[2] The species' range extends from southwest Massachusetts, south to southern Alabama, west to Louisiana and north to Illinois.

When not underground, C. a. amoenus resides mostly under rocks, logs and leaf litter, or burrowed within rotting woody debris.

The head is small, conical and no wider than the neck, and is used to borrow with aids in their fossorial lifestyle.

[3] The worm snake diet is mostly carnivorous, feeding on, in some areas, strictly earthworms and in others opportunistically eating slugs and other creatures that they can fit into their mouths.

[4][5] It is found in southern Arizona, southern Connecticut, southwestern Massachusetts, southeastern New York, New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, eastern West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, and in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee.

[3] Populations are very scarce in the coastal plain in upland habitats that are more xeric and dominated by pines.

[13] Fossil records indicate a previous population of C. a. amoenus in central Florida that has been extirpated since the 19th century.

To escape overheating or desiccation, it has adopted a fossorial lifestyle and it usually spends most of the year underground or in rotting logs.

[12] Males travel much farther than females and their diets consist primarily of earthworms, but may also include other soft-bodied invertebrates, such as insect larvae.

[9] Predators include other snakes, thrushes, American robins, barn owls, and opossums.

When handled, C. amoenus may release a foul-smelling musk from their cloaca, defecate, attempt to burrow between the fingers, and probe the hand with the tail spine.

Higher activity during September and October indicate possible fall breeding in Western North Carolina.

Clutches are placed in depressions under rocks, in cavities in the rotting wood of logs and stumps, and in old sawdust piles.

Carl Ernst and his students collected 108 individuals from beneath rocks and debris in 100 m along a hillside overlooking the Kentucky River in one hour on an April afternoon.

[3]The size of the home range to vary from 23 meters for a small juvenile or female to a maximum of 726 m^2 for an adult male.