The Eastern Stripe-Bellied Sand Snake (Psammophis orientalis) is a venomous African snake.

The Eastern Stripe-Bellied Sand Snake is long and slender, with a flat head and large eyes. It is chocolate brown with stripes down the length of its body, and a yellow underbelly.

Eastern Stripe-Bellied Sand Snake

It can grow to about 100 centimetres (39 inches) long.

It is a diurnal snake, active during the day. It eats lizards, mice, rats, birds, and frogs. Secretary Birds, Snake Eagles, and other eagles and buzzards like to eat the sand snake.

The Eastern Stripe-Bellied Sand Snake is restricted to the lowland forests of southern Mozambique. It prefers to live near water in coastal thickets, moist savannahs, and rocky areas. It is terrestrial, which means that it lives along the ground (not in trees).

It is a fast-moving mildly venomous snake.

It is oviparous (egg-laying).

It lives for about 10 years.

Eastern Stripe-Bellied Sand Snake

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM