Description

The male boomslang is brilliant green in color and sometimes will have black patches. The female will have light or dark brown skin and are consistent in color.

Habitat

Arboreal in nature this snake has great dexterity amongst the trees. They have a prehensile tail that enables them to spend most of their time coiled on a branch, perfectly motionless, with the front of their body raised in the air to mimic a tree branch.

Breeding

U sually mates in the spring. A clutch of ten to fourteen eggs laid in tree hollows or in leaf litter. The eggs take about 2 - 3 months to hatch.

Diet

They mimic a tree branch allowing them to surprise would-be pray, such as birds and tree frogs. The boomslang snake has few enemies, with the exception of other boomslang snakes. These snakes are cannibalistic. This snake has a diverse diet and will eat just about anything it can gulp down. Their regular prey includes birds, chameleons, tree lizards, snakes, small mammals, frogs, arboreal amphibians, bird and reptile eggs.

Venom

The boomslang snake is a rear fanged snake that strikes and holds its pray until the venom can be injected. This can take up to 15 minutes, as the snake will have to chew on the wound for the venom to penetrate.

The boomslang is a shy species, but will bite if handled, stepped-on, or threatened. It takes some time to inject the venom, however, the venom is extremely toxic and attacks both the blood and nervous system. The venom is deadly enough to kill medium sized birds at a thousandth of an ounce (0.0002mg). If a person is bitten by a boomslang and the snake is removed immediately, the injury may not be that severe. One problem with the bite of this snake in addition to the venom is that some people are particularly reactive to the venom itself which may place their life in jeopardy even in small doses.