Skip to main content

Worm snake

Carphophis amoenus

Photo by KarenL
Published on Project Noah
Zoom
NominateNominate for Wildlife Photograph of the Month
reportFlag Spotting

36.0536, -86.8058

Field Notes

Description:

Worm snakes are small, shiny, brown snakes with pink or whitish bellies. Their light belly coloration extends partially up onto their sides. Worm snakes have sharp points on their tails and very small heads used for burrowing after insects and earthworms.
Worm snakes are fossorial snakes, and spend the vast majority of their time buried in loose, rocky soil, or under forest leaf litter. They are abundant within their range, but rarely seen due to their secretive nature.
Feeding/Diet: Worm snakes are active mostly at night and are common in damp woodlands where they feed primarily on earthworms.
Habitat/Range: . They are often found in rotting logs, but may burrow deep into the soil during hot, dry spells
Reproduction: Worm snakes lay 1–8 eggs during early summer.
Miscellaneous: Worm snakes never bite, but are usually very “wiggly” when held in the hand.

Habitat:

Radnor Lake state park, Tennessee.

Notes:

I found this guy under a rock close to the lake. I tried to pick him up for a closer look but he managed to slither out of my hands & vanish into the leaf litter!

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (8)

It was very cute - & fast! :-)
Gotta love a snake that looks like worm, lives like a worm and eats worms...a perfectly divine creature that illustrates the concept of form follows function.
Emma, fascinating & sadly misunderstood!
In general ,snakes are fascinating creatures! Now I can understand why the youngster in the book " I dream of Africa" had such a huge snake collection.!!
Thanks for adding this to the Tennessee Snakes Mission!
Thanks Janson! It's a pity I couldn't get a photo of its head - I did try to pick it up but it was incredibly wriggly & escaped my grasp!
Updated with correct identity - thanks JoAnn & Goody!

Accelerate our Mission to Photograph 
Every Species in the World!

Image
Butterflies icon

Wildlife Community

Wildlife Community

Join a worldwide community passionate about wildlife and nature!

Join Project Noah

Nature School

Nature School

Transform your green space into a curiosity-creating nature classroom!

Visit Nature School

Wildlife Game

Wildlife Game

Defend wildlife throughout the jungle in thrilling nature game!

Play Baboon