Description ²

INTRODUCTION

• Non Venomous
• Other names : Asiatic water snake.
• One of the most commonly seen snakes in India.
• Known to be aggressive and keen to bite if nervous.
• Among the Natricine snakes or Keelbacks.

IDENTIFICATION

• Medium-sized body with keeled scales but looks glossy overall.
• Checkered pattern all over body in variations of green, yellow and brown.
• Often has two streaks from eyes and has round pupils.
• Looks just like the Bar necked keelback found northeast of Orissa.
• Grow to 3-4 feet on average. Some may reach 5 feet too.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

• Extremely common throughout India.
• Found near fresh water bodies like ponds, rivers, lakes and paddy fields.
• Known to flourish around urban areas with close by water bodies.

DIET AND BEHAVIOR

• Feed on frogs, toads, fish and sometimes rodents and birds too.
• Juveniles feed on tadpoles and water insects.
• Semi-aquatic, active by day and night, hunting on edges of water bodies.
• Alert and aggressive, usually tries to escape in a jumpy manner.
• When threatened, inflates neck to show a false hood and raising head.
• Very fast, excited, jumpy and constantly tries to bite.
• Readily bites and holds on giving painful bites with it's sharp teeth.
• Also reported to lose tail if needed in order to escape.

Fontes e Créditos

1. (c) Vinay Gogula, todos os direitos reservados, uploaded by Vinay Gogula
2. (c) Vinay Gogula, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY-SA)

Mais informações

• BioDiversity4All taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HerpMapper
• Snake Database
• The Reptile Database
• VertNet

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