Snakes are fascinating creatures. With so many interesting behaviors, these animals are known for their unique way of living, including their often peculiar eating habits.

Snakes that eat other snakes include cobras, kingsnakes, garter snakes, kraits, indigo snakes, coachwhips, coral snakes, and cottonmouths. If food is scarce, these snakes might eat their offspring, but this is rare. 

If you’re curious about what snake species eat other snakes, stick around. You’ll learn why they eat other snakes and if they eat their young. 

1. Cobras

Cobras are some of the most well-known snakes and are renowned for their scaled hood, aggressive tendencies, and iconic striking habit. Of all the cobra species, the king cobra is the most likely to practice this particular behavior and eat smaller species of snakes or even their kind.

King cobras have a strange habit of only feeding on certain species. While they are known to feed on other snakes, they often stick to eating one type of snake.

2. Kingsnakes

Kingsnakes eat other snakes and are one of the most common cannibalistic kinds of snakes, eating not only their species, but other types of snakes as well. 

Interestingly, they are immune to pit-viper venom and can eat some venomous snakes.

According to the University of Georgia, Eastern Kingsnakes, in particular, prefer to prey upon cottonmouths, copperheads, and even venomous types like rattlesnakes. They constrict their prey before eating it, and have a lot of body strength.

Aside from snakes, kingsnakes consume small rodents, eggs, birds, and other reptiles like lizards.

3. Garter Snakes

Garter snakes are some of the most common snakes in North America, often found in yards and even some suburban areas. They are mainly known to eat small animals like rodents, birds, and fish, but they have been recorded eating other reptiles too. They prefer lizards, but they eat some snakes. 

The common garter snake will either eat smaller species of snakes or practice cannibalism and eat its kind. 

Remember, snakes have incredible eating mechanisms and can eat very large foods relative to their body size. As long as another snake can fit in its mouth, it can be eaten by a garter snake.

4. Kraits

Kraits eat other snakes, and in fact, they are one of the most well-known cannibalistic snakes. Believe it or not, a krait’s diet mainly consists of snakes. They are also known to eat snakes of their species.

Kraits can kill their prey with their venom, which attacks the nervous system and makes it easier for them to devour whole meals. They also eat dead snakes.

5. Indigo Snakes

Indigo snakes eat other snakes and are known for their daring feeding habits. Surprisingly, the eastern indigo snake has been commonly known to incorporate venomous snakes into their diets.

Some venomous species that eastern indigo snakes eat include rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and more, according to the Smithsonian.

6. Coachwhips

Coachwhips are dark, slender snakes that live throughout the United States but are more commonly found in southern states, especially Florida and Georgia. These serpents are named for their likeness to a braided whip, but another iconic feature of this species is that they are known to eat their kind.

Coachwhips eat a broad range of small mammals, amphibians, birds, and reptiles. Their diet mainly consists of the following:

• Lizards
• Bird eggs
• Large bugs
• Rodents
• Other snakes

7. Cottonmouths

The next type of snake on our list is the cottonmouth, also known as the water moccasin, which is a species commonly found in North American wetland environments. They eat other snakes, and since they live in wet habitats like swamps, marshes, and other freshwater bodies, they usually prey upon snakes that live in these environments.

They are also known to eat other cottonmouths.

8. Coral Snakes

Another snake that is known to eat its kind is the coral snake.

Coral snakes are an iconic species of reptile known for their black, yellow, and red stripes. They are highly venomous snakes that are commonly mistaken for the harmless scarlet kingsnake since they have the same colors and patterns, just arranged in a different order.

Other snakes are a vital part of the coral snake’s diet. 

While coral snakes love to eat lizards, most of their meals are snake-based. These colorful creatures will go after any small and opportunistic snake, but they prefer blind snakes and worm snakes.

Do Snakes Eat Their Young?

While it’s sad to think about, you might wonder if some snakes will go as far as to eat their kind. 

Some snakes will eat their own young either by accident or opportunistically. If the mother is under a lot of stress or can’t find another food source, she might eat her young. Mother snakes are also known to eat infertile snake eggs or to eat unhatched eggs by accident.

While this is possible and occasionally happens in the wild, it isn’t very standard and is more common in mammals.