Talk:Ptyas mucosa

• Proposed corrections for Ptyas mucosa (LINNAEUS, 1758).

I saw this enormous snake during my field work on cotton fields in Tajikistan near the border with Afghanistan. I noted it in a large irrigation ditch (channel) about 5 m wide and 1.5 m deep, densely overgrown with reed and other grasses. Suddenly I heard a snarl (loud purr) and saw a huge grey-brown snake in the middle of ditch. The snake was swimming with a speed of pedestrian, keeping its fore part with a head above the water. This part was like a hand together with forearm of adult men (30-40 cm long and the same diameter like the forearm). I followed the beast close along the ditch about 100 m, trying to measure its length with my steps. When I finally came abreast with its head, it dove under water and disappeared. As for me, this animal was at least 4 m long, maybe 4.5 m. Unfortunately, I had no camera that time. Returning home, I identified the snake as Ptyas mucosa by use of Bannikov A.G., Darevsky I.S., Rustamov A.K. Amphibia and reptiles of the USSR, Moscow, 1971. But to my great surprise, I read that this species was the largest snake in the USSR with the length up to 2 m, being absent in Tajikistan. Just recently I found a book (S. Shammakov, Ch. Ataev, On snakes of Turkmenistan, Ashakhabad, 1972) with a photo of the Ptyas mucosa 2.3 m long; and another handbook (P.V. Terentyev, S.A. Chernov, Keys to reptiles and Amphibia of the USSR, Moscow, 1949) with the size of the snake 3585 mm (3.6 m) between snout and anus, and ratio between body and tail about 3. It means that the full length of the snake can reach 4.5—4.8 m. Now I am happy that saw once the largest snake in the Palaearctic Region. It is a pity that this information about the size and distribution of the species is absent in the Internet databases.Grichanov (talk) 07:41, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

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Ptyas mucosa, the Indian rat snake, is a common species of colubrid snake found in parts of southern and southeastern Asia. Growing to a length of 1.5 to 1.9 m (5 to 6 ft), they are very slender, diurnal and semi-arboreal. They inhabit forest floors, wetlands, rice paddies, and farmland, and are frequently found in urban areas where rodents thrive. They are harmless to humans, but are fast-moving and adept at catching the small mammals, birds, amphibians and other reptiles on which they feed, subduing their prey by lying on and suffocating them.

Photograph credit: Augustus Binu

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