata) on our way to get drinks before. We keep a good relationship with the resort owner and he is becoming a good friend of us lately, we told him to not eat wild-caught snakes and to take phone pics of snakes he found to send me so I can get an ID on it.
Day 5-6 📍Longquan City, Lishui
On the last stretch of the trip, we will head to Longquan City and our main herping spot will be the Longquan Mountains—one of the most famous herping spot in Zhejiang province.
This mountain seems to have the highest chance of finding showstopper level snakes from my past experiences. The Five Pace Viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus) are relatively common in here, as well as the two cool loving ratsnake species— the Mandarin Ratsnake (Euprepiophis mandarinus) and Chinese Bamboo Ratsnake (Oreocryptophis p. vaillanti), we all found them in here in my previous expeditions. We even witnessed a Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malaiensis) predating a 2.4 meters huge Big-eyed Ratsnake (Ptyas dhumnates) in the daytime, also the turbo-rare Stejneger’s False Cobra (Psuedoxenodon stejnegeri) have found in here multiple times by us and some other local herpers when it is cold but sunny, we will actively road cruise in the daytime if the condition is right here. There is a large number of amphibiam species can be found in here, the large and unique Chong’an Moustache Toad (Leptobrachium liui) are very common in this mountain range. We will hike and road cruise both in mid and high elevations in this mountain to ensure the species diversity we found.
In Longquan, we will be staying in a five star hotel with large rooms and beautiful river views. Longquan is a city known for its fancy ceramics and swords, this hotel has a little exhibition of both. It is also very close to our herping spot.
Included: Not Included:
Transportation Snacks and extra drinks
Daily meals and drinks Flights on arrival
Accomodation Visa
Difficulty & Comfortableness:
Mostly we are going to hike on the road side and road cruise by vehicles, there is no difficult terrians in this trip, be prepare to hike 15-25k steps per day, but if you are tired you can always jump in one of the car to rest and join the road cruise instead. The weather in the first day in lowland might be a little hot depending on weather, and the day 2-3 in Jingning is usually around low 20 degrees with 90%+humidity, sometimes it can drop below 18 degrees, also be prepare to get wet or get rained on in there.
Food & Accomodation:
We will have a combination of American fast food, Chinese food of your choice and local food, on day 1, 5 and 6 we will have a variety of food choice in the city, on day 2-4 we will stay in the mountain resort and have local food from the owner’s wife. The hotel rooms in this trip will be big, clean and have everything, mostly we will be staying in very good hotels, you can expect to sleep well every single night. We will stay in two-bed room for the most part, if you wish to stay in a private room, please make up the extra cost.
Travel & Visa requirement:
Be sure to arrive Hangzhou before 1pm on July 6th, 2026 or meet up in the Starbucks by 3pm, we recommend everyone to arrive a day before the trip, we will return to Hangzhou around 4pm on July 12th, 2026. Usually a Visa is required traveling to China, be sure to check on that for your country, it is participants’ responsibility to get the proper Visa or meet the requirement to enter the country. We can provide help on obtaining the Visa if it is needed.