ANIMAL: Thai Bamboo Ratsnake/Thai Bamboo Racer/Red Mountain Ratsnake/Red Mountain Racer Oreocryptophis coxi Type of Animal: Colubrid Habitat: Humid/moist secondary forest, humid/moist bamboo forest, mountainous karst regions w/ lots of rocks/caves, mountain/montane forest, plains w/ rocks & bamboo, tropical forest, monsoon forest, hill forest, mountainous areas Location(s): N Thailand Appearance: Slender body w/ smooth scalation, belly cream to white, red or orange ground color w/ black lines/stripes, hatchlings brighter than adults, small squarish head Food/Diet: Small mammals, amphibians, lizards, young birds, bird eggs, reptile eggs Status in Wild: Stable Conservation: Breeding in zoos & herpetoculture Lifestyle: Solitary Additional Info: Called: Male Female Young: Snakelet Group: Solitary Weight: Male: 0.7 lbs Female: 1 lb Young: 3 oz Gestation: 4 months Life Span: 10-15 years Body Length: Male: 2 ft Female: 3.25 ft Young: 1 ft Tail Length: 0.5 ft, same for both sexes Main predators are larger snakes, monitor lizards, birds, & mammals. Most active in early morning & late afternoon. Sometimes nocturnal & crepuscular as well. Spend much of their time burrowing/hiding under logs/rocks/moss/grass Very secretive in wild. Females can lay up to 3, sometimes as many as 5, egg clutches a year, each w/ 2-12 eggs. Sexually mature at 1.5-2 years old. Males mature before females. Courtship consists of male by gliding/twitching along female’s body trying to lift tail inserting hemipenis into cloaca. Mating can last from 30 minutes to 5 hours. Females often have post-laying shed 2 weeks after laying eggs. Often hybridize w/ very closely related Red Bamboo Ratsnakes/Red Bamboo Racers. Often hibernate in very cool weather. Fun Fact(s): Almost unknown in captivity until late 1980s. Known as ngu thang maphao daeng in Thai. They can be voracious feeders & sometimes bites result from feeding response. Sometimes kept as pets w/ temperament ranging from docile to defensive. If threatened, 1st reaction is to crawl away & hide. If that doesn’t work, they’ll raise front half of body off ground & go in classical S position while twitching tail against ground/surrounding objects creating distracting noise. If that doesn’t work & provoked enough, they’ll bite.
