Brown house snakes

Introduction: The largest of Namibia's house snakes is the Brown House snake (Lamprophis fuliginosus). They are known to bite at first, but settle down in houses and do not need to be bothered. Experts believe there is a subspecies in Namibia (L. mentalis) that has a thin, pale, large eye.

Very few house snakes exceed 1m in length. They have small eyes with vertical pupils and the body is covered in smooth scales. Most house snakes are terrestrial, although some species live underground in termite nests whilst others will forage around in rock crevices and cracks

Distribution: Throughout Namibia. If there's a house, there's probably a brown house snake!

Diet: Rodents and other small vertebrates, bats and lizards.

Colouring: Uniform red-brown body with 2 yellow streaks on the side of the head. Brown house snakes from the Namib Desert and other dryer regions will be more light orange in colour. The belly is off-white.

Breeding: Females lay up to 16 eggs in summer taking up to 3 months to hatch.

Size: Max SVL male 656mm, female 783mm.