texas long-nosed snake

A Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus (a snake).

Description

A tricolor subspecies, its color pattern consists of a cream-colored or white body, overlaid with black blotches and red between the black. It gives them an appearance vaguely similar to that of a venomous coral snake, Micrurus tener or Micruroides euryxanthus. They have an elongated snout, which gives them their common name. They grow to approximately 30 inches (76 cm) in length; record 41 inches (104 cm).[1] In some western localities their red coloration can be greatly reduced, giving them a black and white banded appearance, and other localities the red appears more orange or even pink in color. They differ from all other harmless snakes in the United States by having undivided subcaudal plates.

Behavior

The Texas long-nosed snake is a shy, nocturnal burrowing subspecies.

Diet

It feeds on lizards and amphibians, sometimes smaller snakes and, infrequently, rodents.
 
Reproduction
Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus is oviparous, laying clutches of 4-9 eggs in the early summer, which hatch out in the late summer, or early fall.

Conservation status

This subspecies holds no federal conservation status and no status through most of its range, but it is considered to be vulnerable in Kansas and Oklahoma, and critically endangered in Colorado. Primary threats are from habitat destruction.