Appearance
A narrow headed slender snake with a beautiful colouration. Its light brown body is often adorned with white and dark brown spots or with black and white transverse stripes . Its head is greenish brown with black markings. However the true purpose of this colouration is camoufladge. Its species name is derived from the legendary Greek queen Helen.*Nine pairs of supralabials of which the fifth and sixth pairs touch the eye.⤷ 19 to 21 rows of costals two head lengths before the vent.
⤷ Entire anal shield
⤷ Nearly equally sized frontal and parietal shields.
Behavior
Diurnal and highly active. Has a very nasty temper and will strike repeatedly if molested. Never appreciates captivity and will resist capture with utmost tenacity until helplessly overpowered. Its bites are often very damaging due to its inward pointing teeth.A 1m male specimen caught in Maharashtra, India whipped its tail when agitated. Same specimen was easily handled and carried around the collector's neck without incident.
Habitat
Prefers forests but may frequently venture towards human habitation and occasionally enter human dwellings.Reproduction
Very little known about its reproductive habits. Probably viviparous. Brood size unknown.Food
Feeds mainly on small mammals. It uses its camouflage to stalk its prey and initially disorients its victim with a blitz strike. It then surrounds its prey with its coils and weakens it by biting repeatedly. The victim is finally killed by constriction and swallowed at leisure. It may also prey upon birds, frogs, lizards and other snakes as well but shows a high preference towards small mammals. It is notorious for its voracious appetite. Captive specimens prefer mice and tend to lose interest in lizards especially if they remain motionless.Defense
Non venomous, this snake kills by constriction.References:
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