Gonyosoma oxycephalum
Encyclopedia
The Red-tailed Green Ratsnake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) is a species of snake found in Southeast Asia
. It is a thin snake with powerful and rough scales on its belly, ideal for climbing and moving in trees. It has smaller, smooth scales on its back.
As its name indicates, the snake has a green body with a red tail (usually brownish), and it also has a dark line horizontally across its eye. On the sides of its black tongue there may be a blue colour.
The red-tailed green ratsnake lives and spends its life in the trees and in cavities in trees. It seldom descends to the ground. It feeds almost exclusively on birds, but in captivity it can be trained to feed on small mammals . The female can reach a length of up to 2.4 m (almost 8 feet), while the male is generally a little bit smaller. Its average life span is 15 years. It reaches sexually maturity at the age of 4 years, and its eggs have a hatching time from 13 to 16 weeks. The female lays on average between 3 and 8 eggs usually between September and January and the hatchlings are about 45 cm (18 inches) long.
When the snake is stressed, it may inflate a bag of air in its neck, making it appear larger in size.
In captivity, it has quite the 'attitude' and may strike at or bite an unwary handler.
Type locality Indonesia: Java (Boie, 1827)
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. It is a thin snake with powerful and rough scales on its belly, ideal for climbing and moving in trees. It has smaller, smooth scales on its back.
As its name indicates, the snake has a green body with a red tail (usually brownish), and it also has a dark line horizontally across its eye. On the sides of its black tongue there may be a blue colour.
The red-tailed green ratsnake lives and spends its life in the trees and in cavities in trees. It seldom descends to the ground. It feeds almost exclusively on birds, but in captivity it can be trained to feed on small mammals . The female can reach a length of up to 2.4 m (almost 8 feet), while the male is generally a little bit smaller. Its average life span is 15 years. It reaches sexually maturity at the age of 4 years, and its eggs have a hatching time from 13 to 16 weeks. The female lays on average between 3 and 8 eggs usually between September and January and the hatchlings are about 45 cm (18 inches) long.
When the snake is stressed, it may inflate a bag of air in its neck, making it appear larger in size.
In captivity, it has quite the 'attitude' and may strike at or bite an unwary handler.
Distribution
- IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(Bangka, Belitung, Java, Kalimantan/BorneoKalimantanIn English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....
, Karimata, LegundiLegundiLegundi is an island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. It is one of the larger islands in the Strait, and lies at the western end of Sumatra's Lampong Bay....
, LombokLombokLombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east...
, Mentawai islandsMentawai IslandsThe Mentawai Islands are a chain of about seventy islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Siberut is the largest of the islands. The other major islands are Sipura, North Pagai and South Pagai . The islands lie approximately 150 km off the Sumatran coast, across the...
, Natuna islandsNatuna IslandsThe Natuna Islands archipelago is located in the Natuna Sea in the larger Tudjuh Archipelago, off the northwest coast of Borneo. The islands are administratively part of the Riau Islands province of Indonesia and are the northernmost non-disputed island group of Indonesia...
, NiasNiasNīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....
, PanaitanPanaitanPanaitan is an island in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. It is the largest island in the strait, and is located near the westernmost tip of Java . Like the nearby Krakatoa, it too is volcanic in origin, although there are no known historic eruptions...
, Riau archipelagoRiau ArchipelagoNot to be confused with Riau Islands Province, a province of Indonesia.The Riau Archipelago is the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore...
, SebukuSebukuSebuku is an island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. It is one of the larger islands in the strait and lies just to the north of Sebesi and south of Sumatra...
, SumatraSumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Tambelan archipelagoTambelan archipelagoTambelan archipelago is a group of islands off the west coast of West Kalimantan, , Indonesia, just north of the equator. Geographically they are part of the Tudjuh Archipelago, and administratively part of the Riau Islands Province...
), - Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia, Pulau Tioman ?),
- SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
Island, Penang IslandPenang IslandPenang Island is part of the state of Penang, on the west coat of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British East India Company on 12 August 1786, in honour of the birthday of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV...
, - IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Andaman IslandsAndaman IslandsThe Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
), - MyanmarMyanmarBurma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
(= Burma), - ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
(incl. PhuketPhuket ProvincePhuket , formerly known as Thalang and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon , is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...
), CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, - Philippine Islands (Balabac, Bohol, Lubang, LuzonLuzonLuzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, Negros, Palawan, Sulu Archipelago, Panay)
Type locality Indonesia: Java (Boie, 1827)