< Back | Name: | Mud Snake | | Family: | Crayfish/Mud Snakes | | Scientific Name:
| Farancia abacura | | Description: | Glossy, smooth scales. Body is blue-black to black above; belly is red to crimson red, checkered with black bars. Red belly color extends onto the lower sides of the body. Young resemble adults. Adults 40-54 inches in length. | | Range: | Mississippi Delta and Coastal Plain. | | Habits and Habitat: | This thoroughly aquatic snake inhabits cypress/tupelo gum swamps, bottomland hardwood sloughs and the margins of cypress-lined oxbow lakes. Active from April-October, it breeds in spring. Females lay 11-50 eggs in rotten logs or stumps. Female remains with eggs until hatching in August-September. Feeds almost exclusively on amphiuma and lesser siren; both are large, totally aquatic salamanders. This snake is completely harmless and never attempts to bite. |
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Click Photo to Enlarge Suzanne Collins |
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