The Japanese rat snake (''Elaphe climacophora'') is a medium-sized

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

found throughout the

Japanese archipelago The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a archipelago, group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to t ...

(except the far South West) as well as on the Russian-administered

Kunashir Island , other_names = kz, Kün Ashyr; ja, 国後島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , locator_map = File:Kurily Kunashir.svg , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area = , length = , width = f ...

. In Japanese it is known as the ''aodaishō'' or "blue general". It is non-venomous. It is hunted by

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

s and tanukis. The snakes hibernate for three to four months, mate in spring and lay 7–20 eggs in early summer.

Description

Adults reach one to two meters in length and about five centimeters in girth. ''E. climacophora'' is the largest Japanese snake outside Okinawa. They are variable in color, ranging from pale yellow-green to dark blue-green. Juveniles have brown-stripe pattern that may be

mimesis Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including ''imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act ...

of the venomous

mamushi ''Gloydius blomhoffii'', commonly known as the mamushi,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . Japanese moccasin, Japanese pit viper, Qichun snake, Salmusa or Japanese mamushi,Gumprech ...

. An albino form is known, with specimens especially numerous near

Iwakuni is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. History Iwakuni was formerly the castle town of the Iwakuni han, which was formed by Lord Hiroie Kikkawa after he was banished there for supporting the defeated shōgun. The Kikkawa clan ruled ...

, where they are called "Iwakuni white snakes" and revered as messengers of deities and deity-guardians of mountains and rivers. The albino population was protected in 1924 as a "national monument."

Feeding

Japanese rat snakes eat a variety of small animals: rodents, frogs or lizards. They are good at climbing and often raid bird nests. They were favoured by farmers as effective rat control, though unpopular with chicken rearers.

Hybrids

In the German reptile zoo Exotarium Oberhof ''Elaphe climacophora'' mated with '' Elaphe schrenckii'' to produce fertile hybrids. Offspring look very much like ''

Elaphe taeniura The beauty rat snake (''Elaphe taeniura'', once of the Orthriophis complex), also called the beauty ratsnake, the beauty snake, or the cave racer, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to the eastern and southeast ...

''.

References

Ratsnakes.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2562020 Elaphe Snakes of Asia Reptiles of Japan Reptiles of Russia Reptiles described in 1826 Taxa named by Heinrich Boie