VINE SNAKE

The other day I was idly gazing into the strangler fig tree next to my bungalow when I realized that something was out of whack. About 20 feet up, extending from one shadowy bough to another, appeared a stiff, straight, gray stem, but the stem was running the wrong way, not at all in harmony with the tree's general outward- radiating design. Moreover, as I watched the stem, it appeared to be moving -- not back and forth, but lengthwise. I reasoned that it couldn't be a snake because it was too slender and stiff looking. However, then the entire item slowly penetrated one of the boughs as if were a rigid spear being driven into the bough by an invisible hand.

It was indeed a snake, about six feet long, somewhat pointed at both ends, and hardly thicker than my little finger. How such a slender snake kept much of its body so stiff in open space I just don't know. Because of its outlandish appearance, behavior and wide distribution from Mexico into South America, pictures of this snake are easy to find on the Internet. One good one resides s here.

The species goes by a variety of names, including Neotropical Vine Snake, Whipsnake, Bejuquilla Parda and, in local Maya, Xtachoy. Xtachoy refers to the drawstring on a well bucket. It's OXYBELIS AENEUS.

One reason people know this species is that the snake really looks like a vine stem, and Mexicans are always grabbing such stems intending to hack them with their machetes. Grab this, and you'll remember it for a long time. The snake is not particularly aggressive but if grabbed it will bite, and this species is "semi- venomous." My Maya-speaking friend Don Elías, who has a long history of machete-swinging, says that if an Xtachoy bites you you won't die or lose an arm, but you'll get a serious sore that'll take a very long time to heal.

The snake eats small lizards, especially anoles, and part of its lizard-fooling camouflage is to remain rigid for hours, often extending like a vine from one tree to another.