### Identification Reaching a modest 60–90 cm, this slender serpent is a master of mimicry. To the untrained eye, it is a dead ringer for the venomous Rhombic Night Adder. Look for a series of dark, rhombic blotches along its spine set against a greyish-brown background, and a distinct, forward-pointing "V" marking on the crown of the head. The most telling field mark, however, is the texture: its scales are highly "keeled" (ridged), giving the snake a rough, dull appearance. Unlike its venomous lookalike, *D. scabra* has a vertical, cat-like pupil and a totally toothless mouth.
### Habitat & Range This is one of Africa’s most widespread snakes, found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and into parts of Saudi Arabia. It is a true generalist, thriving in everything from coastal forests and arid scrublands to high-altitude grasslands. You won’t find them in the deepest rainforests or the driest dunes, but they are common in suburban gardens where birds nest.
### Behaviour Primarily nocturnal and a gifted climber, *D. scabra* spends its nights raiding nests. When cornered, it performs one of the best bluffs in the reptile world: it coils into a "C" shape and rubs its keeled scales together to produce a loud, rasping hiss known as "saw-scaling." It will even strike with its mouth wide open to reveal a dark interior, despite having no venom or teeth to back up the threat.
### Diet The Common Egg-eater is an extreme specialist, consuming nothing but bird eggs. It uses its keen sense of smell to find nests and can detect if an egg is fresh or developing. Once it latches on, its incredibly elastic skin stretches to accommodate an egg several times the diameter of its own head.
### Fascinating Fact The "toothless" snake actually has "throat-teeth!" It possesses specialized bony protrusions on its vertebrae (hypapophyses) that extend into the esophagus. As the egg is swallowed, these "teeth" saw through the shell. The snake swallows the liquid gold and neatly regurgitates the crushed shell as a single, dry pellet.