What is black and red and has the friendliest eyes??

My favorite organism encountered so far has been the eastern indigo snake, which we saw at the SC aquarium. The scientific name for this gorgeous blue-black snake is Drymarchon corais couperi. It is a member of the harmless egg-bearing family, Colubridae.  At first glance, this snake seemed to be almost plain, as it possessed a smooth blue-black dorsum. As it slithered around in the presenter’s hands, I caught a glimpse of the bright red infusions on its throat, chin and cheeks. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that its scales were particularly large, and that it had a lustrous shine. The particular specimen I got to see was a juvenile, and was tiny in size. Apparently, these types of snakes are the longest snakes found in the United States, and can grow up to be 9.2 feet long! This snake is found along the eastern U.S (from South Carolina through Florida through Louisiana, Missisipi and Alabama). The snakes in Florida tend to have less red on their faces and throats. 

The eastern indigo snake prefers many habitats such as pine flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods, high pine, dry prarie, tropical hardwood hammocks, edges of freshwater marshes, coastel dunes, and agricultural fields. It tends to breed between November and April and the females deposit 4-12 eggs during May or June. The young hatch approximately three months later. Female indigo snakes are very cool in that they can store sperm and delay fertilization of the eggs. This might be due to the fact that they need sheltered retreats from desiccating conditions and the harsh winter cool. In experiments, they have been shown to be especially susceptible to desiccation (Bogert and Cowles 1947).  For this reason, it is usually found in the same ranges as the gopher tortoise. The indigo snake is an active terrestrial or fossorial predator that forages for small vertebrates such as frogs, lizards and small turtles. The specimen at the aquarium was fed rats. It is quite rare, but sometimes these snakes may climb trees in search of food! Despite the fact that it is nonvenomous (with friendly round eyes), it preys on venomous and nonvenomous snakes. There is no information available as to how long these organisms live in the wild. The longest time that an eastern indigo snake has lived for in captivity is almost 26 years (Shaw 1959).  

Overall, my experience at the SC was great! I got a chance to visit places within the facility that I haven’t seen before. I really enjoyed the sea turtle hospital. My favorite organism, as mentioned above, was the eastern indigo snake. I got to hold him and I thought he was the smoothest snake I had touched all day. He was also the most active. It also didn’t hurt that his colors were my previous college’s colors: USC! J