Bluestripe ribbon snake

Bluestripe ribbon snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Thamnophis
Species: Thamnophis sauritus
Subspecies: T. s. nitae
Trinomial name
Thamnophis sauritus nitae
Rossman, 1963

The bluestripe ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus nitae) is a ribbon snake that occurs along the Gulf Coast in Florida. Adults are thin and are black with a mid-dorsal stripe that is a lighter shade of black and two blue stripes, hence the name "bluestripe ribbon snake". They are semi-aquatic and are active during the day. They can be found by lakes, rivers, and slow-moving streams.

Diet

They eat frogs, salamanders, small fishes, earthworms, minnows, lizards, and insects.

Captivity

In captivity they can live in a 20-gallon tank and they will eat feeder mice, feeder lizards, feeder bugs, and pinkie mice.

Size

In adulthood they grow to be 45 to 63 cm (18 to 25 inches). They start out at 17 to 18 cm (7 to 8 inches) after hatching.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.