While flipping rocks in Missouri glades, I occasionally find these small serpents. This two-toned snake has an upperside color that is brown-to-black and an underside that is salmon-pink and extends up the reptile’s sides.

This secretive creature is less than a foot long and seldom seen. If threatened, this snake, like other snakes, can often release foul smelling musk from its cloaca. Unlike most snakes, if handled, it may press its pointy tail tip into the captor’s hand as a defense mechanism.

The Western Worm Snake’s diet include earthworms, slugs, and some slender, soft-bodied insect larvae such as beetle grubs. This species has a pair of enlarged teeth at the rear of its mouth that is presumed to help with swallowing earthworms.

It is most often encountered on rocky, forested hillsides and on rocky, open glades, especially in the Spring and Fall. Within these larger habitats, they require slightly moist places to reside. It rarely ventures out in the open. Instead, it spends most of its time in burrows underground, under thick leaf litter, or beneath large rocks or logs.

Worm Snakes do not live in my area of Ohio, so it’s always cool to come across one in the wild.

Third Eye Herp
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