Meet the Boomslang

DK, the gardener, just called me with the question “Do you like snakes?”.
When I asked him if there is one he confirmed that he saw it climbing halfway up a tree only a couple of minutes ago.

HOW EXCITING!

I grabbed my reptiles book and by his description I was not sure but assumed it could be a boomslang.

Locals are in general very suspicious when it comes to snakes and it was obvious that he did not seem too happy about the fact that there is one around. Still, I had the impression that he was also a bit curious and we both started searching for it.

We screened the surrounding and the tree and eventually found it lying on a branch. And it was indeed a boomslang! My first one!

Boomslangs belong to the family colubrids (colubridae), also referred to as ‘typical snakes’. They have grooved back fangs that contains haemotix venom which affects the blood clotting mechanism, causing severe headaches, bleeding from mucous membranes and internal organs. Their large eyes are distinctive to them and also typical is their habitat, the tree, that they usually only leave to move to another one.

Although I have a deep respect of snakes, it was a wonderful experience to see this one. All the stories you hear from aggressive snakes or boomslangs falling out of trees and attacking innocent people … some might be true but I am not sure if these incidents where not rather random or caused by the human itself. We are curious creatures and often enough ignore the animals space, pushing it into a corner where there is no other option than attack (respectively defense).

I am just happy that DK discovered it. What a beautiful specimen, so fragile and alert and such a gift that it lives just next door, sorry, next tree And maybe DK found some beauty in it as well. There is a saying that you only fear what you don´t understand.

Have a safe day,
Sininho