Trinket snakes (Coleognathus helena) are a medium sized, attractive rat snake, native to India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. They exhibit quite drastic sexual dimorphism in terms of size. Females can reach 4 to 5 feet whereas the males are a more slender build and only grow to around 3 feet in length. They are a terrestrial species often found living in termite mounds, but also prefer old trees and wood piles. They are frequently found around houses and human habitation as they are an adaptable species able to live in a wide variety of habitats. They are relatively easy to keep, only requiring a hot spot of around 28C and prefer a humidity 50 to 80% but they are a hardy species that can tolerate a range of temperature and humidity levels making them well suited for a novice or experienced keeper. Given their humidity preference they can be kept in a naturalistic or bioactive enclosure with live plants making them suitable for elaborate and aesthetically pleasing enclosures.

They can be a little timid when young and like many Asian rat snakes, if they feel intimidated, they can puff their throat out to appear more threatening, they will also open their mouth and rear up backwards as a threat display in a last resort. With regular handling they grow out of this threat posturing behaviour rapidly and are very tame as adults. They are normally good feeders and rarely go off their food over winter. Their small size and ease of care has made them a popular beginner snake since the 1990’s.