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Just lucked into a handsome 3' male Ptyas korros. it's one half of a pair (my friend has the female). What is interesting is he is a pale tan-to slightly grayish with bluish sides like a blue racer, while she is Mahogany brown. Both have beautiful canary yellow veneers.

Leads to the question: Are they possibly dimorphic by color, or is this normal variation (I am assuming these two which were part of a lot consisting of several pairs) were collected at the same locality.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Glad to hear there are some of these floating around. It would be great if these could be established in US collections.

>>Leads to the question: Are they possibly dimorphic by color, or is this normal variation

My guess is that P. korras is variable across it's range. A PhD friend of mine from India said he collected these all the time in the rice fields of his homeland and that they all looked the same. That at least suggests they are not dimorphic in India.

We also did an internet and library search and found a lot of variation in coloration/pattern in photographed live specimens. I recall him being surprised at what some of the P. korras looked like.

Keep us posted. What is the snake like to work with?
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Think black racer. When I took it from the pillow case first he tried to do the jerk free move and then he bit me. After that he settled down till I put him in a 50gl tank. He nosed the perimiter till I put in a section of cork which he promply hid under. Dropped in two fuzzies and when I came back they were gone.

About the most interesting thing is the tail. It's almost half his body length.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

When your new arrival calms down I sure would like to see some pics.Thanks Paul.

Will get on it in a few days (hopefully) when its acclimatised. I just hope the camera can catch the subtle blue on it's sides.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

These are nice snakes. I had a pair for a few years but the male never truely recovered from being imported. They both looked like this so I think your color is just local variation. Good luck breeding.

Thanks for the photo! Mine is very similar to the one you have there except there is a band of blue shading in the last 2-3 rows of dorsal scales. He is also a nice orange in the face.

As I have only kept P. mucosus (or mucosa-depending on source)I am looking forward to new experience here.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

>>As I have only kept P. mucosus (or mucosa-depending on source)I am looking forward to new experience here.

When I read this post I realized my friend from India probably was talking about P. mucosa and not P. korros, although I believe both are native to India.

So my information may not, after all, reject the idea that P. korros is dimorphic.

Sorry for any confusion.

I'll try to e-mail him.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

You're right - P. mucosus and P. korros both occur in India. An old source (I think Pope's Snakes of the World), refers to them as the Greater Indian Ratsnake and the Lesser Indian Ratsnake. P. korros according to two sources I have either grows from 5 - 7 feet or 7 - 8 feet, definetely a fair sight smaller than the projected 12 feet of P. mucosus, or P. carinatus. I have a projected 2.3 P. korros coming to me in a few weeks. Hopefully I'll have some success with breeding these snakes. I'd like to see something new and interesting established in the trade.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Thanks Matt. I was just about 100% certain both were native. Hopefully my Indian friend will have e-mail contact soon and can let me know if he's noticed any dimorphism within any given locality or if these species are simply variable across their range. I'm sure he's caught dozens of both species throughout India during his field studies on other species.

Do you mind sharing your source for P. korros? Will these be your personal animals or part of a work-related project?
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)