Dekay’s Brownsnake

Dekay’s brownsnake is common, small, secretive, nocturnal and seldom found out in the open.  Their Latin name is Storeria dekayi.  The species name dekayi honors James Ellsworth Dekay, a naturalist/zoologist who collected the first specimen of this snake on Long Island, New York and Storeria honors David Humphreys Storer, an American physician/naturalist/ zoologist.  This is the only North American snake with a Latin name honoring two people.  These snakes are found east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. and in a variety of habitats.  They can be found in dense woods to open prairies and marshes, preferring moist soil, but tolerant of dry areas.  They can be found in agricultural, suburban and urban areas. 

This snake is between 9 and 15 inches long though occasionally longer.  They can be brown, tan or gray in color and have two rows of spots along the length of their body. Their color between the spots is lighter than the rest of their body.  Their heads are small and dark with a dark band along the jawline.  This coloring provides them with excellent camouflage.  Being shy and secretive they spend most of their lives underground or hiding in loose stones, under rocks, logs, old boards, and other such spots. They will hibernate in the burrows of other animals, in abandoned anthills, in rock crevices, under logs or in buildings. They are mainly solitary animals, but they will share hibernation spots with other snake species, and they return to the same hibernation spot every year.  These are harmless, nonvenomous snakes.  They won’t try to bite if you pick one up, but they will try to get away and they will smear your hand with bad smelling musk.

These snakes mostly eat snails, slugs, and earthworms, but they will also eat small salamanders, and soft-bodied insects.  This little snake has specialized teeth and jaws that allow them to pull snails out of their shells so that they can eat them.   They are prey animals for larger snakes, large frogs and toads, hawks, weasels, and domestic cats.  Dekay’s brownsnake is an important member of the ecosystem.  They help to control snail, slug and earthworm populations and they are a valuable food source for their predators.  The dark of night allows this little snake to hide from predators, forage for food and mate.  Let’s help Dekay’s brownsnake by turning off all unnecessary lights at night so they can have the dark nighttime environment they need to thrive and continue as an important member of their ecosystem.