Red Mountain Racer

Southeast Asia Snakes

Snakes ~ Rat Snakes ~ Red Mountain Racer

The red mountain racer or red bamboo rat snake is a beautiful rat snake found most often above 1000 m in upper-level to montane rainforest. A crepuscular species, the red mountain racer is marked by bold red colouration with bands bordered by a black edge on each side. The ventrals and lower jaw including the throat are white.

Juveniles are even more attractive; their head and bands on the body are yellow but this will eventually fade to orange, and then finally become fully red in adults. Some adult specimens retain a little orange in their bands. In Southeast Asia, this species is native to Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia (Sumatra).

This species is very well-known from the Cameron Highlands in Peninsular Malaysia, but it has been recorded once from Fraser's Hill. This rat snake species enjoys very high humidity in its montane habitat and feed almost exclusively on small mammals such as rodents in the wild as adults.

As juveniles, they have been observed feeding on ground insects. They are quite aggressive and bite unhesitantly when threatened. Males are larger than females, which lay between 4-9 eggs in a single clutch that hatch between 2-4 months depending on the ambient temperature and climate.