title: Dasypeltis medici
text: # Dasypeltis medici
  
  Dasypeltis medici, known commonly as the East African egg-eater and the eastern forest egg-eater, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Africa.
  
  ## Etymology
  
  The specific name, medici, is in honor of Italian physiologist Michele Medici.
  
  ## Geographic range
  
  D. medici is found in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
  
  ## Habitat
  
  The preferred habitat of D. medici is lowland evergreen forest.
  
  ## Description
  
  D. medici may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 76 cm (30 in) for females, and 60 cm (24 in) for males.
  
  ## Diet
  
  D. medici, like all species in the genus Dasypeltis, feeds exclusively on birds' eggs. It can swallow an egg three times the size of its head. The egg is slit open by vertebral hypapophyses which extend into the esophagus. The collapsed empty shell is regurgitated.
  
  ## Reproduction
  
  D. medici is oviparous. An adult female may lay a clutch of 6–28 elongate eggs, each egg measuring 24 mm × 8 mm (0.94 in × 0.31 in).
  
  