Photo by RW Van Devender

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.

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.

The sharp tail tip of a worm snake.
Photo by John White

Worm snake Hatchling.
Photo by RW Van Devender

This website created by: J. Willson, Y. Kornilev, W. Anderson, G. Connette and E. Eskew.
For comments or questions contact M. Dorcas: midorcas@davidson.edu.
M. Dorcas homepage: http://bio.davidson.edu/dorcas
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina 28035-1719.

Text and maps from: Dorcas, M. E. 2004. A Guide to the Snakes of North Carolina. Davidson College - Herpetology Laboratory, Davidson, NC. – Copyright by Michael E. Dorcas.

Partial Funding for this website provided by a Associate Colleges of the South, National Science Foundation, and Duke Energy.