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Home / Agriculture / Snake Diversity and Conservation Inside Coffee Forestsby Dr. Anand Titus and Geeta N. Pereira Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 GREEN SNAKE Ahaetulla nasutus
The green snake is also commonly referred to as the common vine snake. It varies in length from 2 feet to six feet. The snake is light green to dark green, with a slender body and a pointed head. It is very commonly observed inside coffee forests, but camouflages well with its surroundings.
HABITAT: Coffee bush, low lying scrubs grassy patches. DIET: Insects like grass hoppers, beetles, moths, butterfly, garden lizards, frogs. Live bearers. Females are larger than males COMMON BRONZE BACK TREE SNAKE: Dendrelaphis tristis PAINTED BRONZE BACK TREE SNAKE: Dendrelaphis pictus These snakes have a beautiful bronze appearance. The snakes are medium sized slender snakes with wide brown or bronze dorsal stripe from head to tail. The average length of these snakes is three feet. The sides are dark brown or black with a wide bronze stripe down the centre of the back. The underside is whitish. HABITAT: Arboreal in nature. DIET: Frogs, lizards, mollusk Egg layers. Females are larger than males COMMON KUKRI SNAKE: Oligodon amensisRUSSELL’S OR VARIEGATED KUKRI SNAKE: Oligodon taeniolatus
These snakes are small in size with prominent cross bands and distinctive chevron marks found on the top of the head. The snakes has cylindrical, short, smooth and even sized body,; depressed head; short and blunt snout; short tail, some what compressed basally and one sixth to one seventh of the total length. HABITAT: Termite mounds, dead trees or fallen down logs, tree holes, crevices. DIET: Geckos, skinks, small mice, birds and reptile eggs. PREY: Constriction Egg layers. In some species males are larger, in others females grow larger. INDIAN PYTHON: INDIAN ROCK PYTHON: Python molurusRETICULATED PYTHON: Python reticulatusThe Indian Python; Python molurus varies in length from 3 to 6 meters. The body of the python has a mosaic of yellowish and dark brown patches. The underside is pale white or yellowish. The head is lance shaped and the tail is short. Rudimentary hind limbs, as curved claw like processes on either side of anus are found which is more developed in males.
HABITAT: Dense forests, shrubs and grass lands, marshy lands, valleys and on banks of streams and rivulets. DIET: Warm blooded animals ranging in size from deer, jackals, birds, mice, rabbits PREY: kill their prey by constriction. Egg layers. Females are larger than males. COBRAThere are 12 species of cobras in the world. The venom is ejected through fixed fangs in front of the upper jaws. Three races of cobra are differentiated.
The binocellate cobra is yellowish or brownish above and the hood shows the classic design of a connected pair of rings. In monocled cobra only a single yellow or orange O shaped mark on the hood is found. General color is olive brown. The black cobra has no markings on the hood and their general color is light grey or brown.
A fully grown adult cobra can grow to be about six to eight feet. The Indian cobra is also commonly referred to as the spectacled cobra (Naga raja). In times of danger the snake responds by raising and spreading its hood. On the rear of its head, displayed on the hood are two circular patterns connected by a single line, creating an appearance of a pair of spectacles.
Cobras are oviparous and lay their eggs between the months of April and July. Females lay anywhere between 12 to 30 eggs in an underground nest. The eggs hatch in about 70 days. New born cobras are 8 to 10 inches and have actively functioning venom glands from the moment they emerge from the egg.
VENOM: The venom is neutrotoxic in nature and generally paralyzes the muscles, leading to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. The blood looses its clotting power. The destruction of red blood cells occurs very rapidly. HABITAT: Dense forests, thickets, bushes DIET: Rats, small rat snakes, frogs, lizards, toads, birds. PREY: Injecting toxin. KING COBRA: Ophiophagus Hannah
It is very rare to find a king cobra. The snake is pretty large and the average length is around ten feet but it can also grow up to fifteen feet. The overall color varies from blackish brown to light brown but the tail is black. The underside is lighter shade of body color. Yellow bands are found on the back of the body. HABITAT: Dense forests, thickets, bushes DIET: Rats, small rat snakes, frogs, lizards, toads, birds.
PREY: Injecting toxin. Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 Tags: shade grown snake |
