Ptyas mucosa
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% 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 Thrissur on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 8 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Dhaman in Thrissur on a given day, against under 5% in April to July, the lowest months. That is one of Thrissur's wettest months, with about 300 mm of rain against 10 mm in January.
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.
Among the best
Of the 28 cities where we can rate Dhaman sightings, Thrissur ranks 2nd at about 40%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Lucknow (India, about 40%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Dhaman that you can see in Thrissur (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Chequered Keelback (about 40%), Indian Wolf Snake (about 30%) and Buff Striped 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 Thrissur (9 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.
