Appearance
Description from Boulenger's ''Fauna of British India: Reptilia and Batrachia'' volume of 1890:⟶ Snout obtuse, slightly projecting;
⟶ eye large; rostral a little broader than deep, visible from above;
⟶ suture between the internasals shorter than that between the prefrontals;
⟶ frontal as long as its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals or slightly shorter;
⟶ usually three loreals;
⟶ one large preocular, with a small subocular below;
⟶ two postoculars;
⟶ temporals 2+2;
⟶ 8 Upper labials, fourth and fifth entering the eye;
⟶ 5 Lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields, which are shorter than the posterior; the latter in contact anteriorly.
⟶ dorsal scales in 17 rows at midbody, more or less strongly keeled on the posterior part of the body.
⟶ Ventrals 190-208;
⟶ anal divided;
⟶ subcaudals 95-135, divided.
Brown above, frequently with more or less distinct black crossbands on the posterior part of the body and on the tail;
⟶ young usually with light crossbands on the front half of the body.
─⟶ Lower surface yellowish;
─⟶ the posterior ventral and the caudal shields may be edged with black.
It is the second largest snake in Sri Lanka, after Indian Rock Python.
Naming
The species is also known as দাড়াশ or ধারাজ in Bengali, धामण in Marathi, ගැරඩියා '' in Sinhala and ''ngu sing hang lai'' in Thai , in Kannada language ಜೇರೋತನ , జెర్రిపోతు or Joru pothu or Jerri Goddu , Sara paambu , ചേര or മഞ്ഞ ചേര chera in Malayalam language) and Bairokh in Assamese language.ଢମଣା ସାପ in odia.
Behavior
Dhamans, though harmless to humans, are fast-moving, excitable snakes. In captivity individuals remain highly territorial and may continue to defend their turf aggressively, attempting to startle or strike at passing objects. Dhamans are diurnal and semiarboreal. They inhabit forest floors, wetlands, rice paddies, farmland, and suburban areas where they prey upon small reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Adults, unusually for a colubrid, prefer to subdue their prey by sitting on it rather than by constricting, using body weight to weaken prey.Dhamans mate in late spring and early summer, though in tropical areas reproduction may take place year round. Males establish boundaries of territory using a ritualised test of strength in which they intertwine their bodies. The behaviour is sometime misread by observers as a 'mating dance' between opposite-sex individuals. Females produce 6-15 eggs per clutch several weeks after mating.
Adult members of this species emit a growling sound and inflate their necks when threatened. This adaptation may represent mimicry of the king cobra or Indian cobra which overlaps this species in range. The resemblance often backfires in human settlements, though, as the harmless animal is then mistaken for a venomous snake and killed.
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