Chinese ratsnake

Ptyas korros

''Ptyas korros'', commonly known as the Chinese ratsnake or Indo-Chinese rat snake, is a species of colubrid snake endemic to Southeast Asia.
Ptyas korros - Rat Snake A member of a photographic website who lived in Jakarta, came to visit, to do a bug safari with me. I was praying to the lord of the bugs, to grant me a ton of great stuff to present to her. The session actually went very well, and she went away with about a dozen different bugs in the can.

BUT, on the walk back to the bike, these two mating rat snakes, about 4’ – 5’ in length, slithered onto the path right in front of us. As I kneeled in for the shot, I was waiting for the high pitched squeal and the rapid patter of feet, but no, she was right on my shoulder. I told her to get the camera out, but she said that this was my patch and I should have the shots. An accomplished photographer with a truly professional attitude. I managed a dozen or so shots before the show was over.

At that time, although I had photographed the snake quite a few times, I had not identified the beasty. My research kept coming up eastern brown, although an Australian snake, is known to be present in Java. With its reputation as one of the most poisonous snakes in the world, you can imagine what my heart rate was doing, with a pair of them a mere 4’ in front of me, plus the responsibility of not killing off the darling of the website!

Location is Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Alongside a stream and paddy fields. Bandung,Geotagged,Indonesia,Ptyas korros,Winter,mating,snake

Appearance

Snout obtuse, projecting; eye very large. Rostral visible from above; internasals shorter than the prefrontals; frontal as long as its distance from the tip of the snout or a little longer, as long as the parietals; two or three loreals; a large preocular, sometimes touching the frontal; a small subocular below; two postoculars; temporals 2 + 2; eight upper labials, fourth and fifth entering the eye; five lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter than the posterior.

Dorsal scales smooth or feebly keeled on the posterior part of the body, in 15 rows at midbody; ventrals 160-177; anal divided; sub-caudals 122-145.

Brown or olive above; the scales on the posterior part of the body and on the tail often yellow and edged with black. Lower surface yellow. Young specimens with transverse series of round whitish spots or with narrow yellow transverse bars.

Length of head and body 1,080 mm ; tail 700 mm .

Distribution

Myanmar; Cambodia, China , India , Bangladesh, Indonesia , Laos, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, West Malaysia, Singapore Island

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyColubridae
GenusPtyas
SpeciesPtyas korros
Photographed in
Indonesia