Overview

• On August 18, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission launched an online form for residents and visitors to report rainbow snake encounters and upload photographs.
• The elusive Farancia erytrogramma was last confirmed in February 2020, and officials believe additional sightings may have gone unreported.
• Rainbow snakes are nonvenomous, semi-aquatic reptiles found near rivers, springs and brackish marshes in southern Florida, typically measuring three to four feet with iridescent dark bodies and red stripes.
• FWC scientists point to wetland habitat loss, declines in American eel prey and the threat of snake fungal disease as key drivers of the species’ decline.
• A south Florida subspecies at Fisheating Creek has not been documented since 1952, underscoring long-standing gaps in distribution data that public reports aim to resolve.