May 16th

Adorned Graceful Brown Snake: Rhadinaea decorata by Ian.Kate.Bruce's Wildlife

Adorned Graceful Brown Snake is the preferred English name for this delightful Spanish named Culebra-café adornada and we prefer it to the other common names e.g. Red-bellied Litter Snake or Salmon-bellied Racer Snake. A delightful small snake, rarely more than 12 inches long with a mild venom, fatal to anoles, lizards and frogs but harmless to humans, and an unusual snake defence against predators: like some lizards it sheds its own tail if a predator grabs it! Resident in the rainforests of Central America with colour variants at other altitudes, its distribution is not fully known. This one was photographed in the central rainforests of Costa Rica. By: Ian.Kate.Bruce's Wildlife