Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus
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| Texas Long-nosed Snake | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus Garman, 1883 |
The Texas Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus) is a subspecies of non-venomous colubrid snake found in the United States, primarily in Texas, but also in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas, as well as northern Mexico.
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[edit] Description
The Texas Long-nosed Snake is a tri-color snake, with a cream colored or white body, overlaid with black blotches and red between the black. It gives them an appearance vaguely similar to that of the coral snake. They have an elongated snout, which gives them their common name. They grow to approximately 30 inches in length. In some western localities their red coloration can be greatly reduced, giving them a black and white banded appearance, and other localities the red appears more orange or even pink in color.
[edit] Behavior
Long-nosed Snakes are shy, nocturnal burrowing snakes. They feed on lizards and amphibians, sometimes smaller snakes and, infrequently, rodents. They are oviparous, laying clutches of 4-9 eggs in the early summer, which hatch out in the late summer, or early fall. They are not apt to bite, but can and release a foul smelling musk, or blood from their cloaca as a defense mechanism if harassed.
[edit] Conservation status
The Texas Long-nosed Snake holds no federal conservation status and no status through most of its range, but it is considered to be vulnerable in Kansas and Oklahoma, and critically endangered in Colorado. Primary threats are from habitat destruction.
