The vine or twig Snake (Thelotornis capensis) is seldom seen due to its excellent camouflage. This snake resembles a section of vine or twig and is extremely difficult to spot among foliage. It usually positions itself about a meter above the ground in a shrub and can remain motionless for hours, while watching the ground below for passing snakes and lizards.
“It averages around 1.2m in length and is usually ash-grey to grey – brown in colour, with darker and lighter blotches and flecks of black and orange. The top of the head is blue-green in colour and speckled with dark brown and black and there is a white stripe from the nose, under the eye to the back of the head and an orange stripe from the eye to the back of the head. This snake has a very peculiar key-hole shaped eye,” said Ashley Kemp of the African Snakebite Institute.
The presence of these snake is mostly given away when birds spot the animal and mob it. In the past it was also called a bird snake and it was incorrectly said to attract birds by flickering its bright red tongue. It rarely eats birds, but prefers lizards, chameleons, frogs and other snakes, which it hunts during the day.
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