# Cat snake (*Telescopus fallax*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/cat-snake  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

The cat snake (Telescopus fallax) is a species in the family Colubridae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 35.8 g and reach 56 cm in length.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 35.8 g |
| Length | 56 cm |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 10 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | shrubland, woodland |
| Egg incubation | 47.5 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 6.5 – 7 |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Active | Day and night (cathemeral) |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Conservation status | Not recorded |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 1 country. Introduced: Greece. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Reptilia
- order: Squamata
- family: Colubridae
- genus: Telescopus
- species: *Telescopus fallax* Fleischmann, 1831

Synonyms: *Ailurophis vivax*, *Coluber carneus*, *Coluber vivax*, *Tarbophis fallax*, *Tarbophis fallax cyprianus*, *Tarbophis iberus*, *Tarbophis savignyi*, *Tarbophis vivax f. syriaca*, *Telescopus fallax christianus*, *Telescopus fallax cyprianus*, *Telescopus fallax intermedius*, *Telescopus fallax mcewani*, *Telescopus fallax multisquamatus*, *Telescopus fallax rhodicus*, *Trigonophis iberus*

## Common questions

### How big is the cat snake?

An adult cat snake weighs 35.8 g and measures 56 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

### Is the cat snake an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the cat snake as introduced in 1 country: Greece, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

### What kind of animal is the cat snake?

The cat snake (Telescopus fallax) belongs to the family Colubridae in the order Squamata.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4), CC BY 4.0, v1-2. Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
- [SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b), CC0 1.0, 1.0-dryad-v5. Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b

Cite as: Cat snake (Telescopus fallax). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cat-snake