American Snail-eater

About the American Snail-eater

Dipsas articulata, commonly known as the American snail-eater, is a non-venomous species of snake found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. D. articulata is known by a few names including the American snail-eater, but also the red-striped thirst snake and the Central American snail-eater.

The distribution of this species extends from the lowlands of southeastern Nicaragua to northwestern Panama. It has been identified mostly in parks, reserves, and other natural areas, like the Tirimbina Biological Reserve in Costa Rica and Portobelo National Park in Panama. The first record in Nicaragua was in 2002 during a herpetofaunal survey in Refugio Bartola when a male individual was found coiled up partially obscured by a vine on a tree trunk. A new record in Coclé, Panama in 2014 in a mid-elevation cloud forest extended its known geographic range slightly.

This arboreal species of snake has been found in lowland tropical wet forests. It is commonly found perched on trees or in vegetation low to the ground, likely searching for its main diet of terrestrial snails. There is a record of an individual found in a bromeliad attached to a fallen tree... Wikipedia →