Smooth snakes are constrictors - they wrap their coils tightly around their prey and then swallow them live and whole. They are non-venomous and harmless to humans.

Statistics
Length: 50-60cm, (occasionally up to 85 cm). They can live for up to 12 years in the wild.

Physical description
Smooth snakes are slender and are covered in flat scales that vary in colour from grey, brown to reddish-brown. They have a pattern of dark spots running along the back and typically have a dark stripe that runs from the neck through the eye to the nostril. The eyes are orange with a round black pupil, and the tongue is red-brown. It is thought that their smooth scales may be an adaptation to burrowing underground

Distribution
They inhabit southern England, and other European countries as well as Asia Minor and Iran.

Habitat
Smooth snakes live in dry, sunny areas including scree slopes, embankments, heathland, hedgerows and open woodland.

Diet
They hunt by advancing slowly forward and then making a rapid strike, often subduing their prey by constriction. Smooth snakes are quite aggressive and feed mostly on lizards and other snakes (almost of their own size), although they will also eat rodents, earthworms, spiders and insects.

Behaviour
Although smooth snakes hunt during the day, they are not very active and will spend most of the day under rocks and stones. They are slow-moving and often freeze if approached. Like most snakes, they regularly bask in the sun. Smooth snakes hibernate communally from October to March/April. After emerging from hibernation males will fight for females, rearing up their bodies and pushing each other to the ground, coiling around each other until one of them gives up. Like grass snakes, they will sometimes emit a foul-smelling liquid from their anal glands when handled.

Reproduction
Smooth snakes start to breed in April/May. The male holds the female in his jaws and they twist the lower parts of their bodies together during copulation. Smooth snakes give birth to 4-15 young, which develop inside egg membranes within the female. The young rupture this membrane with their heads soon after birth and are immediately active.

Conservation status
They are very rare in England and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from being killed, injured or sold. Loss of their heathland habitat is the main reason for their decline. They are not listed by the 2000 IUCN Red List.