Common Sharptail Snake
Contia tenuis • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Colubridae, Subfamily: Dipsadinae, Genus: Contia, Species: Contia tenuis
Western North America, primarily found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and southwestern British Columbia in Canada, extending south through Washington, Oregon, and California.
Look up Common Sharptail Snake in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Colubridae, Subfamily: Dipsadinae, Genus: Contia, Species: Contia tenuis
Conservation
IUCN Red List status is Least Concern, though local populations face habitat fragmentation and loss due to urban development and agriculture.
Physical Description
Extremely slender, reddish-brown to greyish dorsal coloration with a pale stripe along the flanks. The belly features a distinctive black-and-white or reddish bar pattern resembling a ladder. The head is small and barely distinct from the neck, and the tail terminates in a sharp, pointed, horn-like scale.
Size & Dimensions
The visible specimen appears small and likely juvenile or a sub-adult, approximately 15 to 20 cm in length. Typical adults reach total lengths of 20 to 45 cm.
Habitat
Found in moist temperate forests, woodlands, chaparral, and grasslands. Typically inhabits microhabitats under rocks, logs, bark, and leaf litter in damp soils, ranging from sea level up to mid-elevations.
Diet & Feeding
Specialized feeder focusing heavily on slugs and their eggs, using its sharp tail tip possibly for leverage or defensive pinning, foraging actively under cover objects.
Reproduction
Oviparous, laying small clutches of eggs typically ranging from 3 to 10 eggs during the summer months in damp soil or decaying wood.
Look-alikes
Frequently confused with the Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus) or juvenile racer snakes, but easily distinguished by the sharply pointed tail tip and distinct ventral cross-barring.
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List status is Least Concern, though local populations face habitat fragmentation and loss due to urban development and agriculture.
Cultural Significance
Plays an important ecological role in controlling invertebrate populations such as slugs and soft-bodied forest pests in its native ecosystems.
Notable Features
Possesses a unique, hardened, pointed tip at the end of its tail, which gives the species its common name and is thought to be used in handling slippery prey like slugs.