Paradise Tree Snake - Not Dangerous - Just Beautiful

These are ultra-cool snakes for a couple of reasons. Number 1 – their colors. This snake looks like Christmas – right? Amazing oranges, greens, and blacks assault your senses, and make you go ahhhhh if you’re a snake person. If you’re not, you still can’t help but appreciate what god or whatever started this – did with the scales of this amazing beast.

Number 2? They fly. They glide very far when they jump from a high vantage point. They can glide a hundred meters – and probably more, maybe these snakes are limited only by how high they are when they jump.

I don’t know how long the link will be here – but, here is a page full of snakes in this family – jumping and gliding. Amazing videos…

Tree snakes flying videos

Name: Chrysopelea paradisi. Paradise Tree Snake. Also called “flying snake” and “ornate flying snake”.

Length: As long as 1.2 meters (almost 4 feet)

Range: Thailand-wide. This one was found in Krabi province at sea-level in a handbag shop at the beach.

Habitat: Bushes, ground, trees. They are often found in palm tree fronds. I have found them there as well as small trees with big leaves and a lot of open area so they can see – presumably. I have found them as high as 500 meters vertically up a mountain in Thailand, and at sea level.

Active Time? Diurnal – active during the day.

Food: House geckos, Tokay geckos, bats, and frogs.

Defensive Behavior: They bite very quickly, but have small mouths and teeth. There has been no medically significant case of envenomation mentioned in the literature. Still, it wouldn’t be smart to let one bite down on you for long because they do have venom.

Venom Toxicity: Weak for humans. Effective for geckos, frogs and bats. These are rear-fanged colobrids and a prolonged bite could cause swelling and pain at the bite site.

Offspring: Nothing known about this area.

Notes: It is not easy to tell the ornata ornatissima and the paradisi varieties of these snakes apart. I usually say those with the red/orange color on the top and that are darker green – are the paradisi. This is somewhat flawed I think.

This one tried to bite many times and calmed after 10 minutes.

This paradise tree snake was caught grabbing gecko lunch in Singapore by David Joseph. Copyright 2011 - David Joseph. Used with permission.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Colubrinae
Genus: Chrysopelea
Species: C. paradisi
Binomial name – Chrysopelea paradisi
Classified by Boie, in the year 1827

Related posts:

1. Golden Tree Snake – Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima – Common in Thailand
2. Thailand Snake Journal – Golden Tree Snakes (Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima)
3. Golden Tree Snake – Mildly Venomous – Not Very Dangerous
4. Thailand Snake Journal – Caught a Golden Tree Snake
5. Thailand Snake Photos – Twin Barred Tree Snake
6. Snake Photos – Golden Tree Snake and Reticulated Python
7. Thailand Snake Photos – Golden Tree Snake in Bangkok