Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast. Food. The underside of the tail has a single row of scales, similar to the other venomous snakes in Pennsylvania.

The massasauga is brownish gray to almost black on its back and sides with a row of rounded, dark-brown or black blotches running down the middle of the back.

The smooth earth snake is reddish brown to gray and has no distinctive markings other than possibly widely scattered small dark flecks over the body; on the eastern earth snake, flecks appear in rows on the back. Aquatic Critters & Habitat It rarely dives in the manner of true water snakes. Range. A flattened snout seems to emphasize the head's squarish appearance.

This small reptile ranges from lower New England to South Carolina and Alabama. Salamanders of PA The female coils herself around the eggs perhaps for a day or two and then departs. The scales on the copperhead are only weakly keeled. When striking, venom may be released from glands located in the head and injected into the victim through modified front teeth referred to as fangs. They fall in place between the bottoms of the larger saddles. Smaller, dark blotches also appear low on the side, near the belly. The hatchlings display the same markings as the adult hognose snake, but tend to be more gray than yellowish brown. Very agile, the ribbon snake moves quickly and with little effort through thick vegetation. Contrary to popular belief, the timber rattlesnake does not always sound its familiar alarm before striking. The scales of the eastern worm snake are smooth and contained in 13 rows.

Range. It often suns itself draped on the branches of overhanging shrubs or trees.

By the time it is one hour old, the juvenile copperhead has venom strong enough to paralyze a mouse.

The most important identifying characteristic of the eastern milk snake is its belly. More or less elongated, the eggs measure 1 1/4 to nearly three inches long. The eastern earth snake appears in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, where its range extends south to Georgia and to the Gulf Coast.

The belly is unmarked and can be grayish, off-white or yellowish.

The body color is copper or hazel-brown, sometimes accented with a tinge of pink or orange.

Typical of most cold-blooded animals, the massasauga suns itself on mild days, allowing the warming rays of the sun to raise the body temperature to levels beneficial to its functioning.

Both have divided anal plates compared to the single plate of the milk snake. Though not the largest snake found in Pennsylvania, the timber rattlesnake has the distinction of being the largest of our three venomous species. Always alert, the organs respond to the amount of heat reaching them and help the snake detect the existence and locate the direction of a warm body.

Generally, these snakes all have a head that is tubular to somewhat flattened.

Slopes with a southern exposure are preferred. Even so, there are occasions when the massasauga may stray from these areas and be found in dry woodlands.

The upper jaw is immovable, but the bones to which the upper teeth are attached can be moved slightly.

In fact, a subspecies is often seen in southeastern Pennsylvania with the worm snake with which it shares similar habitat.

Identification.

Insects and small amphibians round out the menu. The young are born by late summer, usually July through August. The northern redbelly snake may be gray, black, brown or rusty red with stripes that vary in number.

Perhaps confined to close quarters, snouts became narrower and that meant smaller, non-chewing teeth.

It subsists on earthworms almost exclusively until its first hibernation. A snake's skin does not grow as the body matures and becomes larger. The cavities lead to a chemical receptor called the Jacobson's organ (See Figure VI-10).

Mating in either the spring or autumn, the northern brown snake gives birth to three to 30 live young in July through September. The type of scales, whether they are smooth or keeled, can help sort out one snake from another. General characteristics. The northern brown snake is a small snake but with almost disproportionately large eyes.

These depressions are heat-sensitive organs able to respond to very small changes in temperature.

The hatchlings measure nine to 12 inches. They apparently were lost during the evolutionary process. Northern brown snake—Storeria dekayi dekayi The scales are keeled and the anal plate is divided.

It is the most widely distributed and familiar snake in North America. If awards in various categories were given to snakes, the eastern hognose snake would win hands down for "most dramatic performance." Identification. The Common Garter Snake mates immediately after emerging from hibernation.

The copperhead also has the facial pit located between the eye and nostril, common to Pennsylvania's three venomous snakes.

Young snakes can strike, inflict a wound and inject venom as soon as they are born. From here it can drop quickly to the water if startled. Approaching footsteps are easily detected and the snake often escapes long before it might be seen by the approaching intruder. It has been known by several other names, such as thunder snake and chain snake.

To become mobile, snakes have developed a specialized and effective bone-muscle-scale construction. In spite of its scientific name, the black racer is not a constrictor. To ancient Hebrews, these serpents were the personification of evil, and early biblical references portrayed snakes as the sin-offering Satan. When not in any hurry, a snake uses a caterpillar-like movement called rectilinear locomotion (See Figure VI-1Ia). General characteristics. The eastern garter snake appears over a wide range.

The rough green snake has a slender body with a long, tapering tail. The belly of the copperhead is unmarked and a uniform cream or off-white. Another of Pennsylvania's snakes categorized as "water" snakes, the queen snake in some local areas may be known as the "willow" snake or "leather" snake. Crickets, spiders, caterpillars and grasshoppers make up the main diet of the rough green snake. The crossband patterns on the copperhead are dark, but on the milk snake, a snake often confused with the copperhead, the hourglass-shaped cross-bands are a lighter color. Though the snake's sense of taste is not highly developed, the ability to smell (although perhaps not in the same sense as humans) is excellent. The eggs are oblong and 1 1/2 to just over two inches in length. The head of the black rat snake is clearly defined in relation to the neck and body.

It normally avoids deep water. Some species have as many as 400 of these miniature spinal bones, which allow the snake's fluid movement and flexibility.

It has two parallel rows of small dark spots bordering a wide but indistinct stripe that runs down the center of the back for its full length.

This design contrasts sharply with the rest of the body, which is chocolate brown to shiny black. It usually moves about after dark, making it even less likely to be observed. A new segment is added each time the skin is shed, which could occur several times a year depending on the age of the snake. The tongue is moist and quite delicate, and it's an important part of an extremely sensitive system used for tasting and smelling.

This is the largest of Pennsylvania's three water snakes, reaching an adult size that may range from 24 to over 50 inches.

It went on to note that "the rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the globe than America, and it may therefore have been chosen on that account to represent . Scientific name: Thamnophis sirtalis Its range extends somewhat southwesterly through the Carolinas into Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Illinois. Habitat. The garter snake also may assume a defensive posture by flattening its body, hugging itself against the ground as do the water snakes, to which it is related.

It extends south into Georgia and the Gulf Coast. Still others have adapted poisons to kill their prey before eating it.

The head of the milk snake is light with brownish marks. Identification.

It is oviparous, which means that it lays eggs rather than gives birth directly to live young, as do some other snakes. It extends into only a small portion of southwestern New York. As the shedding process begins, the snake's general coloration becomes dull and the eyes become cloudy as a molting fluid fills the space between the old and the new skin.

They can't blink. General characteristics. Here, the double-tipped tongue quickly places the samples into two small cavities embedded in the palate at the rear of the mouth. The eastern garter snake also likes wet meadows, marshes and damp woodlands.

It is believed she does not feed during the summer of her year-long gestation period. The milk snake's anal plate is single.

Muscles in turn connect the ribs to large belly scales, called scutes. Other colors of these snakes … The diet of Kirtland's snake is limited to what it can find in watery or at least moist surroundings.

The northern redbelly snake comes out of its hiding place during the spring or fall in search of a mate.

Habitat. The eastern hognose snake is most active during the day. It should be expected that the ribbon snake would eat animals sharing its aquatic-related habitat.

The scales are only weakly keeled. If nothing else, this false alarm heightens the senses of the trail walker.

It extends south to North Carolina. When possible, the racer preys on birds and their eggs (the ground-nesting killdeer could easily be a potential target) and occasionally takes frogs and salamanders to alter its diet, or perhaps as a last resort to finding a meal.

Two to six elongated white or yellowish eggs are laid in June or July, sometimes in communal nesting sites among decayed logs or rocks.

Range.

This is the familiar "black snake."

As the food is forced into the back of the mouth, the throat expands because of a loose assemblage of head bones, and the food enters the throat. All are members of the pit viper subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae and all its species are venomous. A bone called the columella, transmits vibrations from the lower jaw into the inner ear embedded in the side of the skull.

Northern ringneck snake—Diadophis punctatus edwardsii The queen snake is an attractive snake and a study in contrasts. Habitat.

The northern redbelly snake prefers to feed on slugs and worms. It is partial to wooded or grassy hills above streams or moist ground. In this case the snakes are born alive (See Figure VI-8).

Recent studies indicate that the mating period for the copperhead can be anytime from spring to autumn, with the peak time probably mid-summer.

Rough green snake—Opheodrys aestivus

Food.

It is not a needle-like projection and cannot be used to penetrate the skin of prey, a nearby foe or humans. This site is licensed under a Creative Commons License.