Florida Mud Snake Information
The species of mud snake that resides in Florida has the scientific name of Farancia abacura--the eastern mud snake. This is the most docile of the large snakes inhabiting Florida, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. The eastern mud snake will not bite you if you pick it up, but another of its protective mechanisms gives rise to one of the wildest of old wives tales.
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Identification
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The eastern mud snake can be in the range of 81 inches long, states the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians." The snake has a shiny blue to black body covered with reddish or pink bars in a checkerboard arrangement on its belly. Sometimes the red coloring extends along the sides of the eastern mud snake. The eyes are small, the scales are smooth and the tail has a small but harmless spine on the end. The males are usually bigger than the females are.
Geography
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The Florida Keys are the only areas in Florida that lack the presence of the eastern mud snake. In parts of the Florida Panhandle, the eastern mud snake often breeds with the western version. The species exists in other states, with the mud snake inhabiting parts of central Alabama, Georgia and northward into Virginia. Mud snakes also live in the Mississippi Valley as far to the north as southern sections of Illinois. The snakes inhabit bays, wetlands, sluggish rivers and streams, the borders of lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes.
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Behavior
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The eastern mud snake spends most of its time in the water, hiding itself from view in brush, water weeds, grasses and other cover. Most water snakes will sun themselves on land, but the mud snake refrains from this activity, making it a difficult species to find. The most common way people will see a mud snake in Florida is when the snake crosses the road during a wet and rainy evening in the summer.
Diet and Reproduction
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The giant salamander is the favorite prey of an eastern mud snake, an amphibian the snake captures with the aid of its inward curving teeth. The young mud snakes will also eat frogs, tadpoles and the larval stage of salamanders. The females seek out sandy ground in which to lay their eggs. Females lay as many as 100 eggs, but usually they will produce from 20 to 30, states the Snakes of Georgia and South Carolina website. On occasion, females will guard their nests; when the eggs hatch, the young are on their own.
Misconceptions
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The mud snake has a spine at the end of its tail that it will attempt to press into its captor when handled. This started the ridiculous myth that the snake had a venomous tail. The myth further stated that the mud snake was actually a "hoop snake" and able to grab its tail in its mouth and roll downhill after people. Once it gets near enough, the story explains, the snake lets go of its tail and hurls itself at its target like a spear, injecting its deadly venom in the poor individual. The only escape was to hunker down behind a tree and hope the snake stuck itself in the wood. Floridians, lacking hilly terrain, are not very familiar with this fantastic yarn about this harmless reptile.
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