Dasypeltis scabra, known as the common egg eater, egg-eating snake or rhombic egg eater, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of nonvenomous snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

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Description

It grows to a length of 20–35 in (50.8–88.9 cm), and has almost toothless jaws. Dorsally it has a series of rhomboidal dark brown spots on a lighter background. There is an alternating series of brown spots on each side. Ventrally it is yellowish, either uniform or with dark dots.

Diet

Dasypeltis scabra feeds exclusively on eggs. The lining of the mouth has small, parallel ridges, very similar to human fingerprints, which aid in grasping the shell of an egg. Once swallowed, the egg is punctured by specialized vertebral hypapophyses which extend into the esophagus. The shell is then regurgitated in one piece, and its contents passed along to the stomach.

Defense

When disturbed, the snake inflates itself, "hisses" by rapidly rubbing together the rough,keeled scales on the side of its body, and strikes with its mouth kept wide open.