Northern Scarlet Snake
 Northern Scarlet Snake ( Photo courtesy of Michael Von Gebel) |
|
This guy showed up this summer outside my home in Missouri. Quite friendly actually he posed for the shots, I thanked him and he went about his business. I haven't ever seen a Scarlet Snake before. Quite beautiful. The Northern Scarlet Snake is a subspecies of harmless colubrid snake that is found in the southern and eastern United States. The northern scarlet snake grows to 14-20 inches in total length. It is typically a gray or white base color with 17-24 red blotches bordered by black that go down the back.
They can sometimes be mistaken for the scarlet kingsnake,
or the Eastern milk snake in the areas where their ranges
overlap. The northern scarlet snake is a secretive, burrowing
species, preferring
habitats of soft soils, often in open
forest areas or developed agricultural land.
They spend most of their time hidden, emerging to feed on small
rodents and
lizards, but they have a particular taste for
reptile
eggs, swallowing them whole or puncturing them
and consuming the contents |