Copperbelly Water Snake

Posted on December 29, 2023 by tspuckler

I often find this cool creature while visiting southern Illinois. Copperbelly Water Snakes have a solid, dark (usually black) back with a bright orange-red underside that is visible from a side view. Adults range from three to five feet in length.

The snake’s habitat is permanent, vegetated, shallow-edged wetlands mixed with continuous swamp-forest and woodlots. Copperbelly Water Snakes usually are active between April and late October or early November. After emergence from their hibernacula sometime in April or early May, these snakes migrate through forested or vegetated corridors to shallow ponds, lakes, shrub swamps and other shallow wetlands.

Copperbelly Water Snakes require large landscape complexes comprised of diverse suitable wetland habitats and surrounding upland habitats. They are considered one of the most terrestrial water snakes, spending considerable amounts of time away from water.

These snakes are found in two distinct population segments in the United States – the north and south. The northern population is federally listed as “threatened,” and its range includes southern Michigan, northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana. Another population of these snakes lives in southwestern Indiana and adjacent Illinois and Kentucky, and southeastern Indiana. That population is not listed as threatened by the USFWS.

Frogs and tadpoles are the Copperbelly Water Snake’s main prey. This species hunts on land and in shallow water and favors seasonal wetlands where frogs, toads and salamanders lay their eggs. In addition to a large number of prey items, the gradual drying of these wetlands provides excellent feeding conditions as tadpoles become stranded.

Copperbelly Water Snakes give birth to live offspring. Newborns are about six inches in total length, and in a year are about 18 inches in total length. They are patterned with two-toned, reddish-brown, saddle-like crossbanding with reddish-orange chins and lips. Their bellies are light orange. Babies are cryptic, camouflaged, secretive, and hardly ever seen.

This snake is always a fun find for me when visiting southern Illinois.

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Prairie Kingsnake

Posted on November 3, 2023 by tspuckler

While driving back to my hotel one evening last month after a long day of herping in Missouri, I crossed the Mississippi River and not long afterwards saw this snake crossing the road.

The Prairie Kingsnake is a medium-sized, tan or gray snake with numerous brown blotches. The top of the head usually has a backward-pointing, arrowhead-shaped marking, and there is usually a thin dark marking between each eye and down to the corners of the mouth.

The name “Prairie Kingsnake” is somewhat misleading because this common, harmless species lives not only in prairie habitats, but also along the edges of crop fields, hayfields, fallow farm fields, or the edges of open woodlots, on rocky, wooded hillsides, and near farm buildings.

Small mammals such as mice, voles, and shrews constitute some 60 to 80 percent of this reptile’s diet. It also eats lizards and occasionally small snakes. This species kills its prey by constriction. As with other kingsnake species, it is immune to the venom of Copperheads, Cottonmouths, and Rattlesnakes.

Although sometimes called the Yellow-bellied Kingsnake, the belly is often cream to tan in color and interrupted by faint rectangular or square markings that extend across several belly scales.

The Prairie Kingsnake is active during the day in Spring and Fall, but becomes nocturnal in the summer. It may be found hiding under rocks, logs or boards or in small mammal burrows. When disturbed, this 3 foot long snake may vibrate the tail rapidly, hiss and strike (although it is harmless to man).

This was a serpent that I’ve wanted to see in the wild for quite some time, so it was an excellent find on this year’s trip to the Midwest.

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Prairie Ringneck Snake

Posted on October 7, 2023 by tspuckler

While exploring a glades habitat in Missouri, I came across a few examples of this fine serpent. Ringneck Snakes are easily recognizable by their small size, uniform dark color on the back, bright yellow-orange belly, and distinct yellow ring around the neck.

The Prairie Ringneck Snake tends to live in open or partially open canopy settings including bluff prairies, open rocky road cuts (usually southerly exposed), old fields with rocky structures at the surface or along railroad grades where access to underground retreats and overwintering habitat is suitable.

These snakes are highly secretive, spending much of the day under flat rocks, pieces of bark or in and under large woody debris. In the Spring and Fall, they usually remain in open-canopy conditions, but move to more shaded and moist places as Summer approaches.

When alarmed, this species will coil its tail and expose its brightly colored underside. When captured, it usually does not bite (though this one did), but will discharge a pungent, unpleasant musk from glands at the base of the tail.

These snakes not only take shelter under rocks but also find prey there — primarily earthworms, but also slugs, soft-bodied insects and small salamanders. Although they are completely harmless to humans, these snakes have weak venom in their saliva which they use to subdue their prey.

Prairie Ringneck Snakes are egglayers, with females laying 1-10 eggs and averaging four per clutch. There is evidence that this species may nest communally. Eggs are laid in abandoned small mammal burrows or under large flat rocks and hatch in late August or early September.

We usually think of snakes as fierce predators, and no doubt that is how earthworms, slugs, and insects view this species. But small snakes like this are equally as important as a food for other predators — including mammals, birds and many more.

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California Night Snake

Posted on June 9, 2023 by tspuckler

While turning rocks and logs in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I came across a couple of these very interesting serpents.

California Night Snakes are a small species, usually about a foot long and pale grey, beige or light brown. They have brown paired blotches on their back and usually three dark blotches on the neck.

These serpents are rear-fanged and slightly venomous. They use the fangs in the back of their mouth to latch onto their prey — typically lizards, frogs, salamanders and even small snakes.

Their fangs inject venom that subdues prey, but overall these snakes pose no threat to humans due to the location of their fangs and their weak venom. As their common name implies, California Night Snakes are primarily nocturnal.

When disturbed, a Night Snake may flatten its head, coil tightly, and vibrate the tail – appearing as a viper. However, it is a gentle species that is easily handled.

This reptile’s habitats include cliffs, talus slopes, grasslands, shrub savannas, shrublands, rivers and riparian wetlands. It tends to be found in found in hot dry areas of the western United States and British Columbia, Canada.

It was awesome to encounter these cool creatures on my visit to California.

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Pacific Ringneck Snake

Posted on April 21, 2023 by tspuckler

This is a fine and colorful reptile that I frequently come across on my visits to the Golden State.

Adult Pacific Ringneck Snakes are normally around 11 to 16 inches long and about the diameter of a pencil. They have smooth scales and are usually a dark olive green color on their backs, although they can vary from brown to almost black.

These snakes are secretive and nocturnal, so they are rarely seen out during the daytime. I usually find them under logs, rocks or flagstones and sometimes in leaf litter.

True to there name, they generally have a bright ring around their neck. They are well known for their unique defense posture of curling up their tails and exposing their bright red-orange underside when threatened.

This reptile prefers moist habitats and can be found in wet meadows, rocky hillsides, riparian coridors, gardens, farmland, grassland, chaparral, mixed coniferous forests and woodlands.

The diet of the Pacific Ringneck Snake consists primarily of small salamanders, earthworms, and slugs – but they also sometimes eat lizards, frogs, and smaller juvenile snakes of other species.

Females lay their eggs in the Summer, sometimes doing so in a communal nest. In the Winter, hibernating individuals often aggregate in groups.

As a species, Ringneck Snakes have one of the largest geographic ranges of any species of snake in North America and are represented by several subspecies.

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Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer

Posted on November 23, 2022 by tspuckler

I found a couple examples of this serpent while visiting the “Show Me State” last month. Although it is capable of reaching 5 feet, the average adult tends to be about 3 feet in length.

The color of this smooth-scaled, slender snake is uniform but variable — from olive, tan, brown, or blue to gray or nearly black. The belly may be yellow, cream or light blue-gray.

Like other American Racers, juveniles are tan or gray and marked with gray or brown blotches and spots on the back, and smaller, alternating spots on the sides. As the young snakes grow, the markings fade and eventually disappear by the third year.

Active during daytime, these reptiles live in prairies, grasslands, pastures, brushy fields, open woods and along the edges of forests. In Spring and Fall, they are often seen on rocky, wooded, south-facing hillsides, which is where they overwinter (if they do not overwinter in a mammal burrow in an open habitat).

Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racers hunt frogs, lizards, snakes, small rodents, birds and insects. Despite the Latin name, Coluber constrictor, racers are not constrictors. They simply overpower their prey. They use their speed and agility to catch prey — as well as to escape their own predators.

It was an awesome experience to find an adult and juvenile version of this snake, which I had never encountered in the wild before, while on my trip.

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Lined Snake

Posted on October 28, 2022 by tspuckler

This month when visiting the “Show Me State,” I came across my first-ever Lined Snake while exploring a glades habitat in Missouri.

This small, secretive serpent looks similar to a Garter Snake. It is mainly brown to grayish brown with three light stripes, one along the middle of the back, plus two on the sides. The belly is white with two distinct rows of half-moon shapes.

Normally active from April through October, Lined Snakes hide during the day under rocks, logs, and other debris, becoming active at night.

This snake lives in a wide variety of habitats, such as prairies, glades, empty lots in towns and suburbs, near old trash dumps, along highways where there is abundant debris for shelter, and in open, rocky woodlands.

This species, which is typically about a foot long, feeds almost exclusively on earthworms. It was very cool to see this snake “in person” for the first time while on my herping trip.

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Western Coachwhip

Posted on February 18, 2022 by tspuckler

This is a classic American serpent of the southwestern deserts. It is active in the daytime, extremely alert and very speedy. I’ve come across it a few times on my visits to the Mojave Desert.

Western Coachwhips actively hunt and eat lizards, small birds and rodents, subduing their prey by grasping it and holding it down with their jaws, rather than using constriction.

They are curious reptiles with excellent eyesight and are known to “periscope,” which is to raise their heads above the level of the grass or rocks to see what is around them. They are often seen foraging in the hottest hours of a summer day.

A mature Western Coachwhip may measure three to eight feet in length, though they average about four feet. They are a slender-bodied snake with a long and thinly tapered tail.

This reptile has a range as to what it looks like in physical appearance; its dominant color often blends in with the soil color of its habitat, helping to camouflage the snake. The common name “Coachwhip” comes from these snakes often having a black head and neck, resembling a whip handle and large scales resembling a braided whip.

For habitat, the Western Coachwhip prefers relatively open territory, such as sand dunes, prairielands, desert scrub, rocky hillsides and open pine and oak woodlands.

The coachwhip is one of the longest native snakes found in North America. Out west it is also known as the “Red Racer” and it is a thrilling herp to encounter in the field.

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Speckled Kingsnake

Posted on December 3, 2021 by tspuckler

My only “lifer” snake found this year was encountered in a glade in Missouri. I was flipping rocks and enjoying seeing Slimy Salamanders, Black Widow Spiders and Bark Scorpions, when this fine serpent turned up.

This is an easy to identify medium-to-large, shiny black snake covered with small yellow spots. The ground color is generally black or dark brown. A white or yellow spot occurs in the center of most of the scales, to make the snake look speckled.

Speckled Kingsnakes are not only common in relatively undisturbed habitats, but often are also common in agricultural areas, particularly around buildings and junkyards.

This reptile kills its prey by constriction. Its foods include small rodents, lizards and other snakes, including venomous species such as Copperheads, Cottonmouths and Rattlesnakes. It is immune to the venom of snakes living in its home range.

The Speckled Kingsnake is often called the “salt-and-pepper” snake. This reptile was a most welcome find on my Autumn outing.

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Northern Black Racer

Posted on July 16, 2021 by tspuckler

This speedy snake is native to my home state of Ohio, but seems to be far more common in the southern part of the state and not as often encountered in Cuyahoga County (where I live). It ranges from southern Maine, west to Ohio, and south to Georgia, Alabama and parts of Tennessee.

The Northern Black Racer is an alert, day-active species that despite its Latin name of Coluber constrictor, is not a constrictor – rather it subdues its prey simply by overpowering it.

Its food consists of smaller snakes, lizards, frogs, birds, chipmunks, mice and other small rodents. Juveniles tend to eat mostly such as butterfly and moth larvae, insects and spiders.

This long, shiny, black snake can reach 6 feet in total length, though most adults that I’ve come across range from 3-1/2 to 4 feet. Although this reptile is swift, its top speed is about 8 to 10 miles per hour, about the same as a quick jog.

Upon hatching, juveniles have a dorsal pattern of dark-gray to reddish-brown blotches on a light-gray to brown body. The juvenile’s pattern becomes obscure with age, eventually resulting in an all-black snake.

Northern Black Racers are terrestrial and are found in open, grassy areas. They prefer open, lightly wooded habitats, powerline rights-of-way, roadsides, and transitional zones between forests and fields.

These serpents migrate to their winter dens by late October, often using the same den year after year and sometimes sharing them with other Northern Black Racers as well as other snake species.

Northern Black Racers usually emerge from their dens in Spring and begin breeding shortly afterwards. A clutch averaging 16 eggs is laid in June-July. Egg clutches are hidden under logs or in burrows, where they hatch in August-September. The eggs are distinct in that they have a rather granular texture.

If cornered or agitated, this non-venomous snake may lash out in defense and bite, expel musk or discharge feces. Though its most common way of dealing with a threat it can avoid is to simply race away.

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Category Archives: Snakes (Wild)

Copperbelly Water Snake

Prairie Kingsnake

Prairie Ringneck Snake

California Night Snake

Pacific Ringneck Snake

Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer

Lined Snake

Western Coachwhip

Speckled Kingsnake

Northern Black Racer