Sundevall's Garter Snake

Sundevall's garter snake (Elapsoidea sundevallii) belongs to a group of small African elapids known as garter snakes (unrelated to the North American genus Thamnophis of the same common name). It is a fossorial species found across parts of southern Africa.

Although technically venomous as an elapid, its venom is considered weak and it poses little danger to humans, with no serious documented bites.

A small, smooth-scaled snake with a banded pattern.

• Body marked with alternating dark and light crossbands or rings along its length
• Small, rounded head not distinct from the neck
• Smooth, glossy scales and a cylindrical body suited to burrowing
• Round pupils
• Adults typically 0.4-0.7 m

Inhabits savanna, grassland, and woodland across southern Africa, often in sandy or loose soils that facilitate burrowing. It shelters under rocks, logs, and leaf litter, and in loose substrate.

Primarily nocturnal and fossorial, spending much of its time underground or under surface cover, emerging to forage for other reptiles, including skinks and small snakes, as well as amphibians. It is docile and rarely bites, relying on concealment rather than aggression. Reproduction is oviparous.