Dekay’s Brown Snake
Storeria dekayi is an abundant snake that is widely distributed. It is found in southern Canada, in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and in the northern portions of Mexico. This is a snake that is still fairly abundant. The reason for this can be mostly attributed to it’s smaller size and broad habitat preferences. Brown snakes are typically found hiding among loose stones or flat rocks that are found in the wild and in large cities. These snakes will spend most of their life under the ground, but during heavy rains they will sometimes go out into the open. This usually occurs in October – November and during late March – April when they are moving to or from hibernation spots. Sometimes these hibernation spots will be shared with other snakes such as garter snakes, Red – bellied snakes, and Smooth Green snakes.
Dekay’s brown snake
The brown snake is a fairly small snake that rarely exceeds 15 inches in length. It has a stout body with large eyes and heavily keeled scales. Storeria dekayi is typically found to be a grayish brown color with a lighter streak on its back that is bordered on each side with black dots. The belly of the brown snake is a pinkish white color. Typically there are 17 scale rows at midbody and the anal plate is divided. Males and females generally look the same, but males tend to have longer tails. There are several other subspecies of Storeria dekayi that look slightly different, but there is no textual evidence of any seasonal variation. Young brown snakes are small, about 3 1/2 inches long on average and are black – dark gray in color. A distinguishing characteristic of the young is a light grayish white colored ring found around the neck. At this age they are sometimes confused with ring necked snakes, but are distinguished by their keeled scales.
Reproduction
Breeding in Storeria dekayi starts out with the male following a female that leaves a pheromone trail. The brown snake (male) uses his tongue to identify a potential mate, making sure it is a female, the male then inserts a hemipenis into the female’s cloaca after making various courting movements. The brown snake is viviparous, and gives birth to 12 – 20 young. This occurs during the later parts of the summer around late July to early August. After the young are born there is no parental care involved, but sometimes young brown snakes will stay close with the parent. Brown snakes reach sexual maturity by the end of their second summer, usually by this time they have doubled in length. The young are nourished within their mother’s body while they develop. Once the young are born there is no further parental care, but sometimes young Brown Snakes will stay near their mother. Little is known of Brown Snake lifespans in the wild, but a captive individual lived to be 7 years old. Wild Brown Snakes may approach this lifespan in the wild, though many young die before becoming mature.
Behavior
Brown snakes are typically harmless non-venomous snakes. Some of their predators are large frogs and toads, larger snakes, crows, hawks, shrews, weasels, certain bird species, and domestic cats and dogs. When these snakes do feel threatened they will flatten their bodies out to appear larger and place their bodies in an aggressive posture, and they will even release a musky smelling fluid from the cloaca. Brown Snakes communicate with each other primarily through touch and smell. They use their forked tongues to collect chemicals from the air and insert these forks into a special organ in the roof of their mouth, which interprets these chemical signals. Because Brown Snakes hunt mostly underground and at night, they probably use almost exclusively their sense of smell to find prey. Snakes are also sensitive to vibrations and have reasonably good vision.
Food Habits
Storeria dekayi is an insectivore and feeds largely upon earthworms and slugs, but will also eat small salamanders, soft bodied grubs, and beetles. It mostly eats insects which inhabit the areas it prefers to dwell in.
