Description: The worm snake is a small snake. Adults are 7.5 to 11.0 inches in total length, record 13 inches. It is brown dorsally, and bright pink ventrally, with the belly color including one or two dorsal scale rows. The dorsal scales are smooth, in 13 rows. It has five upper labials and one postocular. C. amoenus coloration is unpatterned and can be tan to dark brown in color; it has a pointed head, and small, black eyes. It has pinkish ventral pigmentation which extends dorsally onto dorsal scale rows one to two. The tail is short in comparison with its body and ends in an abrupt, spine-like scale. Females are longer than males, but have shorter tails. The head is small, conical and no wider than the neck. Other small, unpatterned brownish snakes, such as earth snakes (genus Virginia) and red-bellied snakes (Storeria occipitomaculata), both have keeled body scales, but lack the spine-tipped tail. Other ways to distinguish between C. amoenus and other species is the body scales usually occur in 13 rows and are smooth and pitless, and the anal plate is split.
Habitat: They are normally found in forests with high leaf litter and canopy cover. They generally remain inactive during extreme temperatures. They burrow by working their small, pointed heads into cracks and crevices.
Range: It is found in southern Connecticut, southwestern Massachusetts, southeastern New York, New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, eastern West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, and in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Diet: Males travel much farther than females and their diets consist primarily of earthworms, but may also include other soft-bodied invertebrates, such as insect larvae.
Reproduction: Courtship and mating probably occur in the spring; the sexes are most often found together between late April and June. Then, the developing eggs can be seen through the translucent venter of the female in late May and June. Oviposition takes place between early June and mid-July. Eggs are laid in late June or early July, two to eight per clutch. The eggs are smooth and elongated, 0.63 to 0.98 inches long by 0.28 to 0.31 inches wide. Often, one end of an egg is wider than the other. Hatching occurs in August or early September. Hatchlings are about 3.9 inches in total length. They are darker than adults. The clutches of eggs are found in depressions under rocks, in cavities in the rotting wood of logs and stumps, and in old sawdust piles; and rodent burrows are probably also used for nesting. A female was nearby or with the eggs in 75% of the cases.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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