Ptyas mucosa
Silhouette: Alex Slavenko · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% 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 |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Dhaman sighting in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 16th most-seen of the 32 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Dhaman in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, against under 5% 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.
Among the best
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Dhaman sightings, Sinharaja Forest Reserve ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Satpura National Park (India, about 20%).
Same family: Colubridae
The closest relatives of the Dhaman that you can see in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (family Colubridae, Colubrid Snakes) are Green Vine Snake (about 80%), Boulenger's Keelback (about 50%) and Stripe-Tailed Bronzeback (about 40%), 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 Sinharaja Forest Reserve (16 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
