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Project Noah Nature School
Spilotes pullatus mexicanus
This really big Mexican Tiger Rat Snake went across the trail right under the bridge that crosses the Barranca de Metlac. It was between 5 and 6 feet long. It looks really thin to me, but are supposedly more laterally compressed, especially when nervous. Theses snakes are non-venomous constrictors and feed on almost anything from small mammals to birds, amphibians and eggs. They can also be arboreal and in fact, this one in the third picture is heading up a tree at the edge of the trail. They can be up to 8 feet long, have a distinct neck, large eyes and yellow nose. The mexicanus subspecies is noticeably more golden as adults. These pictures were taken with an iPhone, so they are not really clear. I have never seen this snake before, not even in the reptile sections of our zoos here. It is really an impressive snake to come across in the wild. The Barranca de Metlac is an ecologically protected area with heavy forest and a river.
Forest trail, Barranca de Metlac, Fortin de Las Flores, Veracruz, Mexico.
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/spe... http://whozoo.org/Anlife2001/jeffcate/Je... http://naturalista.conabio.gob.mx/taxa/2... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spilotes_p... http://www.primareptilia.com/spp_care.ht...
My husband stepped over the snake thinking it was a garden hose (people here often have hoses running from rivers or streams to their homes out in the middle of nowhere). The pictures were taken after that when it decided to run for cover. Scared him to death!!
Hi Ashley, Thank you for the ID! I sure was off and it sure does look like the pictures of the Dessert Kingsnake, but even more like what it really is. I learned a lot about it and feel honored to have even seen it. I'm glad you told me about the flattening of the body, because I thought the poor thing was starving. :)
It is very common for this species to flatten their bodies vertically when they feel threatened :)
Spotted on Apr 14, 2015
Submitted on Feb 14, 2016
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