Mexican Burrowing Snake - Nature's Example of Adaptation for Survival

Loxocemus Bicolor, otherwise known as the Mexican burrowing snake is the only member of its snake family. The Mexican burrowing snake resembles pythons in some ways, but the location of the species does not make sense to place them in that family of snakes.

The Mexican burrowing snake can be found in the Southern parts of Mexico and stretch all the way to Costa Rica. The Mexican burrowing snake is an incredible example of adaptation for survival.

This master digger is often dark gray to black in color and as it ages, it will begin to acquire white specks or patches throughout the length of its thick body. Occasionally, the Mexican burrowing snake will shed its skin and lose all of the dark except a small patch on the nose of the snake resulting in a completely white specimen. These are beautiful snakes. The Mexican burrowing snake generally will run around 3 feet in length, with some species approaching the 4-foot mark.

The Mexican burrowing snake is a very muscular snake that has a shallow body to allow it to dig more efficiently. What is truly amazing is that the Mexican burrowing snake has adapted a shovel like snout to dig with, and smaller eyes to allow for better tunneling. Though it has smaller eyes, it does have a wonderful sense of smell to aid it in finding its food.

Like many snakes, the Mexican burrowing snake like to eat rats and mice, as well as lizards. They also love to eat lizard eggs, hence the burrowing talents. Is it not amazing that this snake has actually learned to dig for it's food? The body of the snake is actually adapted for this purpose.

The Mexican burrowing snake is an egg layer, and will usually have a clutch of between two and four eggs.

The Mexican burrowing snake is a very adaptive snake, and likes to live in dry, moist, arid, forests and tributaries. It is not very particular in this wide range of habitats, though it does seem to prefer moist forests.