About Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Boie, 1827)
Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Boie, 1827) is a robust, powerful snake. It has wide, smooth scales on its belly that are well-suited for climbing trees and moving across branches. Its back is covered in smaller, smooth scales, and is typically bright green or light green, sometimes marked with a black net-like pattern. A gray-colored morph with a yellow head occurs on Panay in the Philippines. As some of its common names suggest, this snake has a green body and a red tail, though it is usually brown. It also has a dark horizontal line that crosses the eye. The sides of its black tongue may show brown and blue coloring. The top of its head can be dark green, yellow-green, or yellow. Females can grow up to 2.4 m (almost 8 feet) in length, while males are generally a little smaller, but brighter in coloration. This species is distributed across Indonesia (Bangka, Belitung, Java, Kalimantan/Borneo, Karimata, Legundi, Lombok, Mentawai islands, Natuna islands, Nias, Panaitan, Riau archipelago, Sebuku, Sumatra, Tambelan archipelago), Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia, Pulau Tioman with an unconfirmed record), Singapore Island, Penang Island, India (Andaman Islands), Myanmar, Thailand including Phuket, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippine Islands (Balabac, Bohol, Catanduanes, Lubang, Luzon, Negros, Palawan, Sulu Archipelago, Panay). Its type locality is Java, Indonesia, as recorded by F. Boie in 1827. Gonyosoma oxycephalum reaches sexual maturity at 4 years of age. Its eggs hatch after 13 to 16 weeks of incubation. On average, females lay between 3 and 8 eggs, usually between September and January. Newly hatched young measure about 45 cm (18 inches) long.
