Heartland Habitats by Mary Blocksma

Author:Mary Blocksma
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

June 29

RED-BELLIED SNAKE

Wouldn’t you know, mere days after I declare that a snake with body-length lines is most likely a garter or ribbon snake, the next snake I see—found dead by my front steps—is an exception. Dark lines ran the length of its pencil-thin gray body. I thought it was a baby, but it turned out to be, at nearly eleven inches, a rather large adult. It was easy to identify as a red-bellied snake, even without turning it over to expose the coral-red belly. The belly is not often the first thing one sees when a little snake zips by, and there are some other small snakes that are red underneath as well. Here’s how to tell the red-bellied snake topside.

A PIN-STRIPED SNAKE

Although the background color can vary, usually gray or brown, a tiny (8- to 10-inch), slender snake with four dark pinstripes is likely a red-bellied snake. If you can, try to get a look at its startling red (sometimes orange or yellow) belly, too. The red-bellied’s range extends over the eastern half of the United States, including a narrow strip of southern Canada.

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