Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Arizona
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi) historically occurred in southern Mississippi and Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. old reports from South Carolina are not thought to be credible. naturally occurring populations likely no longer occur in Mississippi and Alabama, and populations elsewhere are of conservation concern. however, there have been no large-scale efforts to determine the historical and current distributions of the eastern indigo snake across its entire range. Toward this end, we obtained records of eastern indigo snakes by: (1) searching databases, the literature, and U.S. museum collections; (2) soliciting sightings from qualified individuals via e-mail and questionnaires; and (3) conducting visual-encounter surveys in Georgia. in southeastern and south-central Georgia, we documented 379 recent (2001−2012) records from 29 counties and from 26 public or conservation lands (≥ 100 ha in area) in 18 counties. In Florida, we documented 595 recent (2001−2012) records from 46 counties and from 154 public or conservation lands ≥ 100 ha in area in 44 counties. The species still occurs throughout most of peninsular Florida except in urban areas and some agricultural regions, but recent records are scarce or absent in the panhandle and Florida keys. habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation probably have impacted eastern indigo snake populations over much of their range, and a severe decline of gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations in the Florida panhandle may account for the scarcity of eastern indigo snakes in this region because tortoise burrows are important overwintering refugia.