Colubridae

The largest family of snakes comprising five subfamilies: Colubrinae, Natricinae, Homalopsinae, Lycodontinae, and Xenodontinae. They show a great diversity of eating habits, from eating almost anything to having a specialized diet. They can be oviparous, ovoviviparous, or viviparous. The majority of North American snakes are colubrines. Among the colubrids are king snakes, water snakes, and garter snakes. Some genera are poisonous. (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, pp321-29)

Source last updated 2026-05-24T15:25:50.894Z