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Common Egg-eating Snake | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Common Egg-eating Snake

Dasypeltis scabra

ReptiliaSavanna, dry woodland, rocky outcrops and scrub, often near nesting birdsLeast Concern

Field profile

The common egg-eater is a slim African snake that eats nothing but whole bird eggs. It has almost no teeth. Bony projections from its neck vertebrae saw through the shell inside the throat, after which the collapsed shell is spat out.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-01-08

Common Egg-eating Snake

This snake cracks eggs with its neck bones

Dasypeltis swallows a bird egg whole, then drives it against downward-projecting spines on the underside of its neck vertebrae. The shell splits, the contents are squeezed out, and the flattened shell is regurgitated.

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