Rough-scaled sand boa

Gongylophis conicus

''Gongylophis conicus'', also known as Russell's boa or the rough-scaled sand boa, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the subfamily Erycinae of the family Boidae. The species is endemic to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There are no subspecies which are recognised as being valid.
The harmless beauty - Common Sand boa Though common these snakes are rare seen, reason being they are burrowers, and are active at night. These snakes are harmless non venomous snakes. When threatened, they coil and hide their head within the coil. When agitated they can give you a painful bite with its sharp teeth.
The scales are keeled and the size of the keels increase towards the tail. The tail is not very pointy with rough scales. These snakes have a beautiful pattern. People without the knowledge of common snakes assume this to be a python or the deadly russell's viper and kill.
In the past one month these sand boas were seen little frequently at same place. And the people who saw assumed it to be russell's viper and were about to kill it. Meanwhile one of our team member rescued it and released few 100 meters from the settlement.  Geotagged,Gongylophis conicus,India,Spring,bangalore,boa,burrower,india,karnataka,keeled,nocturnal,non venomous,reptile,rough scaled boa,rough tailed boa,russell's,sand boa,scales,snake

Appearance

Adults of ''G. conicus'' may attain a total length of 3 feet 3 inches , which includes a tail 3 inches long.

The anterior maxillary and mandibular teeth are longer than the posterior. The head is covered with small scales. The eye is small with a vertical pupil. The dorsal scales are small and keeled. The tail is pointed, not or but very slightly prehensile.

The rostral scale is twice as broad as long, slightly prominent, without an angular horizontal edge. The top of the head is covered with small obtusely keeled scales, except for the nasals and internasals which are enlarged. Interorbitals: 8 to 10. Circumorbitals: 10 to 15. The eye is separated from the labials by one or two rows of scales. Supralabial scales: 12 to 14. Dorsal scales tubercularly keeled, in 40 to 49 rows. Ventral scales: 162-186. The anal scale is single. Subcaudals: 17-24.

The anterior dorsal scales are only feebly keeled, but these keels increase in size posteriorly to the point that they become so heavily keeled that it can make a squirming specimen really painful to handle. This also makes it look as if the front and rear ends belong to markedly different animals.

Dorsally, the color pattern consists of a broad zigzag band or a series of dark brown blotches on a yellowish or brownish grey ground color. The belly is uniform white.

In India it can be mistaken at first glance for either the Indian python, ''Python m. molurus'', or the deadly Russell's viper, ''Daboia russelii''.
A pretty little Rough-sided Sand Boa This little cutie was only about six inches long. All it wanted to do was dig back into the sand, but it eventually decided that it would be OK for us to take a few photos first. Geotagged,Gongylophis conicus,Sri Lanka,Summer

Behavior

''G. conicus'' is active at night.
Common Sand Boa ( Eryx conicus Schneider, 1801 ) Common Sand Boa ( Eryx conicus ).Albino form Caught,Common,Gongylophis conicus,Russell's boa,aggression,aggressive,albino,animal,background,beautiful,beauty,blue,boa,closeup,cute,dangerous,day,detail,endangered,epicrates

Habitat

The preferred habitats of ''G. conicus'' are sandy tracts of central and southern India, the Punjab, Kachchh and Sind. It is also found in Meghalaya.

Reproduction

''G. conicus'' is viviparous.

Food

''G. conicus'' feeds on worms and small mammals.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyBoidae
GenusGongylophis
SpeciesG. conicus
Photographed in
India
Sri Lanka