CreatureData

Sharptail snake

Contia tenuis (Baird & Girard, 1852)

Status not recordedsnakes

The sharptail snake (Contia tenuis) is a species in the family Colubridae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 34 g.

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Quick facts about the sharptail snake

Weight
34 gsrc for Weight
Length
up to 48.3 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Carnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
9 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3.5 – 5src for Young per litter or clutch
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

What eats the sharptail snake?

Species recorded in published studies and collections.

Recorded predators of the sharptail snake

1 on record

  1. Ring-necked snake Diadophis punctatus5 sources

Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).

References for these records
  • https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/202751063
  • https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/76959556
  • CONTIA TENUIS (Common Sharp-tailed Snake). PREDATION. 2019. Herpetological Review 50(4): 798-798

Where does the sharptail snake live?

Not recorded

Is the sharptail snake endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the sharptail snake classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderSquamata
  5. familyColubridae
  6. genusContia
  7. SpeciesContia tenuis (Baird & Girard, 1852)

Synonyms Calamaria tenuis, Contia mitis

Other names and names in other languages (10)
  • (Common) sharptail snakeEnglish
  • Common sharp-tailed snakeEnglish
  • Common sharptail snakeEnglish
  • Sharp-tailed snakeEnglish
  • DornschwanzschlangeGerman
  • Culebra de Cola PuntiagudaSpanish
  • couleuvre à queue fineFrench
  • Cobra-de-cauda-afiadaPortuguese
  • контияRussian
  • острохвостая змеяRussian

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistITISWikidata

Relatives of the sharptail snake

Other species in the same genus Contia.

CompareSharptail snake vs Forest sharp-tailed snake

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the sharptail snake?

An adult sharptail snake weighs 34 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the sharptail snake?

The sharptail snake (Contia tenuis) belongs to the family Colubridae in the order Squamata.

What eats the sharptail snake?

Animals recorded preying on the sharptail snake include ring-necked snake. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Sharptail snake (Contia tenuis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sharptail-snake

MLA

“Sharptail snake (Contia tenuis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sharptail-snake.

BibTeX
@misc{sharptail_snake_2026,
  title = {Sharptail snake (Contia tenuis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sharptail-snake},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}