Red Tailed RacerSoutheast Asia Snakes |
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Snakes ~ Rat Snakes ~ Red-Tailed Racer The red tailed racer is a medium-bodied arboreal rat snake that occupies lowland to mid-level rainforest. They are common and widely-distributed across the Peninsular. They are usually completely green except for the yellowish labials and lower cheeks. A faint stripe runs from the snout through the eye and fades off towards the neck. The tongue is blue and the tail tip is a dark rusty brown. Red-tailed rat snakes are aggressive and flare up their throats and bodies when under duress. They hunt birds and rodents in the wild, using constriction as a killing method. Gonyosoma oxcephalum can be differentiated from Elaphe prasina by their much larger size, stripe through the eye and rusty brown tail; features that the green tree racer lacks. in Southeast Asia, this species occurs in Malaysia, Borneo, Thailand and Indonesia, some with different colour forms. |
This red-tailed racer was born from a WC gravid female with hypomelanistic colouration, giving it an olive appearance instead of green. Such specimens do occur in the wild naturally even at adulthood.