{{Short description|Species of snake}} {{More footnotes needed|date=January 2021}} {{Speciesbox | image = Elaphe climacophora -Kyoto, Japan-8.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Kidera, N. |author2=Ota, H. |date=2017 |title=''Elaphe climacophora'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T47755764A47755773 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T47755764A47755773.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Elaphe | species = climacophora | authority = (Boie, 1826) }} thumb|240px|right|Japanese rat snake thumb|Japanese rat snakes crawls into a pipe The '''Japanese rat snake''' ('''''Elaphe climacophora''''') is a medium-sized colubrid snake found throughout the Japanese archipelago (except the far South West) as well as on the Russian-administered Kunashir Island.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> In Japanese it is known as the ''aodaishō''<ref name=RDB/> or "blue general". It is non-venomous and is hunted by eagles and tanukis.
The snakes brumate for three to four months, mate in spring and lay 7–20 eggs in early summer.
==Description== thumb|upright|left|Head [[File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.ART.107 - Elaphe climacophora - Kawahara Keiga - 1823 - 1829 - Siebold Collection - pencil drawing - water colour.jpeg|thumb|left|''Elaphe climacophora'' by Kawahara Keiga, 1823–1829]] Adults reach one to two meters in length and about five centimeters in girth. ''E. climacophora'' is the largest Japanese snake outside Okinawa. They are variable in color, ranging from pale yellow-green to dark blue-green. They can be identified as Asian rat snakes due to the dark streak behind each of their eyes.
Juveniles have brown-stripe pattern that may be mimesis of the venomous mamushi. There is an established, albino population in the wild,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=GORIS |first1=Richard C. |last2=NAGANUMA |first2=Koji |date=1979 |title=Albino Elaphe climacophora Occurring in Southwestern Kanto |journal=Japanese Journal of Herpetology |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.5358/hsj1972.8.1_1 |issn=0285-3191}}</ref> with specimens especially numerous near Iwakuni, where they are called "Iwakuni white snakes" and revered as messengers of deities and deity-guardians of mountains and rivers. The albino population was protected in 1924 as a "national monument."
==Feeding== Japanese rat snakes eat a variety of small animals: rodents, frogs, lizards, shrews, or flies. They are also among the species of snake to have the ability to eat raw eggs.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gans, Carl |author2=Oshima, Masamitsu | date= 1952 | title=Adaptations for egg eating in the snake Elaphe climacophora (Boie) | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/210338}}</ref> As semi-arboreal snakes, they often raid bird nests in the wild. They were favoured by farmers as effective rat control, though unpopular with chicken rearers.
==Hybrids== In the German reptile zoo Exotarium Oberhof ''Elaphe climacophora'' mated with ''Elaphe schrenckii'' to produce fertile hybrids. Offspring look very much like ''Elaphe taeniura''.
==References== {{Commons}} {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=RDB>{{NRDB species |genus=Elaphe |species=climacophora |accessdate=3 January 2021}}</ref> }} *[http://www.ratsnakes.com/Eclimacophora.html Ratsnakes.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025111/http://www.ratsnakes.com/Eclimacophora.html |date=2020-11-12 }}
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Category:Elaphe Category:Snakes of Asia Category:Snakes of Japan Category:Reptiles of Russia Category:Reptiles described in 1826 Category:Taxa named by Heinrich Boie