Interlude with a red vine snake

It had rained hard for much of the afternoon and the rainforest trails were muddy and very slippery. Trail-crossing creeks were running high, and some slopes, normally steep but safe, had become a true challenge. In other words, the rainforest weather we were experiencing was being very typical rainforest weather: rain, clear, rain, clear, rain...

I had about a half-dozen herpers with me and a few others were with Lorrie, who was either ahead of us or who had started her hike on the opposite end of the same loop trail. The boops, barks, and whistles of various treefrog species serenaded us as we walked slowly along, stopping to look at an insect here or a frog there.

By the time we had reached the intersection (right kept us on the short trail, left was the long trail where if we missed the next turn we could walk until the day after tomorrow) it had begun raining again. In front of us was a huge stand of bananas and a few of our hikers wanted to divert the rain by holding a big banana leaf over their head.

So into the bananas we went, and it was a good thing we did. Just past the first row, at a height of about 8 feet, was a beautiful, slender, red snake -- a red vine snake, Siphlophis compressus.

Rain or not, our night had then been made.

More photos under the jump...

Red vine snakes are seldom seen on the ground: Facial image of the red vine snake. Note the elliptical pupils of this nocturnal species:

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.