ASI Newsletter - November 2019 

Snakes underground

The word Fossorial comes from the Latin word “fossor”, which means "digger”. Fossorial snakes are snakes that have adapted to a life in burrows underground - spending most of their time hunting and mating beneath the surface. These snakes usually have some adaptation for life underground, often having small heads and large rostral shields, enabling them to push through the soil. They do occasionally move to the surface, usually after heavy rains, when the burrows may be flooded and sometimes in search of mates and food. There are a variety of snakes that are truly fossorial and many others that will move underground when conditions above ground are not favourable.

Thread Snakes and Worm Snakes

These snakes are truly fossorial, spending their lives underground, feeding, mating and moving through loose soils or in tunnels made by insects such as ants and termites. They feed almost exclusively on the larvae and eggs of ants and termites and are often found under rocks with ant or termite colonies. These snakes occasionally move to the surface on warm nights after rain and can be seen crossing the road, found in swimming pools or coming into houses from time to time.

The rounded head of Thread and Blind Snakes showing the strong rostral scale. 

Shovel-snouts

The Shovel-snout Snakes are often found under rocks, but may come to the surface at night to seek reptile eggs in cracks of rocks and logs as well as leaf-litter. They use the large rostral scale on their nose to bulldoze through the soil and leaf-litter. They are also at home in old termite mounds, where a host of other reptiles may lay eggs.

The enlarged rostral scale giving these snakes the common name of Shovel-snout

File Snakes

File Snakes are large snakes that spends most of their time underground where they may hunt other snakes and nesting rodents. One animal, fitted with a tracking unit and followed by researchers at Wits University, spent eleven months underground, only surfacing after the first summer rains. These snakes can exceed 1.5 meters in length and are often associated with large termite mounds with extensive tunnel systems.

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Mole Snakes

These large snakes follow their favourite prey items…Mole Rats. Mole snakes spend a large part of their lives underground in rodent burrows. They are often seen basking near an open Mole Rat tunnel and quickly disappear down the burrow when approached. In the western coast areas, they can reach up to two meters, and although they posses no venom, they can inflict a painful bite that may require medical attention and even stiches.

Mole snakes have slender heads allowing them to push into burrows with ease

Purple Glossed Snakes, Natal Black Snakes and Stilettos

These shiny black snakes can be tricky to tell apart, all being robust with shiny scales and blunt heads. They all live underground and hunt other snakes, legless lizards and other vertebrates. They can be found on the surface after heavy rains. The Purple-glossed Snake and Natal Black Snake are quite docile, and we have very few documented bites from these two species. The Stiletto on the other hand accounts for around 10-12 bites a week in the rainy season. It is a slender blackish snake that bites readily if handled. They have large fangs which can protrude sideways and stab prey. This means they cannot be held safely in any manner. They use these large fangs to hunt in the confines of burrows where there is limited space to strike at prey.

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Shield-nosed Cobras.

There are five species/sub-species in Southern Africa. These medium sized stocky snakes have a pronounced scale on the nose, which is used to push through soil. In captivity we have seen these snakes using the head and neck to dig in soft sand. They are nocturnal and very rarely seen during the day as they find shelter underground or burrow under large rocks. On warm and rainy nights, they will actively hunt frogs and toads.

Note the enlarged rostral scale on the Shield-nosed Cobras

Quill-snout Snakes

The Quill-snout Snakes are well built for a life underground. They are elongate snakes with a pointed nose. These snakes are hardly seen except after heavy rains where they may be on the surface. Researchers working on meerkats in the Kalahari report the Meerkats digging these snakes up from the roots of bushes and eating them.

Note the elongate profile and pointed snout of the Quill-snout Snakes

Most snakes will make use of burrows and holes to hide or escape from threats like predators. Rinkhals and many of the cobras will utilise a hole in a rockery or termite mound or those made by rodents. Pythons are also well known to use old aardvark or porcupine burrows for nesting. Even Puff Adders and Boomslang have been seen using holes to escape from predators. These snakes, however, are not truly fossorial and are more opportunistic. Truly fossorial snakes spend most of their time underground, often feeding and breeding in underground chambers and burrows.

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Our latest video on the Puff Adder is now online! Check it out here.