Eastern Indigo Snake

Drymarchon corais couperi

Venom Status:

Non Venomous

 

Characteristics:

THIS IS A PROTECTED SPECIES THROUGHOUT ITS RANGE. Shiny black overall except in some examples the face and throat may be creamy, reddish, or orangish. The eastern indigo snake is adult at 6 to 8 feet (record 103 ½”) long. Hatchlings may be all dark or strongly patterned with irregular blue bars. Smooth scales in 17 rows. Gopher tortoise burrows are the preferred refuge of this beautiful, once common, now rare, beneficial, snake. The two species, tortoise and snake, are considered commensals. An oviparous species, up to a dozen eggs are in a clutch

 

Unique Features:

Although exceeded (slightly!) in length by the Eastern Coachwhip, the Eastern Indigo Snake is by far the more massive of the two.

 

Habitat and Diet:

Open pine/oak/palmetto woodland meadows, and edge situations near a water source, also in irrigated orange groves and Everglades hammocks. It overpowers its prey with its strong jaws and does not constrict. It eats small mammals, ground dwelling birds, amphibians and other reptiles including venomous snakes.

 

Geographic Range:

FL, AL, MS,