Reptiles & Amphibians of France - Smooth snake, Coronella austriaca

Smooth snake, Coronella austriaca
Laurenti, 1768

History and origin
The Smooth snake was first described by Laurenti in 1768, the scientific name of this species is Coronella austriaca, Coronella comes from Latin and means 'small crown' this has been given because of this snakes pattern around the head. Austriaca is Latin for 'from Austria' or 'Austrian'.

Characteristics
They are characterised by their uniformly coloured bellies, the most visible difference to separate it from it’s close cousin the Southern smooth snake (Coronella girondica).

Description
=Size=
They are born at around 25 cm long, averaging about 50 cm long and growing up to 70 cm.
=Morphology=
They are slim and elegant, they have a slim head that is shorter and more blunt then that of the Southern smooth snake. Their smooth scales are apparent due to an often shiny outlook.
=Patterns & colours=
They are metallic grey with a slighter darker pattern consisting of irregular spots/lines/blotches. They have a dark band that runs through their eye from the neck to their snout. Sometimes they can be orange/pink in colour.

Geographical range
Very widespread, all of central Europe and eastern Europe, the Balkan peninsula, Italy, Sicily, eastern, northern and north-western France as well as the French Pyrenees and up the Gironde coast of France. In Spain they are only found in the Pyrenees and northern Spain, northern Portugal, south Sweden and Norway, absent from Denmark, present in England in a limited range.

Subspecies
- acutirostris - Found in Portugal and northwestern Spain, they have a much more pointed snout then other subspecies.
- austriaca - Found everywhere except Portugal, northwestern Spain, England southern Italy and Sicily. They are as described above.
- fitzingeri - Found in England, southern Italy and Sicily, they are much smaller then other subspecies and are more uniform in colour.

Sexual differences
Females are generally larger then the males.

Seasonal variations
None.

Diet
Their main food source is lizards and smaller snakes; they also eat small rodents. They prey is killed by constriction. They are a Forager snake.

Defensive habits
It seems they have to be felt forced to bite however they do not hiss as much as other snakes, Their first defensive plan is to flee. They do not seem to perform any defensive acts such as other snakes, this may be explained by their reduced contact with humans due to their lifestyle.

Reproduction
Breeding occurs when the snakes wake up from hibernation in spring, a week after, they are all looking for each other and mating begins. The females have around 10 young growing inside her (from 2 to 15 depending on size of the female), they are born up to a year after being conceived.

Sexual maturity, life span
The average life span for Coronella austriaca is about 18 They reach sexual maturity when they are 3 to 4 years old.

Habits
The Coronella family of snakes is the least known of all European snakes. This is because they are the most secretive of them all, shy and very rarely seen. They are active by day but they avoid too much heat, retreating through the hottest parts of the day and preferring warm cloudy days and/or the first and last few hours of sunlight, in hot weather they can by active at night. They are very secretive, they usually stay in the vegetation which is exposed to sunlight to heat themselves, other possible places to warm themselves are under pieces of metal, it is for this that they are said to be rare in many places. Their home range can be as large as 0.5 to 3 hectares, they do not move a lot in a day (from 10 to 100 meters). They can climb but prefer do dwell on the ground (they only climb small bushes). If encountered they are quite slow and placid, but if handled they avoid biting and voids as do the snakes from the family 'natrix' (see menu - Grass & Viperine snakes). They shed their skin up to 6 times a year.

Venom
This is a non-venomous snake.

Habitat
They prefer areas with some vegetation, rock piles, in the south of it's range these snakes often live amongst very rocky habitats, even living within crevices. In the south they are also encountered in more moist habitat.

Predators
They are killed by birds of prey, other snake eating snakes, mammals...