Brown Snake
Storeria dekayi

Status

No status assigned in Minnesota.

Description

This is a small Minnesota species measuring 13-18 inches long (Conant and Collins, 1991). It is nonvenomous. The ground color on the back is a varying shade of brown. There is a light stripe that runs down the back. A row of black spots borders the stripe on both sides. The head is sometimes unmarked, but it usually has at least one (if not all) of the following: an inverted black V under the eye that stops at the mouth line, a large, black semi-ring on the side of the nape sometimes extending onto the belly scales. There may be white in between the scales when the skin is stretched. The belly is unmarked except for a row of black spots where the ventral scales start on the sides. Belly coloration may be cream, inkish or yellowish. The scales are keeled and the anal plate is divided.

Subspecies

Of the three subspecies of the northern brown snake, Storeria dekayi dekayi, only one, the Texas brown snake Storeria dekayi texana occurs in Minnesota. This subspecies' characters were described in detail above.

Range

In Minnesota this snake seems to base itself around the Twin Cities and Mississippi River. This snake probably occurs throughout central Minnesota as a few records from these areas indicate populations north and west of the Twin Cities.

Habitat

These snakes are mostly found close to water-- bogs, marshes, streams, ponds, and lakes although they are usually found quite some distance from the water's edge. Open grasslands with woodland borders are favored. They hide under rocks, logs, and other cover. I once found a gravid female under a piece of tin lying in the mud on the shore of Lake Waconia in Carver County. These snakes are extremely adaptable to environmental changes and are frequently found in city parks, city lots, cemeteries, and backyards.

Habits

This snake is also called the Dekay¼s Snake after New York naturalist James Edward DeKay, (Conant and Collins, 1991). They may be found by turning flat trash. They are generally dinural, but I have found them at night during hot weather. These snakes vary in temperament. Most of the ones I have encountered have been very mild mannered and made no attempt to bite. Others, however, have flattened themselves out like a ribbon. This stretches the skin and the underlying color may produce white dashes on the sides. They strike viciously and musk, but their bite is harmless and painless. They breed in spring and give birth to 3-20 living young at a time. They are about four inches at birth and are nearly black with dark spots and a light collar around the neck. Brown Snakes hibernate in rock crevices, road embankments, and in bridges.

Food

Brown Snakes eat earthworms, slugs, snails, soft-bodied insects and larger specimens will eat frogs and tadpoles.