|
The eastern indigo snake is the longest nonvenomous snake north of Mexico. It is extremely docile and very beautiful. The indigo is a deep blue-black color, and its scales are polished to a high sheen. When the indigo sheds it skin its abdominal scales glisten with prismatic colors. It travels very slowly and travels great distances in search of its food of birds, frogs, lizards and other snakes. These qualities along with its great beauty make the indigo an easy target for snake collectors.
It relies on gopher tortoise burrows for refuge and wintering sites. Fire suppression allows overgrowth to compete with the undergrowth a tortoise needs to survive. The decline of the gopher tortoise leaves the indigo with fewer and fewer options.
Snake hunters pour gasoline into gopher tortoise burrows in search of rattlesnakes for rattlesnake round-ups. The entire community of species that inhabit gopher tortoise burrows are displaced by these gassings.
This gentle and beautiful serpent depends upon the longleaf forest habitat to survive. It needs a wide range unfragmented by roads. |
