Colubrid snakes are mostly harmless snakes, having an aglyphous dentition, lacking fangs that deliver venom. Just like the boas and pythons, the boids, they kill their prey by suffocation, but some even seem to swallow the prey alive. The Colubridae is the largest snake family, including two-thirds of all snake species. Other members of this family do have fangs and venom glands, but the fangs are positioned at the rear of the mouth, hence the name “rear fanged” or “opisthoglyph”.
Most of these snakes are mildly venomous, with some exceptions, for example the African boomslangs (Dispholidus typus) and twigsnakes (Thelotornis species), which venoms can lead to hemorrhagic death. At Parque Reptilandia we exhibit both aglyphous and opistoglyphous snake species. Costa Rican non-venomous species shown are: the tiger ratsnakes (Spilotes pullatus), the birdsnakes (Phrynonax poecilonotus), the boas (Boa imperator) and treeboas (Corallus species).
Rear fanged snakes in the collection are for example the Costa Rican green vine snake (Oxybelis fulgidus), the Asian mangrove snake (Boiga dendrophila) and the Blandings tree snake (Toxicodryas blandingii) from Africa. The beautiful mangrove snake uses both venom and constriction to immobilize its prey. It is the most effective way to not loose food when living in the trees. Here in our gardens at the pacific coast, you might see other rear fanged snakes foraging for food.
The parrot snake (Leptophis ahaetulla) and the brown vine snake (Oxybelis aeneus) are active day hunters. At night you might tumble on the cat eyed snakes (Leptodeira species) and blunt headed snakes (Imantodes cenchoa). All kill their prey with venom which is injected by the two grooved fangs at the upper rear of their mouth. Their venom poses no danger to us human beings and to remember a snake never bites if not molested.
By Roel de Plecker
CONTACT: Roel de Plecker – Reptilandia
