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What Does a Barbados Thread Snake Eat?

i Ryan McVay/Photodisc/Getty Images

Underneath a tiny rock on the island of Barbados, a biologist discovered the tiniest snake known to science. It is a type of thread snake, named for its island home. The noodle-thin Barbados thread snake chows down on insects.

Tiny Snake

The Barbados thread snake only measures 4 inches long when full grown. This means he won’t be swallowing rodents or other small mammals like most snakes do. While little is known about the recently discovered snake, Dr. Blair Hedges, the evolutionary biologist who discovered the snake, believes it eats primarily termites. It’s unlikely that a smaller snake is to be discovered, since diet could make it impossible for a baby snake to survive. The offspring of a snake smaller than the Barbados thread snake would likely be unable to find anything small enough to fit in its tiny mouth. Due to its small stature, the Barbados thread snake only lays one egg at a time, rather than the large clutches of larger snakes. When hatched, the infant snakes are already 2 inches long, half their adult length.