Some Snake Food Records from the Carolinas 



E. E. Brown 



Box 343, Davidson, North Carolina 28036 



ABSTRACT. — Some 690 food items were recovered from digestive 

 tracts of 479 snakes of 32 species from North and South Carolina. The 

 most extensive series were from the colubrids Regina septemvittata, which 

 contained only crayfish; Virginia striatula, which fed exclusively on 

 earthworms; Coluber constrictor, whose diet was varied; Opheodrys aestiuus, 

 which contained mostly lepidoptera larvae, plus orthoptera and 

 arachnids; Elaphe obsoleta, which consumed small mammals, young 

 birds, and birds' eggs; and the crotalid, Agkistrodon contortnx, which con- 

 tained mostly small mammals and lepidoptera larvae. Comments made 

 by other authors anent secondary ingestion and lengthy retention of in- 

 digestible residues are questioned. 



INTRODUCTION 



Studies of the food habits of snakes from the Carolinas, or closely adja- 

 cent areas, include those of Uhler et al. (1939), Hamilton and Pollack 

 (1955, 1956), Savage (1967), and Garton and Dimmick (1969). Similar 

 studies in other areas are those of Raney and Roecker (1947), Allen and 

 Swindell (1948), Clark (1949), Carpenter (1952), Barbour (1956), Brown 

 (1958), Klimstra (1959a,b), Bush (1959), Fitch (1960, 1963a,b), Burkett 

 (1966) and Wharton (1969). Wright and Bishop (1915) included some 

 food notes in their Okefenokee work. 



This paper provides information on 690 food items from 479 snakes of 

 32 species, all from North and South Carolina. For better or worse, all 

 common and scientific names used here for reptiles and amphibians are 

 those provided in Collins et al. (1978). 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



A great many of the snakes were road-kills, but many also were secured 

 alive. The presence of food in live specimens could usually be detected by 

 palpation, and it could then be removed by manual manipulation. Dead 

 specimens required dissection. Specimens with empty stomachs are not 

 reported. Emphasis has purposely been placed upon the taking of certain 

 food items rather than upon the volume of such items, especially when 

 many small items of relatively similar size were involved. 



Brimleyana No. 1: 113-124. March 1979. 



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