About Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia (Laurenti, 1768)
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, commonly called the herald snake, can be identified by its olive green or grey body covered in multiple white speckles, alongside a distinctive black head and an upper lip that may be red, yellow, white, or black. This species grows to an average total length of 70 cm (28 in), including the tail, and may reach a maximum total length of 1 metre (39 inches). The herald snake is endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa, and can be found in Zambia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, southern and central Mozambique, and northern Botswana; it is also distributed throughout most of South Africa, excluding the Karoo and Northern Cape. It favors habitats including marshy areas in lowland forest, moist savanna, grasslands, and fynbos. For reproduction, adult female C. hotamboeia lay between 6 and 19 eggs in early summer.
