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Indian Rock Python
A giant non-venomous constrictor of the Indian jungle — patterned like polished stone, and a powerful, patient ambush hunter.
How to spot it
A large, heavy-bodied snake patterned in tan, brown and cream blotches like weathered stone, with a distinctive arrow-shaped mark on the head. It is non-venomous and among India's largest snakes, big ones reaching three metres or more.
Where it lives
Forests, grasslands, scrub, wetlands and river valleys across India, often near water. It shelters in burrows, hollow trees, rock crevices and abandoned mammal dens.
What it eats
A carnivore that kills by constriction, not venom — it ambushes mammals and birds, seizes the prey and coils around it, tightening until the animal stops breathing, then swallows it whole. A big meal can last it weeks.
Behaviour & life
Slow-moving and mostly solitary, it is a good swimmer and climber. Unusually for a snake, the female coils around her eggs and "shivers" her muscles to warm them until they hatch. It is most active in the cooler hours.
In India
Protected under Schedule I and classed as Near Threatened — hunted historically for its skin and still lost to habitat destruction. Left alone it is harmless to people, and it does real good by keeping rodent numbers down.
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