The red chain snake is not poisonous.

The Red Chain Snake is aggressive, and when threatened, its head often shrinks into a triangle-like shape, and its body color is bright, so it is often mistaken for a venomous snake. The red chain snake is a small to medium-sized, non-venomous snake in the white ringed snake family. The snout is more protruding and broadly rounded. The head is broad and very flat, distinguishable from the neck. There is one buccal scale, elongated. Dorsum of head black-brown, scale grooves red. Occiput with inverted "V"-shaped red spot. Dorsal surface of body and tail black-brown, with approximately equally spaced red transverse spots. Ventral surface of head and tail dirty white, with a few black-brown spots scattered on both sides of the ventral scales.

Mostly frequented in the evening near water sources. It has a wide range of food habits and preys on fish, frogs, snakes, lizards, small mammals, birds, etc. It is a dominant species in China and has been released. In China, it is a dominant species and is affected by release activities. It is distributed in all provinces and regions except Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Tibet in the western region, where it has not been reported.

Life habits and habitat of the Red Chain Snake

The diet of the Red Chain Snake is extremely broad, including fish, frogs, lizards, small mammals, snakes and birds. Mostly in the evening or night activities foraging. When encountering hostiles, the head often shrinks into an approximate triangle and shakes the tail to warn, such as warning of hostiles is ineffective, will be bent into an "S" type and launched an attack, the wild temperament of the individual more ferocious. When the red chain snake encounters prey such as toads, it will first use the large cutting teeth located in the middle and back of the mouth like a dagger to puncture the air sac of the toad to "deflate", and then slowly swallow it.

Inhabiting the coastal rivers and lakes along the lowlands to 1800 meters above sea level in the plains, hills, mountainous areas of the fields and near the village. Generally active in the grass or stone crevices in fields and hilly farming areas, and can also be found within the banks of streams and near settlements.