India's wall-climbing extreme athlete is also its cutest snake: The wolf snake, Lycodon aulicus.



These snakes are quite aggressive and quick to bite, but they are non-venomous and their bite is just a prick -- which I know because I've been bitten many times. In fact, most of my friends think the wolf snake is "cute" when he bites!

The common wolf snake is brown with white stripes on the back and beautiful irregular stripes on the sides. Some common wolf snakes are also black in colour and have yellow stripes instead of black, and their length varies from 50-80 cms. Many rescuers would agree with me that these snakes are quite restless, almost like a toddler running around,curious to find new and interesting things. In fact, their childlike nature is, to me, their most endearing quality!



I recently rescued a common wolf snake from one of my collegue's property. When I received the distress call, I guessed that the snake might be on the ground and it might be a rat snake or a cobra.

Upon reaching his property, I was told the snake was on the second floor and that it had recently eaten a gecko. I was sure it was a wolf snake. I reached the second floor and I peeked over the wall and saw the wolf snake coiled in a corner. I caged the snake and left it near a river bank in about 15 minutes.

It was a learning experience on the whole as unlike my previous experiences the snake didn’t attack much as it had ingested a good sized wall lizard. These non-venomous climbers are good predators and survivors, and to me, they are always beautiful and “cute” as well.