Montpellier snake

Description:

Is a species of colubrid. It is up to 2.00 metres (7 ft) long and may weigh up to 1.5 kilograms (3 lb). It is active during the day and mainly feeds on lizards. Their colour/pattern varies with age; as juveniles they can either be gray with slightly darker cross band-type markings along the back or they can be very well marked, grayish brown with darker markings of the same kind, their bellies as juveniles are sometimes greenish, orange. In older juveniles they become less colourful. Below the head they sometimes have a very pretty pattern: white background colour with orange or red fire-like markings. As they grow, some specimens take longer than others to lose these patterns but at about 110 cm they become much more uniform, being dark green, dark gray. Sometimes when they are older, they have a patch, sometimes green or even black or dark blue, just behind their neck. Their belly is whitish with various small darker markings, sometimes the belly is more creamy. Found in western Europe, in Portugal, Spain (except northern coast) and Mediterranean France, there is a small area in Italy near the French boarder where they have been recently observed. As juveniles, they have many predators: mainly small mammals, birds of prey and so on. As adults they do not have many predators. At large size, they are not hunted by birds of prey, however they often get killed by humans, especially on roads.

Habitat:

They live in dry open areas, rich of rocky formations and often with dense vegetation nearby. They are more common in these habitats when there is permanent water nearby. I found it in a river, after she had frightened a group of swimmers.

Notes:

It's a male