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Squamata · ColubridaeEntry 7,029 of 21,572
Black-collared Snake, Drepanoides anomalus

Reptilia · Squamata

Drepanoides anomalusJan, 1863

Black-collared Snake

Photograph by The original uploader was Amyharmony at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons

A nocturnal, meat-eating snake from the Neotropic region, reaching 837 mm nose to tail.

ReptiliaSquamataColubridaeDrepanoides

Grows to
837mm
greatest recorded
Eats
Carnivorous
Active
Nocturnal
Lives
Arboreal, terrestrial
Body length across Colubridae

Longer than 62% of all colubrid snakes anyone has measured.

62% of 2,008 species are smaller38% larger
98 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest3,800 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 98 to 3,800 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

33 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living
Extant
Conservation status
Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2014
Population trend
Stable

The animal itself

Limbs
None
Pupil
Vertical slit
Fangs
At the back of the mouth

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
662mm2 ft 2 in

837 mm total length (Feldman et al. 2016), Gaiarsa et al. 2013 (max 662 mm SVL in a female and "The smallest mature female was 461 + 124 mm (SVL + TL, this study) and the smallest mature male was 422 + 153 mm (SVL + TL; this study).")

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
562mm22 in
Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
837mm2 ft 9 in

snakes only in this source

Body mass · greatestcomputed
89.7g3.2 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

Body mass at hatchingmeasured
2.63g0.09 oz

How it lives

Diet
Carnivorous

carnivore (see Pinto‐Coelho et al. 2021), squamate eggs (da Frota et al. 2021), lizard egg specialist (Gaiarsa et al. 2013)

How it hunts
Active foraging

Active (O'Shea 2018)

Active
Nocturnal

O'Shea 2018, da Frota et al. 2021, Gaiarsa et al. 2013

Where it lives
Arboreal, terrestrial

Terrestrial (O'Shea 2018, da Frota et al. 2021), terrestrial and arboreal (Gaiarsa et al. 2013)

Habitat
Forest
Biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Region
Neotropic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
50–500m

50-500 (O'Shea 2018)

Range size
6,235,317km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous

Feldman et al. 2015, Meiri et al. 2019

Average clutch
2.3eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
2–4eggs

mean 2.3 (Meiri et al. 2019), 2-3 (O'Shea 2018), 2-4 mean 2.3 (Gaiarsa et al. 2013)

Mean clutch
2.3eggs

Naming and history

Suborder
Serpentes
Infraorder
Alethinophidia
Subspecies
No
Described by
Jan
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
Yes
Described in
1863
Type locality
Brazil

Keeping one

2 ft 9 in × 16.5 in × 4 ft 1 in(84 × 42 × 126 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes snakes as a fraction of total length: 1 × 0.5 × 1.5.

Recorded both on the ground and climbing, so this is the larger of the two rules in every dimension.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own total length of 2 ft 9 in (837 mm), at 1 × 0.5 × 1.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Black-collared Snake. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.

Feeding

A prey item should be between the same width as the widest part of the snake's body and about 1.5 times that width.

Widely used across snake husbandry references. An alternative formulation gives prey at 10-15% of the snake's body mass. This is established practice, not a measurement.

11kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 90 g, the heaviest recorded for Black-collared Snake — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

  • Length snout to vent · adult male mean
  • Length snout to vent · adult mean
  • Female length · mean, nose to tail
  • Length nose to tail · adult male mean
  • Length nose to tail · adult mean
  • Largest female · snout to vent
  • Largest male · snout to vent
  • Largest female · shell length
  • Largest male · shell length
  • Hatchling length · snout to vent
  • Hatchling length · nose to tail
  • Largest juvenile · snout to vent
  • Largest juvenile · shell length
  • Egg length
  • Egg width
  • Body mass · a typical adult
  • Body mass · adult female, mean
  • Longest recorded life
  • Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
  • Eats arthropods
  • Eats vertebrates
  • Eats plant matter
  • How the young develop
  • Gestation or incubation
  • Clutches in a year
  • Clutches a year · fewest
  • Clutches a year · most
  • First breeds from · youngest recorded
  • First breeds by · oldest recorded
  • Hatchling length · smallest recorded
  • Hatchling length · largest recorded
  • Age at first breeding · female
  • Mature from · youngest recorded
  • Mature by · oldest recorded
  • Size at maturity · smallest recorded
  • Size at maturity · largest recorded
  • Venomous
  • Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
  • Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
  • Colour on the back
  • Pattern on the back
  • Sex decided by
  • Red List criteria
  • Active season · shortest recorded
  • Active season · longest recorded
  • Density · lowest recorded
  • Density · highest recorded
  • Home range · largest recorded
  • Active in

Others in Colubridae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Drepanoides anomalus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/drepanoides-anomalus

@misc{drepanoides_anomalus_2026,
  title  = {Drepanoides anomalus},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/drepanoides-anomalus}
}

Sources

  1. Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
  2. Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
  3. Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.