Observations by christophermgu

While visiting the Asst. Wildlife Warden's office of Eravikulam National Park, Munnar, which is on the way to Rajamalai, we spotted a snake feeding actively on something. by having closer look i could figure it as a shield-tail snake with beautiful red spots on the sides of anterior part and two red spots on both the sides of tail. Forked, scarlet red tongue was projected repeatedly. I handpicked the snake from the middle of the road to the nearby shola and dropped the half-eaten earthworm near to it. Quickly it spotted the earthworm and first had a bite and sucked the juice and swallowed the remains within few minutes. While referring the materials, It seems to be Uropeltis rubromaculatus, (Red-spotted Earth Snake). Data deficient species. Not much information is available. When we saw it was feeding on a large earthworm, probably a Drawida species on the road between tea plantation and shola (at the junction where diversion to Asst. wildlife warden's office). Later when discussed with Sandeep Das, he also had similar observations in this area. The time of observation was around 11.00 am.