What Do Crayfish Snakes Look Like?
The Crayfish Snake is typically brown, dark brown, or olive in color. These snakes are relatively small, although the largest crayfish snake ever found was much longer than average. Crayfish snakes have very glossy bodies, even though their scales are actually keeled, or ridged. Because of this, crayfish snakes are sometimes called “Glossy Swampsnakes” as well. In some snakes you can see two dark stripes running along their backs. However, these stripes are faint and often very difficult to see. The crayfish snake has a stout body and a short head with a fairly blunt snout and large eyes. It is the snake’s belly, however, that is its most identifiable feature. Crayfish snakes have cream or yellowish bellies with two rows of dark blotches that are shaped like half-moons or triangles. These small blotches run in two lines down the snake’s belly, one on each side of its midline.
What is the Largest Crayfish Snake Ever Found?
The crayfish snake is a small to medium-sized snake. On average, this snake measures between 14-24 inches in length. The longest crayfish snake ever found, however, was 32.7 inches long! It’s important to note that there are several snakes known by the common name ‘crayfish snakes.’ For example, the Graham’s crayfish snake (Regina grahamii) has a maximum recorded length of more than a foot longer at 47 inches! This record length comes from The Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians.
Where Do Crayfish Snakes Live?
Crayfish snakes live in the coastal plains of the southeastern United States. These snakes are mostly aquatic and spend most of their time in slow-moving, freshwater habitats. Crayfish snakes live in marshes, cypress swamps, wetlands, bays, ditches, and ponds or lakes with lots of vegetation. Some snakes will also move into brackish water and spread into new rivers and river systems. Because of this, their populations can be sporadic and hard to track. These snakes are also extremely secretive and very rarely leave the water. On rare occasions, crayfish snakes are seen crossing roads or hiding under moist logs, but usually only during a rainstorm or shortly afterwards.
Are Crayfish Snakes Dangerous?
Crayfish snakes spend most of their lives in the water and rarely encounter humans. These snakes are extremely secretive and hard to find, even by experienced herpetologists, so we do not know a lot about their behavior. However, we do know that crayfish snakes are nonvenomous and harmless to humans. When these snakes feel threatened, they will try to escape and release a foul-smelling musk from their anal glands. Some snakes will also hiss and pretend to strike at the threat. However, it is very rare for a crayfish snake to actually bite. Springtime is mating season for crayfish snakes, and they mate underwater. Female snakes give live birth underwater to 6-14 babies sometime during the summer or early fall. Baby crayfish snakes look very similar to the adults, except that they have pinkish-colored bellies instead of yellow.
What Do Crayfish Snakes Eat?
The crayfish snake gets its name from its unique diet—this snake almost exclusively eats crayfish! On occasion, a crayfish snake may eat an amphibian or small fish, but it is not as common. These snakes are specialized hunters that eat all kinds of crayfish. They have teeth shaped like small chisels that help them to bite the hard shells of these small crustaceans. Sometimes crayfish snakes will utilize crayfish burrows for shelter after consuming the former residents. There are a few techniques that a crayfish snake may utilize to eat these hard-shelled animals. Often these snakes swallow crayfish whole. However, instead of swallowing it headfirst like most snakes, the crayfish snake eats its prey tail first. This allows the snake to mostly avoid the crayfish’s awkward pincers. Smaller crayfish snakes that have trouble gripping and swallowing difficult crayfish take an alternative approach to mealtime. These snakes constrict the crayfish with their tails and grip it with their chisel-shaped teeth, tearing off small chunks of the crayfish at a time. Baby crayfish snakes, on the other hand, are too small to tackle adult crayfish, so they primarily eat dragonfly naiads or aquatic nymphs. These are actually much more nutritious than crayfish, making them an excellent meal for young, developing snakes. Adult crayfish snakes, however, do not bother with aquatic nymphs because they do not provide enough calories to sustain the adult snake’s larger body.
Conservation Status
Because the crayfish snake is extremely secretive and lives primarily in the water, it is hard to get an accurate estimate of its overall population. We do not know for sure if there is a small population of snakes, or if they are just simply difficult to locate. However, there are many conservational concerns because the crayfish snake relies so heavily on aquatic environments in the southern United States. Many of the swamps and wetlands where these snakes live are continuously being converted into farmland and urban development. In the state of Georgia, the crayfish snake is protected by state laws. Another concern is the crayfish’s primarily food source: the crayfish. Many different species of crayfish are vulnerable as they face threats like urban development, pollution, water development and management, and logging. Because the crayfish snake relies so heavily on crayfish colonies for its survival, it is also vulnerable to these disruptions in the ecosystem.
Crayfish Snake vs. Queen Snake
Many people often mistake crayfish snakes for the Queen Snake. Queen snakes also spend much of their time in the water and eat crayfish. Their bodies are brown, olive, or gray. However, the queen snake has long yellowish stripes that run down each side its slender body. These markings make the queen snake look like a garter snake.
Crayfish Snake vs. Black Swamp Snake
The top of a crayfish snake can look very similar to that of a Black Swampsnake. Blackswampsnakes, however, are smaller, measuring between 10-15 inches in length. In addition, these snakes are darker, with glossy black scales, and have bright orangish-red bellies.
