Its dorsum is primarily yellow-brown or ochre with slightly lighter flanks and a yellow-white or crème belly and chin.

Clear, darkly-colored vertical bars mark the sides of this snake, each being roughly two scales wide.

Two very thin, but well-defined black stripes stem from the lower and upper edges of each postorbital scale.

The upper postorbital stripes meet at the base of the head, forming an M-shaped arch.

[1] Like others of its genus, P. atayal is a nocturnal, invertebrate-eating snake with a preference for land snails and slugs.