Indian Rat Snake - Flickering Beauty !

nobody@flickr.com (Captain Suresh Sharma) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:02:38 -0700

© Capt Suresh Sharma. All Rights Reserved

Rat Snake is probably the fastest snake of India. Its swift movement, size and colour (there are many shades of colour, dark gray to yellow or brown). Mostly, its mistaken as female cobra, as its size and color are similar to the cobras. I am sure most of you know the consequences of a snake that is sighted by humans. It’s a non-venomous snake and harmless, which is hard for common man to believe, as they consider a dark looking large snake as venomous.

Rat snakes are large, which grow to a length of 2 ½ meters or more, found wherever rats and frogs/toads are prevalent. So, they are often found in rice fields and in human habitation.

The rat snake is active during the day, hunting for rodents, frogs, toads and birds along fields and in bushes. Large rat snakes can give a painful bite and are quick to defend themselves. If one is bitten by a rat snake, then one must wash the bite area with germicide liquid and get a tetanus injection.

I have heard the large one growl using their throat, when they are freshly caught, by inflating their neck. The female lays about 8 to 16 eggs and the young start their diet on frogs. During the breeding season, male rat snakes perform a combat dance and its quite a sight to see, both the snakes rise very high in air while resting on their tails. Also, this is their way of defending their area they live in and preventing other male snakes from coming into their territory.

I have posted this old image, once again, which was done with Canon Power Shot G5, basically to burst the myth of budding photographers that `one can NOT do good photography with non-SLR cameras'. You can see the clarity and I have captured the flicker of the tongue well with basic camera. Not that I am a great photographer, just to tell you that these non-SLR cameras are capable of giving you magical results. Save your money and buy SLRs only when you need to shoot something with special lenses and action.

One can shoot wildlife in one's backyard as well, we did this shot in our balcony, while my wife Dr Rajbir handled the snake.

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nobody@flickr.com (Captain Suresh Sharma) — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 16:54:10 -0700

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Indian Rat Snake - Flickering Beauty !

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