![]() ![]() Red-bellied snakes are just 7-11 cm at birth. They have keeled scales and a divided anal plate. There are 110-133 ventral scales and 35-61 caudal scales. There are three light spots around the neck (one on top and one on each side) that can mix together to form a collar. ![]() The head is usually brown or reddish brown on top with a white throat and chin underneath. The belly is usually a striking bright red, but is known to occur in orange, faint yellow, pink, and infrequently in gray or black. Occasionally there will be only one, light colored, middorsal stripe, or all five stripes may occur together. They are usually brown to reddish brown (although sometimes gray and rarely black) with or without 4 faint, dark dorsal stripes. The red-bellied snake is a very small snake total body length ranges from 20.3 cm to 40.6 cm (8-16 in) when fully grown. Occasionally red-bellied snakes are seen basking in the open sun and sometimes climb into low shrubs and other vegetation (Harding 1997). They tend to hide in vacant lots around trash, under boards, and other debris. Quite often they are seen around human habitations. However, they are still common in drier sites such as pastures and grasslands adjacent to woodlands (Harding 1997, Semlitsch and Moran 1984). They often hide under bark, logs, rocks, and leaf litter. Unsurprisingly, they are often found in mesic environments, such as river bays, creek bottomlands, and sphagnum bogs where slugs, snails and worms are readily available. They generally like a damp, moist, and cool environment. Red-bellied snakes are most abundant in deciduous and mixed woodlands. Red-bellied snakes are locally common in woodlands throughout their range (Harding 1997, Smith and Brodie 1982). Another subspecies, Storeria occipitomaculata obscura, is found in Florida and west along the Gulf Coast to eastern Texas. However, a subspecies, Storeria occipitomaculata pahasapae, is found in disjunct populations in the Black Hills of western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. The Great Plains may act as a barrier to the west, considering that they are also absent from large areas of remnant prairie lands in the parts of the midwest and east. Open woodlands, edge situations, old buildings, trash heaps, fields, and almost any other terrestrial situation may harbor yellow rat snakes.Storeria occipitomaculata, the red-bellied snake, ranges from eastern North Dakota to Nova Scotia, south to Florida, and west to eastern Texas. This latter, if in dried grass or leaves, will make a whirring sound that is rather similar to the noise of a rattlesnake. Rat snakes, as a group, will hiss if frightened and will often vibrate the tail. The yellow body color and 4 stripes will identify this snake. It is relatively dull and usually referred to as the “greenish rat snake” in the Carolinas. From FL it ranges northward along the coast to neNC. Occurs throughout most of Florida, except the Everglades, the Lower Keys, and the Panhandle. This color phase was once called Deckert’s rat snake, Elaphe obsoleta deckerti. Dark dorsal blotches may or may not be visible. Dark stripes are often most prominent anteriorly. Various colors, especially a dark olive green or brownish ground color, may show at areas of integration with the gray or the black rat snakes.Yellow Rat Snakes from the extreme southern portion of the peninsula and the Upper Keys (the (Florida Keys variant) may have a ground color of orange to brown. Hatchlings are light gray with dark gray saddles. Scales are smooth on the sides and weakly keeled on the back. Four dark stripes are usually very apparent. Ground color of olive green to orange-yellow dorsally. It is a variably colored, harmless, but often feisty, semi-arboreal snake. Adult at 4 to 5 ½ feet, the yellow rat snake occasionally attains a 7 foot length. ![]()
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