Eastern Indigo Snake: Species of reptile

It is native to the eastern United States. It is the longest native snake in the United States. It is the largest snake in the United States. It is also the largest, non-venomous snake in the southeastern United States.

Eastern indigo snake
Conservation status
Threatened (ESA)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Drymarchon
Species:	D. couperi
Binomial name
Drymarchon couperi (Holbrook, 1842)
Synonyms
Coluber couperi Holbrook, 1842 Georgia couperi — Baird & Girard, 1853 Spilotes couperi — Cope, 1860 Spilotes corais couperi — Lönnberg, 1894 Drymarchon corais couperi — Amaral, 1929 Drymarchon couperi — Crother, 2000

The eastern indigo snake has a blue-black colour. It is the longest native snake species in the United States. Males usually grow up to 1.58 m (5.2 ft) in length. Females usually grow up to 1.38 m (4.5 ft) in length. Males usually weigh 2.2 kg (4.9 lb). Females usually weigh 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).

The eastern indigo snake is found from southwestern South Carolina south through Florida and west to southern Alabama and southeastern Mississippi.

The eastern indigo snake likes flatwoods, hammocks, dry glades, stream bottoms, sugarcane fields, riparian thickets, and sandy soils.

The eastern indigo snake mostly lives in scrublands in Florida and Georgia with different types of plants. These are mainly longleaf pine, southern live oak, laurel oak, Chapman oak, and myrtle oak.

The Eastern indigo snake eats other snakes, turtles, lizards, frogs, toads, lots of small birds and mammals, and eggs.

The Eastern indigo snake is oviparous. The breeding season is from November to April. Females lay their eggs from May to June. Females lay from 4 to 12 eggs. Young hatch in about 3 months, usually in August and September.

The eastern indigo snake is threatened by habitat loss. It is believed to be extinct in Alabama.

The eastern indigo snake was extinct in northern Florida because of habitat loss and fragmentation. The eastern indigo snake was last seen in Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in 1982, until 2017 when 12 snakes were released as part of a conservation program. 20 more snakes were released in 2018. 15 snakes in 2019.