Erin's Reptile Blog
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Desert Kingsnake
Desert Kings can grow up to 6.5 feet but are more commonly found to be 3-4feet. They can be found throughout west and central Texas, they can be interbred with the Speckled Kingsnake. They have a black and yellow or greenish-yellow patern. Their patern consists of 23-25 stripes in their patern. They eat mainly mice and should be kept at a temperature around 85degrees. Most do not like to be handled but if they are handled frequently they get used to it and appear to like it.
Mabled Sea Snake
The Marbled or Spiny-tailed Sea Snake are fully adapted to a marine environment and never go on land, though they are sometimes stranded in the inter-tidal zone by receding tides. Their young are born alive at sea. The Marbled Sea Snake is an used to shallow waters and coral reefs, where it feeds pretty much only on fish eggs. Sea snakes are identified by the short, laterally flattened tail which is like a paddle. The eyes are small, and the nostrils are towards the top of the snout which lets the snake to breathe air easily while floating on the sea surface. Some are also able to absorb some of the oxygen through their skin, in the same way as amphibians, and remains submerged for a few hours. Sea snakes are found mainly in the warm tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. The Marbled Sea Snake occurs throughout Southeast Asia and parts of Australia.
Red-tailed Pipe Snake
These Red-tailed Pipe Snakes are located all over Thailand on flat ground and some at elevations up to 1700 meters. This snake lives on the ground, in rat holes and termite mounds, under stumps or rocks and in other cool, damp places. They prefer wide open areas. They have been found as high as 5,000 feet in Malaysia and about 2,300 meters in Thailand.The snake is mostly nocturnal and is active at night. These snakes eat Brahminy blind snakes, insect larvae, small frogs and worms. A Red-tailed snake lays 5-10 babies, born live, about 20 cm long. This pipe snake hides the head under loops of it’s body and flips it’s red tail end up in the air flattening it as if like a cobra. In an hour of handling this snake, it makes no move to bite at all. That doesn’t mean it won’t, but they are not all that inclined to bite. Their mouth is VERY small and they’d have to catch you just right to bite you.
White-bellied Blind Snake
The White-bellied Blind snakes can grow to be 48cm long. This snake appears to be a thick worm at first, but can be recognised by its scales, dry skin, eyes, and flicking tongue. This is the largest blind snake in Thailand. Scales are small and shiny. On the snakes back it is black, purple, or olive-brown coloration on top is clearly separated from a creamy-white belly. Normally found in thick secondary forests, but sometimes turns up in gardens in rural areas. They can be found in waterlogged soil, including muddy land. These snakes spends most of the time underground, under leaf litter, or in rotting logs, but is sometimes active on the surface on rainy or humid nights. This snake helps control termite and ant populations by feeding on their larvae, and also eats other soft-bodied insects, worms, and mollusks. It provides food for larger fossorial snakes and other animals.Blind snakes are harmless they have no venom and their mouths are too small to bite a human. When uncovered or picked up they tend to respond by wiggling, they put off a small amount of a smelly musk, and attempting to stab the disturber with their sharp tip tail.
Pimk-headed Reed Snake
This is a small, attractive, non-venomous snake with a bright pink-red head, and no colouration on the tail. The dark dorsal colour exhibits a blue-green iridescence under strong light. The ventral surface is grey-white. As with other Reed Snakes this species is a burrowing forest dweller. It ranges from southern Thailand, West Malaysia and Singapore to the islands of Borneo, Sumatra, Bangkga and Belitung. Reed snakes are so called because of their cylindrical bodies and short tails. They are burrowing snakes. This snake is very easily recognised by its bright pink head. However, it does looked similar when compared with the venomous Blue Malayan Coral Snake because of its bright head. The Pink-headed Reed Snake is relatively smaller. It is also non-venomous. They grow up to about 40cm. The Reed snake eats small animals like slugs and frogs and small invertebrates such as worms. This snake is mostly nocturnal, but it can come out during the day.
Green Cat Snake
The Green Cat Snake lives primarily in secondary forests, including montane zones, and can also be found at sea level in coastal forests. It is active during the day and it lies coiled up in tree branches. It hunts at night actively for prey such as geckos. The head is large, the eyes very large with vertical pupils. Dorsal scale colour is green with bluish hints, and ventral colour yellow. The species ranges from India, Southern China and Indochina to Burma, Thailand and northern Peninsular Malaysia. The tongue and inner linings of the jaw are bluish white. Neonates when born are red with a green head, then later fading to brown before getting their adult colours. This species lays between 5-12 eggs, which takes about three months to hatch on average. The green cat snake preys on lizards, snakes, frogs, birds and rodents in the wild. They are an aggressive species, it has a foul but distinct musk when handled.
Pit Viper
Pit Viper is the most well known of the green aboreal pit vipers that are found in the region. These snakes are mainly found in forests and mangroves. They are active at night, during the day it generally is laying flat high in trees. The term 'Pit Viper' means heat-sensing "pits" you can find these "pits" on each cheek of the snake, they are used to find and hunt down prey. This type of snake has haemotoxic venom which means the venom is poisonous to the blood system which equals death. This type of species can be idnetified by its triangular head. Juveniles are light green with narrow pale bands adults are dark green with thicker yellowish bands.
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