Saturday, December 24, 2016

කුණු මී කරවලා[Kunu Mee Karawala]/මල් රදනකයා[Mal Radanakaya]/Flowery Wolf Snake(Lycodon osmanhilli)

An endemic Non venomous snake occurs in all parts of the island up to about 2000 m a.s.l. Rather common in urban and sub urban areas. It is found under flower pots, piles of stones, loose soil, cracks and crevices of walls and parapets in houses, stacked bricks and piles of woods. Flowery Wolf Snake is a nocturnal terrestrial snake and it feeds on geckos, other snakes, rodents, insects, etc. It is very aggressive snake especially at night and savagely bite when handling. When cornered it hides its head underneath the coil of its body and sometimes empty its bowels with a smell similar to rotten dead mice. Hence its Sinhalese name කුණු මී කරවලා. It is an oviparous snake and lays 8 to 10 eggs at one time. Flowery Wolf Snakes often enter human habitations and are killed on sight as many believes it as a venomous snake. Some authors considered Lycodon osmanhilli as a color variety of Lycodon aulicus

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