High Noon at the (Asian) Rat Snake Corral (DUW)

Twoton · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:10 pm

A few Sundays ago we were on a little family hike in the neighborhood. We had set out shortly before noon, expected to be back before 1500 hrs, and thus didn't expect to see any herps at all, as they're usually taking extended siestas in the midday heat.

Passing a little farmstead, we noticed something moving in an abandoned chicken run. A closer look revealed a rather un-chickenlike creature: a large (slightly under six feet, I guess) Common Ratsnake (Ptyas mucosa) that had somehow managed to get inside the fence and was now unable to find the exit. We climbed into the enclosure and took our time observing and photographing the snake. It kept trying to get back out through the holes in the mesh, only to find his midriff too thick. After the photo session, we opened the gate and shooed out the snake, which promptly fled into the safety of a nearby trash heap...

murder serpent · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:55 pm

Man they look like a cross between Spilotes pullatus & Masticophis flagellum piceus.

Cool looking.

KevColubrid · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:17 am

Ptyas are seriously awesome snakes. Thanks for posting!

Kevin

peterknuteberg · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:30 am

Cool.

The rosy man · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:17 am

i like chicken too

JustinM · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:45 am

Nice find. You say this is large and any wild snake that is 6' is certainly large to me, but I've heard that these things get monstrous. Have you seen any of the really large ones?

Justin

Twoton · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:05 am

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone! Ptyas mucosa isn't supposed to get any bigger than 260 cm/8.5 feet, but that's monstrous enough for me, too. This is the second specimen I've ever seen, the first one last December was a tad bigger, see below. Never seen a juvie....maybe they're born this huge :-)

Mike Pingleton · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:07 am

very cool.
-Mike

heavenscloud · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:22 pm

Awesome snake!

Sonorandesertman · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:07 pm

Freakin' awesome. The Taiwan snake master strikes again. Thanks for the photos. Hey, I like the Philodendron just growing naturally over there. Never seen that. Thanks again. sdm.

Twoton · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:27 pm

Thanks again, everyone! PHILODENDRON! That's what that is? I've been wondering why I keep associating it with my grandma's windowsill plants. It's a very vigorous vine (VVV) and can cover entire trees. I'll take some pictures next time I see it....

Tom Sinclair · **Posted:** Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:03 am

Nice snake!! I found one approaching eight feet long on the island of Lantau in the New Territories near Hong Kong.

It was under a car hood and at first glance I thought it was a cobra.

It looked like a light colored Indigo Snake and I am guessing that Ptyas is closely aligned with Coluber and Masticophis.

Twoton · **Posted:** Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:27 pm

Tom Sinclair wrote:

It was under a car hood and at first glance I thought it was a cobra.

I heard it's supposed to be a King Cobra mimic.

FieldHerpForum

High Noon at the (Asian) Rat Snake Corral (DUW)