Common Indian Cat Snake (Boiga trigonata) | Snake | Wildkeeda

Common Indian Cat Snake (Boiga trigonata) | Snake | Wildkeeda

Common Cat Snake : Boiga trigonata

Common Cat Snake

Boiga trigonata (Schneider In: Bechstein, 1802)

MILDLY VENOMOUS

At hatching 250mm (10in) Adults 650mm (26in)

Maximum 1250mm (49 in)

Description

Body colour light yellow or greyish brown; uniform, or speckled with dark merkings, and with a vertebral series of large, light, black-edged, angular or "V" shared or "Y" shaped spots, which may be connected to another at the vertebral line. Lower part yellowish, uniform or with small black spots on outer margins of the ventrals head brownish with a light, black edged, inverted "Y" shaped mark a light stripe runs above the eye to the angle of the jaw. The Common indian cat snake ( boiga trigonata ) is often mistaken for the Saw scaled Viper (a stubby snake which has tiny uniform, rough scales on top of the head and a very short tail

Scalation

Scales in 21:21: 15 oblique rows, smooth. Vertebrals larger than the adjacent scales. Ventrals 206-256: anal entire; subcaudals 75-96, paired. Boiga trigonata

Behavior

Nocturnal: spends the day coiled up in palmyra fronds, among bushes, in thatched roofs, under tree  or stones. An excellent . Common in many areas. often in houses, but, like other nocturnal snakes, rarely seen. Rear fanged. Mild venom Snake can paralyze small prey (lizards, mice, and small birds). Its sensitive tongue can obviously t sleeping lizards. In North India, 3 to 10 eggs laid in August/ September. When disturbed, may coil tightly, strike repeatedly, and vibrate tail. Common cat snake : Boiga trigonata

Distribution

Common cat snake : Boiga trigonata

Elsewhere in India: Peninsular India. Elsewhere outside. Pakistan, Nepal, Sikkim, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Throughout most of South Asia, but not the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Look alikes

Saw scaled Viper. Eastern Cat Snake. Beddome's Cat Snake.