Olive Keelback

Me: Look what my cat dragged in! Very beautiful, badly injured... I really wanted a few photographs and so I rescued it. Capturing it was a bit tricky. I used a broomstick and a biriyani dabba (container for awesome food). It isn't worth mentioning that I was scared and squeal-ish. I mean, a bad tempered snake is something you should let alone. But I needed the post! 

I thought the snake was a goner for sure. So ( don't judge) I planned  to take it to my biology lab the next day and pickle it in a jar using formaldehyde. However, it pulled through, which was great! So a few hours later, we released it and watched it disappear.

Beautiful, no?

A close up

Belly up

Common name: Olive keelback; split keelback

Scientific name: Atretium schistosum

Scientific classification: Kingdom: Animalia
                                             Phylum: Chordata
                                             Class: Reptilia
                                             Order: Squamata
                                             Sub-order: Serpentes
                                             Family: Colubridae
                                             Genus: Atretium
                                             Species: A.schistosum

Type of species: Indigenous

Habitat: The olive keelback is a water snake. Hence, it is found near water bodies in forested areas or in those regions that have a good amount of vegetation.
 
Conservation status: Least Concern
 
Distribution: Found in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Nepal.