Sunbeam Snake(Xenopeltis unicolor)
Habitat: reside in areas in-between el. 400 and 1000 m. It builds its own caves or dwells in soft soils of the fields, under falling leaves, rotten woods and rocks.
Feeding habits: go out to seek for food during the night. It mainly feeds on snakes, frogs, lizards, small rodents, birds and birds' eggs.
Features: it has a small head and two small eyes. Its scales are rather bright. Under sunshine, its scales can reflect blue, gem, red, purple and brown lights. It gets its name from this phenomenon. It has a short tail, which is only one 12th the length of its body. The scales on its belly are quite narrow, the width of them are less than one 3rd of the scales on its back. This is the primitive feature of the sunbeam snakes. It is quite docile and it does not bite people positively. If it is stimulated, it will shake its tail quickly to threaten. It is of oviparity and it can produce 6-17 eggs each time.
Category: Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes, Xenopeltidae。
Distribution: Xishuangbanna and Menglian of Yunnan and Guangdong; Southeast Asia.
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