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       Cultural Features > Coastal Habitats > Tributaries > Plants > Animals > Sapelo Island

Reptilia

Eastern Indigo Snake Drymarchon corais couperi

Indigo snakes are one of an increasingly rare suite of animal species which depend on gopher tortoises to provide shelter. The largest snakes in the United States, they spend much of the winter in tortoise burrows on sand ridges, then disperse into nearby wetlands to forage in the warmer months. Indigo snakes, as well as gopher tortoises, are often killed by rattlesnake hunters who pour gasoline into tortoise burrows to flush out Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes. Eleven widespread records within the study area are from 11 quads in four counties.

The Georgia Sea Grant Program has produced a short radio program about the indigo snake that you can listen to by clicking here.