Brown house snake

Identification

The brown house snake is a harmless snake that is usually a plain shade of brown^3,4. Colours range from reddish-brown and chocolate to pinkish, dark olive or almost black, especially in old snakes, and some have reddish blotches or white mottling on the neck^3,4. The belly is pale and pearly³. Its best field mark is a pair of pale lines on each side of the head: one runs from the nose over the eye to the back of the head, and the other from behind the eye to the angle of the jaw^3,4. Young snakes may have faint spots or mottling⁴.

Size varies from place to place: adults in Gauteng average around 50–60 cm, but snakes from coastal KwaZulu-Natal often exceed 1 m, and the longest measured was 1.5 m⁵.

Distribution

The Reptile Database lists the brown house snake from South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi¹. It is widespread in South Africa³. Its northern limits are still unsettled: a 2026 review noted that the species is currently treated as ranging north through East Africa to southern Somalia, but warned that this wide range may hide several unnamed species². The Reptile Database also mentions older reports from Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania¹.

Habitat

This snake is found in almost every habitat in southern Africa, and it is particularly common in residential areas⁶. True to its name, it often lives in and around houses, and it is very common in suburban gardens³.

Behaviour

The brown house snake is active at night and is fairly slow-moving³. Its genus name, Boaedon, means “with teeth like a boa”², and like a boa it kills its prey by constriction, squeezing it with its body³. It uses its teeth to hold onto prey⁹. It will bite if it feels threatened⁶. It is eaten by many predators, including file snakes, cobras, monitor lizards, button spiders, owls, snake eagles and mongooses⁶.

Diet

The brown house snake feeds largely on rodents and lizards³. Birds, bats and skinks are also eaten, and frogs only rarely⁶. A 2025 study found that preserved museum specimens contained only mammal and reptile prey, while published records and photos from citizen scientists also showed it eating amphibians and birds⁸. This suggests its diet is broader than museum data alone would show⁸.

Reproduction

The brown house snake lays eggs¹. A female lays between 8 and 18 eggs in summer, and may lay more than one clutch in a season⁶.

Venom and medical significance

The brown house snake has no venom, and the African Snakebite Institute classes it as completely harmless^3,10. It has no fangs: all its teeth are solid and similar in shape, and snakes with this kind of teeth in southern Africa are considered non-venomous⁹. It can still bite if handled, and a bite may bleed a little but causes no other symptoms¹⁰. Bites do happen: in South African snakebite records it was among the ten species most often named in bite incidents¹¹. If there is any doubt about which snake caused a bite, seek medical care.

Conservation

The brown house snake is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2021 assessment)¹². It is widespread and very common, especially around homes and gardens^3,6.

Similar species

Of the other house snakes in southern Africa, the aurora house snake (Lamprophis aurora) is easily told apart by the orange stripe down its back, while the olive house snake (Lamprophis inornatus) is often confused with other plain-coloured snakes⁷. More importantly, some venomous snakes are mistaken for harmless ones: in South African bite records, most bites by Bibron’s stiletto snake (Atractaspis bibronii) were on the fingers, probably because people misidentified it and picked it up¹¹. The pale head stripes of the brown house snake are its most reliable field mark^3,4.

These differences are not a safe basis for handling any snake. Keep your distance from every snake you cannot identify.

In captivity

The brown house snake can live a long time in captivity: one is known to have lived for 20 years⁶. In the wild it is a useful snake to have around, because it feeds largely on rodents near homes³.