Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Shy Snake

Got into the Taban Loop Trail once we were back from the summit. At the small bridge after the steps downwards, I was sure I saw some movement between the undergrowth. I looked but didn't really see anything. My friend went a little to the side and slowly said to me, 'Snake'. I was right. there was something lurking in the leaf litter. I managed to spot the snake but couldn't photograph it. I only managed to get two fair shots of its tail.
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The snake immediately slithered off. I was sure that it was a rat snake because of three main reasons: 1) The snake was really long, reaching almost two metres. 2) It was really fast in the undergrowth. Generally only racers are fast in leaf litter. 3) There were tiny spots on the tip of its tail, just like the ones on rat snakes I've seen in India. And indeed it was. This snake is a White-Bellied Rat Snake. Many thanks to Nick for helping me in identifying the snake. Well, this was not all. As this snake went off, on the other side were another pair of snake eyes. to be continued in the next post...

4 comments:

Bluebottle said...

I guess most snaks are shy.

Shawn said...

Well yes... but some are more shy than others... Thanks for the comment!

Anonymous said...

Looks more like another species of Bronzeback!

Shawn said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for your comment. Indeed it does look like a bronzeback, but it was much larger than one. About 2.5 inches thick. I've already confirmed this with Nick Baker, the head of the Nature Society of Singapore.

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