Ptyas mucosa
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
Ptyas mucosa, commonly known as the Oriental rat snake, or Indian rat snake, is a common non-venomous species of colubrid snake found in parts of South and Southeast Asia. These are large snakes. Typical mature total length is around 1.5 to 1.95 m (4 ft 11 in to 6 ft 5 in) though some exceed 2 m (6 ft 7 in). The record length for this species was 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in), second only to their cousin Ptyas carinata among living colubrid snakes. Despite their large size, oriental ratsnakes are usually quite slender with even a specimen of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) commonly measuring 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 in) only around in diameter. Furthermore, the average weight of ratsnakes caught in Java was around 877 to 940 g (1.933 to 2.072 lb), though larger males of over 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) (which average mildly larger of the two sexes in the species) may easily weigh over 2.5 kg (5.5 lb). Their color varies from pale browns in dry regions to nearly black in moist forest areas. Rat snakes are diurnal, semi-arboreal, non-venomous, and fast-moving. Rat snakes eat a variety of prey and are frequently found in urban areas where rodents thrive.
The International Code for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN... Wikipedia →
Recording0:08
India · 2026
© Ajay Malik. · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucknow | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Jabalpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 8 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Chandigarh | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Dehradun | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bondla Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | National Zoological Park Delhi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Thiruvananthapuram Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Children's Park, Guindy | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Siam Serpentarium | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 9 | Snake Farm of Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 10 | Exotarium Sosnowiec | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 11 | Thrissur Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Zoológico La Era de las aves | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Dhaman sighting in Lucknow on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 4th most-seen of the 9 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August, October and December
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Dhaman in Lucknow on a given day, against about 10% in January–April, June–July and September, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dhaman sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 28 cities where we can rate Dhaman sightings, Lucknow has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Thrissur (India, about 40%) and Jabalpur (India, about 40%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Dhaman that you can see in Lucknow (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Indian Wolf Snake (about 50%), Barred Wolf Snake (about 30%) and Chequered Keelback (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dhaman is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Lucknow (8 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
