Snake family · Mexican burrowing python
Loxocemidae
A single primitive, non-venomous burrowing snake of Central America.
About the Loxocemidae family
The sole member of this family is the Mexican burrowing python, a stout, non-venomous burrower that eats reptile eggs and small animals. Despite the name it is only distantly related to true pythons and is a living link to early snake lineages.
- Where they live
- The Pacific lowlands from Mexico to Costa Rica.
- How to recognize one
- Heavy-bodied and iridescent, with a pointed snout adapted for burrowing.
- Danger to people
- Harmless. Non-venomous.
Species (1)
Keep learning
- What Is a Snake? Anatomy and the BasicsA clear overview of what makes a snake a snake: limbless body plan, anatomy, evolution from lizards, species diversity, and why they are ectothermic.
- How Snakes Move, Hunt, and EatHow snakes move without legs, hunt as ambushers or active foragers, kill by constriction or venom, and swallow prey wider than their head.
- What Do Snakes Eat?All snakes are carnivores. Learn what snakes eat, how diet changes with size and age, how often they feed, and how they hunt and swallow prey.
- Venomous vs Nonvenomous: How to Tell the DifferenceThe folk rules for telling venomous snakes apart, where each one fails, and why location-based identification beats guessing by sight.
