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The Eastern indigo snake is a threatened species, and the overdevelopment of the snake’s natural habitat in Florida and beyond may be the cause.
The Eastern indigo is native to the Southeast region and is the longest native snake on the continent. Mike Mills is a wildlife biologist at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
“The habitats they prefer are like these large, hardwood hammock forests, and when these get destroyed or even just fragmented, that really messes with their large home range they need, and then especially when you fragment it with roads, you see a lot of road mortalities with these guys.”
These snakes also play an important role in the ecosystem.
“They keep in line the other animals that could get out of hand, like, what some people may not know is that one of their main prey items are rattlesnakes. So, they are actually immune to rattlesnake venom. That’s one way why indigo snakes can be so good for an area, is it kind of keeps the venomous snake population in check”
Mills encourages concerned residents to figure out what their local area is doing to preserve the Eastern indigo snake.
