Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Could someone please ID this snake for me, I found it in my compost pile when I went to turn it, just curious , I think it might be a water snake or bullsnake of some kind. Thanks, click on the link to view the picture.

I want to say Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) on this one. Anyone else?
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
1.2.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
2.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.1.0 California Kingsnake
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
4.2.0 Rosy Boas (Harquahala, Mexican, Temecula, & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes

LIZARDS
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko

AMPHIBIANS
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog
0.0.2 Gold Frogs
1.0.0 Fire Salamander

You are correct, Diego. That is a midland brown snake, Storeria dekayi wrightorum. Key to the ssp is the dark crossbands.

~~Greg~~

BTW, it is probably not a juvie..they don't get very big, averaging less than a foot, maxing at barely a foot & a half.

~~Greg~~

Hey thanks a bunch, I thought it didn't quite look like the northern water snakes that we commonly see around here. Do you know what they eat? bugs and worms? This one is about 14-16"

Would it make a good pet or should I just let it go?

The books say slugs, earthworms & soft-bodied insects. You can give it a try, but if food is not accepted within a few days to a week, you prolly oughta release it. I've kept a lot of snakes, but not them.

~~Greg~~

Looks like they are actually quite common, but yeah I agree if I don't see him eat a nightcrawler today or tommarrow I'm letting him go, probably will let him go back down in my compost bin either way but might watch him for a little while, kinda cute but very nippy Do you think it could be a gravid female that I might get some eggs to incubate and hatch out?

i could be wrong but it doesn't look gravid to me. Rin

Do not feed it nightcrawlers! Only redworms or other kinds of smaller worms. Not at first anyway. It does look like a brown snake but the posturing its doing looks to be more like that of a garter or watersnake. Anyone else notice that? I've had some success keeping them in captivity. I've even had wild caught females give birth to a handfull of very tiny babies (think wooden matches). If it won't eat in front of you within a week I would let it go. Wait a few days and then offer it worms in a small dish so they can't burrow down. The smell should bring the snake out of hiding.

Also, they eat slugs and snails. No bugs though.

Thanks for all the replies, I found a couple picts and it does look like a midland brown rather than a northern brown from what I saw. I do have a red worm farm in my basement so I will try red worms. So they are live bearers, and stay small, and don't have to be fed mice... sounds like the perfect pet snake to me, are there people who breed them in captivity or are they just considered to common to bother with that?

They are really common. I've only seen people selling them as food for other snakes . I don't think they will ever be common in the pet trade. I use redworms for composing inside too, sounds like the perfect snake alright!

its a adult gravid female. shell have 15-25 babies

That makes sense, Greg. I thought it looked a little different! Thanks.
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
1.2.0 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.1.0 Hypo Everglades Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes
1.1.0 Salt and Pepper Bull Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Pacific Gopher Snake
2.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snakes
0.1.0 Amel Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.0.0 Hypermelanistic California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Albino High White California Kingsnake
0.1.0 California Kingsnake
1.1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake
4.2.0 Rosy Boas (Harquahala, Mexican, Temecula, & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.1.0 Western Hognoses
1.1.0 Red Sided Garter Snakes

LIZARDS
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
1.0.0 African Fat-Tail Gecko
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.1 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Chuckwalla
0.1.0 Banded Gecko
0.0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko

AMPHIBIANS
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
1.0.0 Bubbling Kassina
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog
0.0.2 Gold Frogs
1.0.0 Fire Salamander