Distributed range & status
Wide spread in low country dry zone plains & some parts of the intermediate zone in thinly wood forests, agricultural fields, & human habitations in Sri Lanka. Anuradapura, Veyangoda, Nachchaduwa, Thabbowa, Minneriya, Uva patina, Negambo, Polonnaruwa, Seru kele, Kataragama, Knuckles, Mahailuppallama, Puttalum, Kurunegala. They are found in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Nepal.
Scales
rostral |
|
frontal |
Length is twice longer than the width |
supraoculars |
|
parietals |
|
prefrontals |
|
nasals |
|
internasals |
A pair is present |
loreals |
absent |
preoculars |
1 slightly spread towards the top of the head |
postoculars |
2 |
temporals |
7 ( first 3 scales are identical in size, 3 & 4 touch the eye) |
Supralabials |
|
mental |
|
infralabials |
|
sublinguals |
|
coastals |
195-208 |
ventrals |
Undivided scale |
anal |
30-42 hexagonal & undivided |
subcaudals |
95-146 divided |
They have 15 rows of mid body scale rows. Scales are smooth & glistering. Vertebral scales are enlarged & clear.
Characteristics
A medium sized cylindrical body present. Ventral body is rounded. Head is indistinct from the small neck. Rounded short snout is present. Eyes are small. Nostrils are moderately large in size. Tail is short & tapering towards the end.
Colour
Dorsal body is dark blue black. Juveniles & sub adults with 20-25 paired narrow white bands across the body. Adults lack white bands. Ventral body is pearly white. Eye is black. Juvenile have 2 white bands anterior & posterior to the eyes. Ventral body lack marks of any kind & is whit in colour.
Venom
These snakes are highly venomous. The wound may get swollen & normal pain occurs. Abdominal pain, ptosis takes place, becomes harder to breath. Becomes hard to speak & hard to put the tongue out. The victim might be in shock & may even faint. The bites cause human fatal if not given the correct medical aid in time.
Dentition
Rather short fangs are fixed & cannot be moved. The venom is highly toxic, causing respiratory failure. The fangs are proteroglyphous type. They tend to hold the when attacking.
Behavior
Nocturnal when foraging & it hides under piles of debris, termite mounds, or rodent holes during day time. They are terrestrial & prefer wet palaces. When it’s not aggressive, flattening the body & attempt to hide its head under its body. Some times the juveniles are seen to wag the tail tip keeping it high up. At night it may bite without provocation. Most human bites are taken place in the night when sleeping on the flow.
Breeding
Males are known to be territorial & show combat dances at the mating season. Mating takes place in August to October. These snakes are oviparous, laying 6-10 eggs that are guarded by females. Eggs hatch in May to July.
Growth
Hatchlings are 266-298mm & grow up to an adult of 800-1700mm.
Food
Most exclusive item in their diet is other small snakes. Cannibalism is known. Also mice, frogs, geckos, skinks & lizards are included. They can feed on animals which are longer than their own body.
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