Eastern Indigo Snake
(Drymarchon couperi)
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Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi) |
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Color Photographs: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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Pituophis melanoleucus The Eastern Pine Snake lacks the orange to red coloring along the sides of the head and chin. Although mostly black, part of the body shows a vague, but obvious pattern.
Elaphe obsoleta The Rat Snake is mostly black, but the scales are narrowly margined with white. This species lacks the orange to red coloring found on the side of the head in the Eastern Indigo Snake.
Coluber constrictor The Eastern Racer is all black, but lacks the red to orange coloring on the side of the head. Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi) Identification: Snake 60 to 102 inches. The largest North American snake. Body almost entirely shiny blue-black. Sides of the head, chin, and throat colored with red, orange, or cream-yellow. Scales smooth and anal plate single. Geographical Variation: None. Range (see map below): The range of this species is restricted to southeastern Georgia and most of Florida. Habitat: The Eastern Indigo Snake is found in pine forest, palmetto stands, and hammocks in the Everglades. Food: Frogs, lizards, snakes, small mammals, and birds. Behavior: The Indigo Snake is diurnal spending much of the daylight hours foraging and the nights sleeping in Gopher Tortoise burrows. When threatened this snake hisses, shakes its tail, and flattens its neck. Reproduction: The clutch consists of 5 to 12 eggs which hatch in April and May.
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Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi)
Similar Species: Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta) Eastern Racer (Coluber constrictor) |
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