Tiger Keelback Snake in China

The tiger snake is a very photogenic snake that occurs in China, Korea and Japan and impresses with its intense colors of green and red.

The snake likes to live near lakes and rivers, feed on fish, amphibians and other reptiles that it hunts in or near water. The snake is considered venomous because it processes the poison of its preferred food, the common toad, and can chew this poison into bite wounds. Although it does not have poisonous fangs like a viper, the bite is certainly not to be underestimated.

Furthermore it is poisonous as it also has the peculiarity of bein able to squeeze out the poison from the head via a poison gland, so that predators such as foxes can be repelled.

Photos were taken 2018 with the Pentax K3 II and the Pentax 150-450mm F4.5-5.6.