Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Paul Smith, Alberto Esquivel and Lars Hansen and are used with their permission.
PARROT SNAKE Leptophis ahaetulla
A diurnal, semi-arboreal snake that is equally at home in the thatched roof of a countryside hut. This is an extremely agile and fast-moving snake, and employs an active hunting technique, continually moving through tree branches in search of its main food - juicy tree-frogs! When threatened they give an intimidating threat display (FPREP230PH), opening the mouth wide and performing dummy strikes - though they do not bite, they simply hit you with their head. However this is usually more than enough to make you think twice about approaching a second time.
Click the images to enlarge them.
Gallery 1 - Adult
FIGURE 1a - (FPREP229PH) Adult, PN San Rafael (Alberto Esquivel undated).
FIGURE 1b - (FPREP230PH) Same individual threat display (Alberto Esquivel undated).
FIGURE 1c - (FPREP231PH) Adult, Estancia Kanguery, PN San Rafael (Lars Hansen March 2006).
FIGURE 1d - (FPREP232PH) Same individual underside (Lars Hansen March 2006).
FIGURE 1e - (FPREP233PH) Adult roadkill dorsal view, Ruta Trans-Chaco km350 (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 1f - (FPREP234PH) Same inidividual ventral view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 1g - (FPREP235PH) Same inidividual lateral head view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 1h - (FPREP236PH) Same inidividual dorsal head view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 1i - (FPREP237PH) Same inidividual ventral head view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 1a

FIGURE 1a
FIGURE 1b

FIGURE 1b
FIGURE 1c

FIGURE 1c
FIGURE 1d

FIGURE 1d
FIGURE 1e

FIGURE 1e
FIGURE 1f

FIGURE 1f
FIGURE 1g

FIGURE 1g
FIGURE 1h

FIGURE 1h
FIGURE 1i

FIGURE 1i