White-lipped Herald Snake

Fascinating facts about the White-lipped Herald Snake

• A 1-metre (39-inch) snake can still slip through the narrow reeds of a marsh without alarming the birds nearby, thanks to its slender olive-green body speckled with white dots.
• When a red-lipped herald snake bites, the venom is only mildly toxic and poses no threat to humans or dogs, according to the African Snakebite Institute.
• In captivity, a female can lay between 6 and 19 eggs each early summer.
• A herald snake may live between 10 and 15 years, a respectable lifespan for a small colubrid that spends most of its life in marshes, moist savanna, grasslands, and fynbos. Over a decade, it can experience multiple breeding seasons and adapt to changing water levels. This longevity underscores the snake’s resilience in fluctuating environments.
• From Zambia to South Africa (excluding the Karoo and Northern Cape) and as far north as Nigeria, the species occupies a patchwork of marshy lowlands across Sub-Saharan Africa. Its presence across such varied countries shows a remarkable ability to thrive in different wet habitats, proving that a single species can bridge diverse ecosystems.

At a glance

About the White-lipped Herald Snake

Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, known as the herald snake or red-lipped snake, has an olive-green or grey body with white speckles, a black head, and an upper lip that may be red, yellow, white, or black. Adults average about 70 cm (28 in) in total length and can reach up to 1 m (39 in). It is mildly venomous and poses no threat to humans or domestic animals. It inhabits marshy lowland forest, moist savanna, grassland, and fynbos in Zambia, South Africa (except the Karoo and Northern Cape), Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Botswana. Its diet consists of amphibians (including rain frogs), lizards, and, in captivity, other snakes. Females lay 6–19 eggs in early summer, and the species can live 10–15 years.

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