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Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon corais)
Physical Description:
• Grows up to 8.6 feet in length
• Lustrous blue-black color
• Sides of head, chin and throat area are suffused with orange/red color
Range:
• Historically found from southern South Carolina south and west to Mississippi.
• Today found only in Georgia and Florida
Habitat Description:
• Cold Months: concentrate on upland sandhill ridges and use gopher tortoise burrows extensively
• Warm Months: daylight hours are spent foraging the edges of floodplain swamps, cypress ponds or other wetlands imbedded in longleaf pine landscape.
Feeding:
• Immobilizes food with its jaws (does not constrict)
• Prey usually eaten alive
• Feeds on birds, small mammals, frogs, small turtles, fish and snakes (including venomous ones)
Breeding:
• Females lay between 5-10 eggs (usually in the moist sand of tortoise burrows)
• Males fiercely defend territory
Interesting trivia:
• Largest North American snake
• Long-lived (one captive snake lived nearly 26 years)
• When disturbed, it hisses, vibrates its tail, and flattens its neck.
• Males have been known to cannibalize other males
• Have been known to consume eastern diamondback rattlesnakes
• May range over an area of 250 acres or more
Status:
•Threatened
Causes for decline:
• Habitat degradation through coastal development, agriculture, forestry operations, fire suppression
• Collection for the pet trade
• Indiscriminate killing