SUMMARY
VENOM: None
PREVALENCE: Somewhat common
ACTIVE PERIOD: Most active during the day
KEY ID FEATURES: Yellow, brown, with black stripes behind eyes stopping at neck and additional lines from mid sections long spine fading towards the tail which is charcoal black, black markings along the sides for the first third of the body
BEHAVIOR: Fast and readily willing to bite, but will almost always try to flee when encountered
SIZE: Medium - 1.5-2m
QUICK ASSESSMENT 0-10
GALLERY
IMPORTANT: Many snakes have significant variance in coloration and pattern even within the same species. There can also be extreme differences in appearance from juveniles to adults so it is important to never assume you have properly identified a snake.
DESCRIPTION
Can be yellow and or brown with black lateral stripes on the upper half of the body and a yellow dorsal stripe from from the first third fading out towards the tail. Black stripes behind the eyes and jaw terminating at the neck with black markings along the sides from the first third fading out toward the tail. Tail is dark charcoal black. A medium bodies snake, the Copperhead Racer is evenly proportioned relative to its length and when fully grown will be ~3cm in diameter and between 1 and 2 meters long. Medium to large sized gold color round eyes with round pupils on a slender head usually flat brown color on top.
BEHAVIOR
The Yellow Stripes Trinket Snake will puff up their neck when threatened. The neck expands vertically making them look taller rather than displaying the notorious 'hood' seen on cobra species. A harmless defensive tactic but can be unsettling for the inexperienced. These snakes will almost always flee extremely quickly if they sense you approaching and despite a bite from a mature specimen being a bit painful they pose almost no danger to humans and have no venom. They have also been observed to play dead, rolling onto their back and opening their mount. They will stay in this position even if handled for short periods of time but will flee quickly if they feel they have an opportunity.
HABITAT
Yellow Striped Trinket Snakes are found all over Malaysia and range in elevation. They eat rodents, lizards and occasionally birds and as such can be found in grassy and rocky overgrown open spaces well as jogging trails, though they tend not to be found heavily forested or extremely highly elevated areas. Active during the day they are not uncommon to encounter.
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
NO SNAKE SHOULD EVER BE HANDLED BY ANYONE BUT EXPERTS: Generally unique in appearance and not easily confused with other species.