The bipartite glandular snake belongs to the common family of aspids. It is simultaneously impossibly beautiful and extremely dangerous creature. We will talk more about its behavior and external data in the article.
Description of the Two-Banded Iron Snake
Two-lane glandular - one of the most impressive snakes in the wild. This species is quite common in the deep southern mountains of Thailand and Malaysia. This snake is easily confused with Calamaria schlegeli, also found in Malaysia, Singapore, Bali, Java and Sumatra. Thais call her ngoo bik thong dang.
Appearance
The bipartite yellow snake grows up to 180 centimeters. Its average size is usually about 140-150 centimeters. This length is considered an average. Her head, belly and tail are brilliant red. It received the name of a two-lane due to a pair of strips of bright blue located on the sides along its entire body. Looking at the brightness of this animal, one should understand why nature has endowed it with it. The brighter the snake, the more dangerous it is. Her colorful body, as it were, says, "Caution, poison!" The nose of the glandular two-lane is dull, which allows her to rummage through deciduous garbage, where she spends most of her time. The eyes are rather small, located wide on the sides of the head.
In general, the snake looks very attractive, it has a catchy appearance, emphasized by bright contrasting colors, including a combination of orange, red, blue and black. Her skin is covered with smooth, shiny scales. The "rank" of the glandular is given to the snake also for a reason. The glands of this animal contain extremely dangerous poison, which can be fatal for humans. The size of the gland itself significantly exceeds the average statistics of other snakes. They do not end at the level of the head, but continue along the body, occupying about a third of its total length. The action of the poison has a directed action and attacks primarily the central nervous system.
It is interesting!Due to the structural features of the venomous snake gland, other internal organs were also forced to displace. The heart, for example, has shifted slightly downward relative to its traditional arrangement with other snakes. Also, the glandular two-lane snake lacks one lung. This feature is characteristic of all snakes of the aspid family.
The teeth of the animal look especially dangerous through which it releases poison into its victim. They are noticeably larger than the rest of the dentition, also advanced slightly forward. In order for the victim not to be able to free so easily, they are slightly bent inwards, which, when bitten, forms a small curved hook. During the attack, poison injects only one tooth. The second serves as a kind of "reserve" so that during the period of renewal, when the working tooth falls out, this one performs its function. And so on in order of priority.
Character and lifestyle
A ferruginous two-lane snake can be met quite rarely, despite its rather variegated coloring. The thing is that these animals are mostly secretive. That is their way of life. In addition, these snakes come out of the shelter only at night, the time of hunting for prey. In the daytime, they prefer to hide from the eyes of men. The only exceptions are cloudy and rainy days. They always try to avoid a person as a potential threat. Even meeting with this snake may not be dangerous, because if the animal is not touched, it will rather make an attempt to escape than to attack.
Stings two-lane glandular only in cases of imminent threat. At the same time, the two-lane asp is a virtuoso "artist". Before the eyes of danger, he will wriggle, twist, stand up, trying to confuse the attacker. The snake will wriggle in such a way as to substitute for the enemy instead of the head any other, less important part of the body. In ancient times, it was even believed that these snakes had two heads. Their image was decorated with banners and other objects for the award of honors.
Despite the high toxicity, these snakes are quite defenseless. They see almost nothing and hear very poorly. They do not know how to move quickly, and while running away from the offender they give out unthinkably clumsy pa. It’s easy enough to stumble upon a two-lane asp in pitch darkness and step on it. By the way, that is why most snake bites happen on humans. The bitten one should be helped urgently, since in speed he can die from suffocation.
How long does a snake live?
Calculating the age of a certain type of snake is extremely difficult. The exact life expectancy of this species has not been reliably established, since it is almost impossible to keep them in terrariums, which makes observation impossible. The viper is recognized as the established and fixed long-liver among snakes. In the wild, she lives up to 12 years.
It is interesting!The life span of snakes is influenced by factors such as hereditary diseases, the number of natural enemies and limited habitat (snakes generally do not move over distances of more than 100 meters).
Serpentologists argue that the estimated maximum age of life directly depends on the size of the animal. The larger the snake, the longer it lives. For example, pythons live up to thirty years, and snakes up to ten on average.
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is not expressed.
Habitat, habitat
These snakes love to settle on tops of rocks among the deep blockages of damp, fallen tree leaves. Such conditions are typical for the areas of Southeast Asia. For example, such as Cambodia or Thailand. You can also meet them in Laos. Their distribution is also characteristic of the Sunda Islands of Indonesia. A two-lane snake can locate its home directly on agricultural land, or in the depths of the forest. She does not accept open spaces. She is attracted to places in which it is easy to get lost even with such a bright appearance. It is most often shrubby or woody.
It is interesting!For shelters, this snake does not build its own nests, but willingly occupies other people's burrows or crevices of soil and rocks. She can hide in the shady part between the stones.
The ferruginous snake likes the terrain located near the reservoirs, and she also does not like medium elevations. She needs to be either 600-800 meters higher, or occupy lowlands. Initially, the two-lane iron snake was confused with half-burrowing species due to its addiction to burrowing. She gladly burrows in deciduous mounds, soil at the foot of trees, small pebbles or sand.
Bipartite Iron Snake Diet
The basis of nutrition is the extraction of other snakes, lizards, frogs and small birds. In addition to the main animal diet, cannibalism is common among representatives of this species. However, they do not feed on their closest relatives. They rarely allow themselves to catch anyone other than calamaria or a dwarf snake for food.
Breeding and offspring
This is an egg-laying species of snakes, in a clutch, in which, as a rule, one to three eggs are located. The eggs are leathery on the outside, characteristic of snakes. More detailed information on the process of breeding two-lane glandular snakes is speculative, as they still have not been able to observe in an artificial terrarium. Therefore, one can only speculate. The behavior of male and female during the mating season is impossible to predict.
Presumably, the nest is built in the female habitat, pre-selected with suitable plant content. Most snakes, like a two-lane asp, do not monitor the safety and fate of posterity after its birth. However, theoretically, the female still protects the egg-laying.
Natural enemies
There are practically no enemies for a two-lane iron snake. However, she herself can carry a huge danger to all living things. All coral snakes should be considered as potentially deadly, however, many people freely contacted them at their own peril and risk. The death of a person occurs as a result of a snakebite and its injection of poison. The world knows cases when people bitten by a glandular two-lane snake died five minutes after the poison got into the body. Therefore, you should be very careful not to step on or just not get close to this snake in the wild, especially since you should not hold it in your hands.
It is interesting!We must not forget that the snake is not a fluffy pet at home, it is a real predator. In the best case, she perceives a person as a warm tree. If such an animal feels an approaching threat, a lightning reaction follows.
Neurotoxic poison, which penetrates the blood without causing pain, acts almost instantly on the body, blocking nerve impulses transmitted to the muscles of the whole body. Difficulty breathing occurs as the poison disables muscle contractions - the diaphragm and other major muscle groups. Unfortunately, the antidotes for this snake’s venom do not exist..
It will also be interesting:
The main diagnostic signs of venom of the glandular bipartite snake are local pain and the onset of paralyzing sensations. The bite should be diagnosed as quickly as possible and classified as deadly, so immediate care and hospitalization are mandatory.
Population and species status
There are no reliable data on the population of snakes of the bipedal glandular species at the moment, since these animals lead an overly secretive lifestyle. The species is not threatened with extinction or rapid dangerous decline in numbers.
