Dice Snake

About Dice Snake:

• It is a nonvenomous snake belonging to the family Colubridae, subfamily Natricinae. It is also called a water snake.
• Females of this species are bigger than males.
• Distribution: They are mainly found in much of Eurasia and are also present in Egypt.
• Habitat: They live near rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, and the surrounding grasslands. They can also be found in coastal areas and frequent plantations and urban areas.
• Unique character:
  • They fake their own death to avoid being eaten by predators, as it is a good tactic for the prey to create a distraction and escape. 
  • This behaviour depended on various factors like the sex of the individual, injuries, body temperature, size, age, presence of food in the stomach, presence of eggs in females, and previous experience with a predator.
  • When feeling threatened, they spread a very bad-smelling secretion from their cloaca or play dead.
• Threats: They suffer from loss of the wetland habitat in some areas of their range, pollution, roadkill, persecution by people, and collection for the pet trade.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN Red list: Least Concern

Q1: What are Cytotoxins?

The Cytotoxins (CTXs) are an essential class of the non-enzymatic three-finger toxin family and are ubiquitously present in cobra venoms.

Source: Dice snakes fake their own death by leaking blood from mouth, smearing faeces: Study