Body
length: 8 - 18"
Diet: Small arthropods
Ground snakes are true ground-dwellers, as their name suggests. They live in
tunnel and rock crevice networks, feeding on arthropods such as spiders, centipedes,
scorpions, and crickets. Small and secretive, ground
snakes are rarely seen by humans. When found, they are easy to confuse with
a variety of other snakes. In the Tonto Basin, ground snakes often have dark
heads (as in the photo) and resemble blackhead
snakes. However, while ground snakes have whitish bellies, blackhead snakes
are red or orange underneath.
Ground snakes and several other small snakes have small fangs in the rear of their mouths that deliver a mild venom. Their bite may immobilize their tiny prey, but is certainly not dangerous to humans. At Tonto National Monument, they appear to be most common on shallow slopes at lower elevations.
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Updated
May 17, 2005