Types of vine snakes

Ahaetulla is a genus of slender, day-active tree snakes in the family Colubridae, the largest snake family. The common name covers the Asian vine snakes and whipsnakes, including the Oriental Whipsnake, the Indian Vine Snake, the Northern Western Ghats Vine Snake, and the Long-nosed Whipsnake. Our database lists 20+ species, and ongoing study keeps revising species boundaries within the group.

These snakes range across South and Southeast Asia, from India and Sri Lanka through southern China and out into the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines. They are arboreal and live in forests, scrub, plantations, gardens, and other vegetated places, where they move through branches and foliage hunting by sight. They are most active in the daytime.

Members are easy to recognize as a group. The body is extremely long and thin, often a vivid green or sometimes brown or gray, with a narrow, sharply pointed head and an elongated snout. The most distinctive feature is the horizontal, keyhole or keyhole-slit shaped pupil, paired with a groove along the snout that gives these snakes unusually good binocular vision for judging distance to prey. They often sway gently, blending with wind-moved vines.

Ahaetulla are rear-fanged and mildly venomous. They have enlarged grooved teeth at the back of the upper jaw and a venom suited to subduing small prey. They are not considered dangerous to people and bites are rare, but they are not harmless either. A bite from a rear-fanged snake can cause local swelling, pain, or other reactions, and individual sensitivity varies. Do not handle a wild snake to test how it reacts. If a bite occurs, seek medical care; in the US contact Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222, and elsewhere contact local emergency services.

Ecologically they are sit-and-wait and active visual hunters that feed mainly on lizards, frogs, and small birds, using their keen eyesight to strike. Most species are viviparous, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Behavior is generally calm and cryptic; when threatened they may inflate the neck to show vivid skin between the scales and gape, relying on camouflage and bluff far more than on biting.