Common slug eater
Duberria lutrix, or the common slug eater, is a small, ovoviviparous, molluscivorous, non-venomous snake, which is endemic to Africa.
Adults can be up to thirty to forty cm (approximately twelve to sixteen inches).
The common slug eater's colour can vary, but they typically have an olive green to brown or russet back, grey flanks, a yellowish or cream belly, and a black, more or less complete, vertebral stripe.
This species is found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
As the name implies, the common slug eater is a specialised predator and feeds on snails and slugs, mostly finding its prey through chemoreception, using its tongue. It swallows its prey quickly before too much defensive mucus is produced, extracting snails from their shells through the shell opening, or by smashing the shell against a rock while grasping the soft body in its jaws.
The common slug eater usually gives birth to litters of three to twelve young. However, broods from large females may consist of as many as 22 newborns, each measuring eight to eleven cm (3⅛-4¼ inches). The total combined weight of the young may exceed the weight of the female after giving birth. Birthing season is January and February (late summer in southern Africa).
