The egg-eating snake is a small, fairly slender, harmless African snake that feeds exclusively on birds’ eggs. It is notable for its ability to eat the contents of whole eggs several times larger than its head.
Classification and Species
The egg-eating snake is classified in the genus Dasypeltis of the colubrid family, Colubridae. There are 18 different species of egg-eating snakes from two different genera. Dasypeltis is by far the largest group of egg-eating snakes with all 17 species from Africa. The genus Elachistodon has just 1 species of rare egg-eating snake, the aptly named Indian egg-eating snake.
The five species in this genus are mainly nocturnal tree climbers of savanna and woodlands. Their days are spent under rocks or in old logs.
Physical Characteristics
Adults range in length from 24 to 30 inches (60 to 76 centimeters). Egg eating snakes (Dasypeltis spp.) are 2-4’ long and have slender bodies with a small, rounded head, keeled scales, and large round eyes with vertical pupils. The head is small with flared jaws. The eyes are large, and the pupils are vertical slits in daylight. Coloration is buff gray to brown with rows of irregular patches. Scales are heavily ridged. Coloring and pattern vary by species.
Habitat and Distribution
They are adaptable snakes, found in most habitats in Africa except arid desert and flooded plains. Egg-Eating Snake Facts Overview:
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Egg-Eating Snake Facts Overview:
- Habitat: Found in a variety of habitats from semi-desert to savannah, forest and woodland
- Location: Most of sub-Saharan Africa, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
- Lifespan: Around 7 years in the wild
- Size: 30-100 cm (12-39.5 in)
- Weight: Average 500g
- Color: Brown, grey and green with patterns
Diet and Feeding Habits
Egg eating snakes have all evolved to live exclusively on birds eggs and have adapted to live in locations with lots of birds to feed their egg-craving! Egg eating snakes are unique because of their highly specialized diet: they only eat eggs!
To engulf an egg, the snake braces the egg against its body, widens its jaws, and slowly stretches the skin of its head around the shell. At the back of the throat, protruding through the esophagus, are sharp projections of the snake’s vertebrae. These projections saw through the shell until it collapses inward and releases the egg contents.
Once they have chosen an egg, they will wrap their large jaws around the egg and using muscular contractions, move the egg into their stomach. The egg eater has bony protrusions which crush the egg and the entire contents of the egg are absorbed into the snakes body.
The shell is completely regurgitated after the contents have passed through the egg-eating snakes stomach. This process ensures that the egg eating snake absorbs as many nutrients as possible from the egg and removes any waste. They may go for several days or weeks without eating again.
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Like other egg eating snake species, Dasypeltis have extremely flexible jaw muscles that allow them to swallow eggs that are much larger than their heads. They lack teeth, which increases the capacity of the snakes mouth and are able to open their jaws to incredible proportions that allow them to swallow eggs.
Egg eaters have a jaw ridges rather than teeth, and this allows them to not only fit eggs in their mouth easier, but swallow them whole without breaking them. Tooth loss has been documented in several species, and in the egg-eating snakes is thought to ease the movement of large eggs into the esophagus.
They smell with their tongues. Egg eating snakes flick out their tongues in the air and the chemicals it collects are passed to a special organ called the Jacobson’s organ. This organ is able to process these smells and tells the snake whether an egg is ready to eat or not. They will smell a clutch of eggs and ignore those that are rotten or those that are too well developed and thus be more difficult to digest.
Baby egg eating snakes feed on eggs of tiny species of birds. As they are completely independent the moment they are born, young egg eaters tend to hunt for eggs laid by some of the smallest bird species in the area.
Interesting facts about egg eating snakes:
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- They can swallow eggs 3 times the size of their own head.
- They have evolved to be almost completely toothless.
- They smell with their tongues.
- They can climb trees.
They can eat eggs that are way bigger than you'd think. Seriously! In fact, members of "dasypeltis have the greatest size corrected gape of any snake taxon.. as much as 7 times those of all other studied species. Gape being the maximum size in which an animal can open its mouth, of course.
Most people assume that head size is what determines gape, but its not so. Egg Eaters have an amazing combination of the right bones, in the right place, and the right type of elastic tissues that allow them to take down eggs multiple times the size of their heads.
Egg-eating Snakes have a slower metabolic rate compared to other snake species. This allows them to survive for extended periods between meals, making them well-adapted to their specialized feeding habits.
In the wild egg eating snakes will gorge themselves on as many eggs as they possibly can during the bird's egg laying season, a timespan of roughly 3 months, and then simply live off stored body fat for the rest of the year. They can predate upon ground nesting bird eggs throughout the year should they need to, but typically speaking this long fast is entirely natural for them, and it is completely likely you will encounter a long fast in your time keeping egg eaters.
Female common egg eaters can lay up to 30 eggs. Though they typically lay fewer than 12 eggs, when prey is readily available, females can lay much large clutches of eggs.
Behavior and Defense Mechanisms
Egg-eaters resemble vipers-some populations of egg-eaters mimic vipers when threatened.
Their pattern and colouration is also used to confuse predators. The pattern on some species, such as the common egg eater, is quite similar to the venomous rhombic night adder and the African carpet viper and this may deter some predators from attacking. This imitation is known in the wild as ‘mimicry’.
African egg-eating snakes lack teeth, and as such they often have difficulty with defending themselves. This is necessary for their diet, as teeth would reduce the capacity of their necks; however, it presents issues with predation.
As well as hissing and striking, this egg eater rubs its scales together to make a rasping sound as a defense mechanism when they are faced with a potential predator. They avoid areas where people may frequently walk through. As with most egg eating snakes, they have greatly reduced teeth, so much so that they are almost toothless.
They are completely harmless and pose no threat to humans. All species of Dasypeltis are completely non-venomous and rarely try to bite.
When handled, egg eating snakes in the genus Dasypeltis will hiss, wriggle wildly and even strike to get away from the person or animal disturbing it.
Care in Captivity
Egg eating snakes are a little more difficult to care for than other similarly-sized snakes due to their very specific dietary requirements.
The absolute minimum terrarium size for an egg eating snake is 36”L x 18”W x 36”H. Of course, larger is always better! Providing a thick layer of naturalistic substrate (“bedding”) will help cushion your snake’s body, maintain correct humidity levels, and also helps make your enclosure more attractive!
An empty terrarium makes for a bored snake, reducing its quality of life. At bare minimum, an egg eating snake terrarium must contain substrate, a water bowl, and a place for the snake to hide.
Your egg-eating snake should be fed 1-2 room-temperature eggs per week. Each egg should be no larger than 3x the snake’s head. Try using quail eggs, finch eggs, canary eggs, budgie eggs, lovebird eggs, and others around the right size.
Of course, don’t forget a water bowl for your snake to drink from and soak in! This bowl should be large enough for the snake to soak its entire body when desired.
That being said, egg eating snakes generally tolerate human interaction pretty well once they’ve settled into their new home. When picking up your snake, be gentle and try to pick it up from the side or below rather than from above. Avoid forcible restraint. Support as much of its body as possible, and NEVER pick it up by its tail, as this can damage its spine!
In captivity, it is recommended that D. fasciata be provided with extensive climbing materials in order to provide environmental enrichment. As is typical in snakes, males tend to be smaller than females.
Technically they can survive without it, but we still recommend providing appropriate UVB lighting for egg eating snakes. For best results, use a bulb half the length of the enclosure and house it in a reflective fixture.
Like other reptiles, egg eating snakes are cold-blooded, which means that they rely on external temperatures to manage their own body temperature and metabolism. Specifically speaking, egg eating snakes should have a basking temperature of 95-100°F. On the other side of the enclosure, the temperature should be maintained between 72-82°F. Nighttime temperatures should drop as low as 68°F, with heat lamps turned off.
Egg eating snakes should have an average humidity of 40-60%, as well as access to a humid hide lined with moistened sphagnum moss.
Substrate should be at least 2” deep and completely replaced every 3-4 months.
Lights should be on for about 12 hours every day and turned off at night. UVB is blocked by glass and plastic, so placing the terrarium in front of a window doesn’t count as “free UVB” - in fact it can make your terrarium too hot due to the greenhouse effect.
Provide heat for your snake with at least one 50w halogen flood heat bulb, placed over the basking area (ex: a piece of flagstone or stone paver) to evenly heat the snake’s entire body. If your heat lamp(s) gets too hot, use a plug-in lamp dimmer or rheostat to reduce the heat output.
One of the keys to great nutrition is variety, and this still applies to egg eating snakes! Each egg should be no larger than 3x the snake’s head.
Female egg eaters are bigger than males. The largest egg eating snakes are almost always female as they have to eat more to ensure they are able to produce healthy eggs.
It brings immense joy that countless snake phobic people have been able to overcome their fear of snakes after encountering one at our booth.
In my opinion, absolutely. Some people will say that Egg Eating Snakes should be seen as snakes for "intermediate" keepers due to their dietary requirement for properly sized eggs, but I disagree.
Watching egg eaters eat is a non-traumatizing and unique experience too.
Point is there's no real reason that I can find to claim that eggies should not be considered good beginners pets.
In captivity you will only ever need to feed them the liquid contents of bird eggs. They receive all the nutrition they need from the contents of bird eggs.
Strictly speaking they will eat any kind of bird egg that they can fit into their mouth, but which is best?
Assuming you're feeding whole shelled eggs- and not syringe feeding (more on that later) For hatchlings finch eggs are most widely used, but i've also fed them eggs from budgies, parakeets, dove, and canary- I've even seen them attempt small cockatiel eggs.
Yes- you can feed adult females whole chicken eggs -if they are willing to eat them, which is not entirely common. If you're going to do this, you must wash the shells first before offering to your egg eater! Commercial chicken eggs are porous and often bleached to make them pretty for the human consumer, which usually isn't eating the shell. You do not want your eggie to have those chemicals in their mouth!
When looking at macronutrients, chicken eggs make sense. But when you look deeper the clear winner is quail eggs. One comparative study between the two concluded that “Even with their small size, the nutritional value of quail eggs is 3 - 4 times greater than chicken eggs. Quail eggs compared to chicken eggs, contained more essential amino acids, minerals, vitamins, in addition to their chemical composition, they are not harmful for people allergic to albumen in chicken eggs.”
So! Yes you can use chicken egg, but its really best to use quail. Not only are quail eggs their native prey source, but they're higher in nutrients helping the egg eater to grow faster.
