Eastern Worm Snake

Appearance

The worm snake is a small snake. Adults are 19–28 cm in total length, record 34 cm. It is brown dorsally, and bright pink ventrally, with the belly color including one or two dorsal scale rows.

The dorsal scales are smooth, in 13 rows. It has five upper labials and one postocular. "C. amoenus" coloration is unpatterned and can be tan to dark brown in color; it has a pointed head, and small, black eyes.

It has pinkish ventral pigmentation which extends dorsally onto dorsal scale rows one to two. The tail is short in comparison with its body and ends in an abrupt, spine-like scale. Females are longer than males, but have shorter tails.

The head is small, conical and no wider than the neck. Other small, unpatterned brownish snakes, such as earth snakes and red-bellied snakes, both have keeled body scales, but lack the spine-tipped tail. Other ways to distinguish between "C. amoenus" and other species is the body scales usually occur in 13 rows and are smooth and pitless, and the anal plate is split.

Distribution

Worm snakes may occur in large numbers where the habitat is ideal. C. Ernst and his students collected 108 individuals from beneath rocks and debris in 100 m along a hillside overlooking the Kentucky River in one hour on an April afternoon.

It is the most common snake in northern Virginia, and one site had densities over 200/ha. The 1.88:1.00 sex ratio of a juvenile population in South Carolina significantly favored males over females, though the ratio of adults caught in northern Virginia was not significantly different from 1:1.

Habitat

The worm snake is a burrower, and is seldom seen. Its annual activity period varies with latitude and elevation. Some have found them active in every month but February on the coastal plain of South Carolina.
Farther north, the worm snake is active from March–April to October- November.

Few are active above ground in the summer, but a second, lesser period of activity occurs in the fall. To escape overheating or desiccation, it has adopted a fossorial lifestyle and it usually spends most of the year underground or in rotting logs. They are normally found in forests with high leaf litter and canopy cover.

They generally remain inactive during extreme temperatures. They burrow by working their small, pointed heads into cracks and crevices. Activity periods begin mainly in the late afternoon and early evenings and rarely last more than 12 hours. "C. amoenus amoenus" does not move much but has been seen traveling 45 m in a 24-hour period.

Males travel much farther than females and their diets consist primarily of earthworms, but may also include other soft-bodied invertebrates, such as insect larvae.

Reproduction

Courtship and mating probably occur in the spring; the sexes are most often found together between late April and June. Then, the developing eggs can be seen through the translucent venter of the female in late May and June.

Oviposition takes place between early June and mid-July, 5 June to 15 July in northern Virginia. Eggs are laid in late June or early July, two to eight per clutch.

The eggs are smooth and elongated, 16–25 mm long by 7–8 mm wide. Often, one end of an egg is wider than the other. Hatching occurs in August or early September. Hatchlings are about 100 mm in total length. They are darker than adults.

The clutches of eggs are found in depressions under rocks, in cavities in the rotting wood of logs and stumps, and in old sawdust piles; and rodent burrows are probably also used for nesting. A female was nearby or with the eggs in 75% of the cases.

Predators

Predators include other snakes, thrushes, American robins, barn owls, and opossums. Occasionally, road traffic kills "C. amoenus amoenus", and flooding of the lowlands and other natural disasters have been known to affect the population. Some die as a result of human habitat destruction, and insecticide poisoning occasionally kills the snake.

Defense

Worm snakes release a foul-smelling liquid from their vents when handled, but they are completely harmless to humans and rarely even attempt to bite. "C. a. amoenus" is very shy and mild-mannered. The normal behavior of the snake when handled is to twist, then try to crawl between the fingers, probe the hand with its tail spine, and emit the strong-smelling liquid.