There are several snake species in Amazonia that undergo extreme color changes as they progress from hatchling/neonate to adulthood.



The orange to green color changes of two, the two species of emerald tree boa, are well known. However, there is a lesser known species, the rusty whipsnake, Chironius scurrulus (a colubrine) about which you seldom hear, that undergoes color changes as great as, but exactly the opposite of, those of the boas.

This slender snake, adult at over six feet in length, is leaf green and largely arboreal as a hatchling. Predominantly terrestrial (actually a largely river-edge, frog eater that swims well and fast) it is rusty brown as an adult. Between these two color extremes the snake appears more faded, a rather nondescript greenish-gray and then grayish-red.

It is a species that we always enjoy finding on our Amazonian Peru tours.

But enough talk. Meet the rusty whipsnake.