![]() Zoo Atlanta is an active partner with state agencies in Georgia and Alabama, the U.S. At the Zoo, we offer a similarly wide variety of all sorts of small animals. They are immune to the bite of the vipers, and so they regularly eat rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and copperheads. They literally will eat any animal that they can overpower and consume, including large insects, small turtles, and every variety of other reptile or bird, mammal, amphibian and fish. In the wild, these snakes have one of the widest diets of any snake. While usually associated with longleaf pine forests, these snakes also will use sandhills, pine flatwoods, wetlands, coastal scrub, and other habitat types. They are now missing from most of their historic range, with healthy populations appearing to persist only in parts of southern Georgia and Florida. Since these snakes are being reared for a conservation program in our behind-the-scenes Conservation Breeding Center, they may not currently be seen by guests.Įastern indigo snakes historically ranged along the Coastal Plain of the southeastern U.S. Beyond construction of a nest, or simply laying the eggs in an unused arm of a gopher tortoise burrow, there is no parental care. Females may breed with multiple partners during the breeding season.įemales lay four to 12 eggs which take approximately three months to hatch. ![]() Males and females usually only come together for courtship and breeding, which takes place from autumn into early spring. These snakes may reach ages approaching 20 years. Most snakes have a relatively weak bite force, but eastern indigo snakes have unusually muscular jaws that are used to physically overpower their prey. ![]() Their name derives from their dark black coloration, which reflects iridescent shades of blue, purple and red in the sunlight. This is the largest non-venomous snake in the U.S., reaching up to 8 feet in length. They also regularly use the burrows of gopher tortoises as retreats, and gopher tortoises are similarly restricted to un-impacted longleaf pine habitats. Their habitat specialization and their need for very large expanses of undisturbed habitat have vastly reduced their numbers in most areas of their range. Indigo snakes are heavily reliant on longleaf pine ecosystems in the southeastern U.S. ![]()
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