Eastern indigo snake

Conservation Messaging Opportunities

Help stop habitat loss

Help stop the illegal exotic pet trade

Support native wildlife conservation

The eastern indigo is the largest native non-venomous snake in the United States, reaching up to eight feet.
Males are typically larger than females.
Dark black snake that may have a white or reddish colored chin. The scales are highly iridescent, often giving an overall hint of blue or purple in sunlight.
Active diurnal predators that will eat nearly anything that fits into their mouths. They will even eat venomous snakes and are immune to their venom.

Range – Southeastern United States in the Coastal Plain
Habitat – Sandhills, pine flatwoods, longleaf pine/wiregrass, wetlands, coastal scrub, and many other habitat types

Males and females usually only come together for courtship and breeding, which takes place from Autumn into early Spring. Males and females may breed with multiple partners during the breeding season.
Females lay 4-12 eggs which take approximately three months to hatch.

Loss of suitable habitat has been the largest threat to this species, which requires very large home ranges.
Roads are a major contributor to indigo snake mortality.
Rattlesnake Round-ups have been another concern as indigo snakes often live in gopher tortoise burrows, which are sometimes gassed to get the rattlesnakes to exit the burrow. The practice of gassing burrows is now illegal, but is difficult to enforce.
Eastern indigo snakes were once collected for the pet trade due to their calm demeanor and beautiful coloration. They are now protected throughout their range and by the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has developed and implemented a reintroduction and recovery plan for the eastern indigo snake.
Zoo Atlanta partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Central Florida's Zoo Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation, and the multitude of other state agencies and NGOs to reintroduce indigo snakes to their former range in southern Alabama. Snakes are raised at Zoo Atlanta for one to two years, allowing them to grow large enough to be safe from most predators before being released. Since 2010, over 300 indigo snakes (many from Zoo Atlanta) have been released back into parts of their historic range where they had been previously wiped out.

Indigo snakes are powerful predators. While non-venomous, they don’t constrict their prey like many other non-venomous species. Instead, they use their strong jaws to hold onto struggling prey and swallow it down. They may also use the walls of tortoise burrows to pin down prey.
These snakes regularly use gopher tortoise burrows for shelter, but also act as predators of hatchling tortoises.
Individual indigo snakes have very large home ranges, sometimes nearing or exceeding 2 sq. kilometers.

Hammerson, G.A. 2007. Drymarchon couperi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 06 February 2015.
Drymarchon couperi: Animal Diversity Web: http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Drymarchon_couperi/. Accessed 06 Feb 2015.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2022). Eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi). Retrieved from Environmental Conservation Online System: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/646
Zoo Atlanta. (n.d.). Eastern indigo snake conservation. Retrieved October 24, 2023 from https://zooatlanta.org/project/indigo-snake/
Zoo Atlanta Animal Care Team

Updated July 2024

Page updated

Report abuse