page_title: Ptyas mucosa
section_title: Behavior
hierarchical_section_title: Ptyas mucosa / Behavior
caption_attribution_description: English: Indian Rat Snake
context_page_description: Ptyas mucosa, commonly known as the oriental ratsnake, Indian rat snake, 'darash' or dhaman, is a common species of colubrid snake found in parts of South and Southeast Asia. Dhamans are large snakes. Typical mature total length is around 1.5 to 1.95 m though specimens exceeding 2 m are not uncommon. The record length for this species was recorded as 3.7 m, second in size perhaps only to their cousin Ptyas carinata among all known living colubrid snakes. Despite their large size, oriental ratsnakes are usually quite slender with even a specimen of 2 m commonly measuring 4 to 6 cm only around in diameter. Furthermore, the average weight of ratsnakes caught in Java was around 877 to 940 g, though larger males of over 2.3 m may easily weigh over 2.5 kg. Their colour varies from pale browns in dry regions to nearly black in moist forest areas. Dhamans are diurnal, semi-arboreal, non-venomous, and fast-moving. Dhamans eat a variety of prey and are frequently found in urban areas where rodents thrive.
context_section_description: Rat snakes, though harmless to humans, are fast-moving, excitable snakes. In captivity, individuals remain highly territorial and may continue to defend their turf aggressively, attempting to startle or strike at passing objects. Rat snakes are diurnal and semi-arboreal. They inhabit forest floors, wetlands, rice paddies, farmland, and suburban areas where they prey upon small reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Adults, unusually for a colubrid, prefer to subdue their prey by sitting on it rather than by constricting, using body weight to weaken prey.
  Rat snakes mate in late spring and early summer, though in tropical areas reproduction may take place year round. Males establish boundaries of territory using a ritualised test of strength in which they intertwine their bodies. The behaviour is sometime misread by observers as a "mating dance" between opposite-sex individuals. Females produce 6–15 eggs per clutch several weeks after mating.
  Adult members of this species emit a growling sound and inflate their necks when threatened. This adaptation may represent mimicry of the king cobra or Indian cobra which overlaps this species in range. The resemblance often backfires in human settlements, though, as the harmless animal is then mistaken for a venomous snake and killed.
caption: Indian rat snake on a branch
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