Snake Food Habits 1 2 1 



Snakes examined were from Alexander and Cabarrus cos., NC, and 

 Richland Co., SC. 



Micrurus fulvius Julviuf, Eastern Coral Snake. 



The intestine of a single specimen for Aiken County, South Carolina, 

 contained smooth scales of a snake. 



Agkistrodon contortnx, Copperhead. 



A series of 35 stomachs yielded 62 items, chiefly small mammals and 

 larvae of lepidoptera. Mammal remains ranked first in volume (59.2 per- 

 cent) but second as percentage of total food items (37.1). Among the 

 remains of 23 mammals, those identifiable were: 5 Peromyscus sp., 4 

 Microtus pennsylvamcus, 1 Microtus pinetorum, 1 Zjapus hudsomus, 1 

 Reithrodontomys humulis and 1 Blarina brevicauda carolinensis. Insects ranked 

 second in volume (24.9 percent) and first in percentage of food items 

 (56.5). They included 33 larvae of lepidoptera, 1 cicada nymph and 1 

 adult dragonfly. The relative prominence of these larvae is due partly to 

 one large copperhead's having taken 20 specimens of Amsota senatona 

 (Citheroniidae). This caterpillar occurred also in four other stomachs. 

 Another snake had eaten two large saturniid moth larvae. Eight of the 

 nine specimens that contained larvae were collected in September or Oc- 

 tober. The presence of a fresh adult dragonfly in one stomach was sur- 

 prising. In the caudal end of the same stomach was mouse-colored fur of 

 some small mammal that apparently had been eaten much earlier. James 

 D. Brown has given me verbal permission to report that each of three 

 snakes whose remains he examined in northern Craven County, North 

 Carolina, in September, 1975, contained a large milliped, apparently of 

 " Spirobolus" type (Narceus). 



Three of my specimens contained reptiles (6.9/4.8 percent): 1 

 Carphophis amoenus, 1 Diadophis punctatus and 1 Ophisaurus sp. Both snakes 

 had been eaten by copperheads in their first year of life. Remains of a 

 young bird, possibly a Rufous-sided Towhee or Blue Grosbeak, were 

 found in another stomach. 



Two copperheads had taken especially sizable meals, 36 and 62 percent 

 of their weights. In only five cases out of the 35 did stomachs contain 

 more than one food item. 



Snakes examined were from Anson, Brunswick, Burke, Caldwell, Co- 

 lumbus, Mecklenburg and Robeson cos., NC, and Colleton, Dillon and 

 Horry cos., SC. 



Agkistrodon piscworus piscivorus, Eastern Cottonmouth. 



Three specimens, from Horry and Berkeley counties, South Carolina, 

 contained food. A 395 mm TL snake had a small frog of the genus Rana, 



