Copperhead Racer

Southeast Asia Snakes

Snakes ~ Rat Snakes ~ Copperhead Racer

The copperhead racer is a common rat snake species found throughout Southeast Asia all the way up to India (including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand), in a wide range of rainforest habitats. It is often encountered in agricultural plantations and sometimes in urban habitats, even from tiny pockets of secondary forest within cities. The base colour is a cream brown and mid-way onwards, the complexion becomes more brick or orange. There are two lateral black stripes that extend through the upper body, the one near the dorsum being the broader stripe.

The head has a peculiar pattern with three stripes running from the orbit; two towards the lower jaw and one to the back of the head. This terrestial and diurnal species is rather aggressive and flares up its throat in a striking position when threatened. They consume a wide variety of prey including frogs, lizards and rodents in the wild. Elaphe radiata is also the only snake species in Southeast Asia that feigns death as a defensive mechanism when threatened. This behaviour is not yet officially documented, but will be in future.