Indian Cobra

1 Overview

The Indian cobra is a highly dangerous venomous snake, the kind that almost everyone fears. Its venom mainly attacks the nerves of the heart, muscles, and respiratory system, so the victim is quickly paralyzed, with little pain at the bite site. It is one of India’s four major venomous snakes (the other three being the saw-scaled viper, the monocled cobra, and the common krait) and is revered as a sacred serpent in India. It can be found at elevations below 2,000 m.

2 Physical Characteristics

The Indian cobra has especially large eyes and a very large head, with a clear distinction between head and neck. It is quite beautiful when it rears up. Its most characteristic feature is the hood — the skin flap from head to neck — which it spreads on both sides when hunting or sensing danger, to intimidate opponents.

The hood is broad, with a clear curved, eye-like marking on the skin that resembles spectacles. A grown Indian cobra is about one meter long, though a few reach two meters. The spectacle pattern on the hood varies with the snake’s body color. In addition, the Oriental rat snake is often mistaken for a cobra, but the rat snake is longer and has a more pronounced body ridge, so it should be easy to tell apart.

3 Care & Maintenance

As the name suggests, the Indian cobra is found in India and is mainly distributed there, typically below 2,000 m elevation. It reproduces by laying eggs.

The Indian cobra lays eggs between about April and July each year. Females produce 12–30 eggs per clutch and incubate them in an underground nest for 48–69 days. Newly hatched cobras are about 20–30 cm long and already possess fully developed venom glands.

The Indian cobra mainly eats rodents (such as rats), toads, frogs, birds, and some snakes. It frequents broad forests and farmland, and occasionally slips into cities, living in dark places such as sewers.