Brown Snake
Storeria dekayi
What does it look like?
• 9-13” long • Brown, gray, tan, or reddish-brown with pale stripe down back with spots on both sides of stripe belly can be whitish, yellowish, or pinkish and black spots may be present at edges of belly • Scales are keeled
Where are they found?
• Virginia, and the Carolinas • Empty lots, flat wood pine forests, hardwood forests • Common near aquatic environments • Found under trash, logs and rocks • Can be found hibernating with garter snakes, red-bellied snakes, and smooth green snake
What does it eat?
Slugs Earthworms Snails Soft bodied grubs Beetles Small salamanders • Whatever that is around the snake’s living area • • • • • •
How does it reproduce?
• Mating takes place in the spring and fall • There are various courting movements that take place after a female releases a pheromone trail • Gives birth to 3 to 31 young between June and September
Are they threatened?
• Threats from exposure to pollution and destruction of habitat • No known efforts to ensure viable populations for the future
• Secretive snakes that live around people • May flatten bodies when feeling threatened • Controls slug damage in gardens
Works Cited
• http://www.bio.davidson.edu/biol ogy/herpcons/Herps_of_NC/snak es/Sto_dek.html • http://animaldiversity.ummz.umi ch.edu/accounts/storeria/s._dek ayi$narrative.html