Dekay's Brownsnake

Here's a Dekay's Brownsnake I met back in September (though not for the first time). My impression is that these snakes are pretty common but are small enough they can be easily overlooked. Although the biggest on record was around 19 inches in length, most of the ones I see are smaller than that. 

Their place in the food chain is that they mostly eat soft invertebrates like earthworms, slugs, and snails, and they're preyed upon by lots of small predators like some frogs/toads, bigger snakes, many birds, and small mammals like weasels. So if you invite a Dekay's Brownsnake over for dinner, you could serve escargot but don't invite your ferret friends.

September 14, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 248762526, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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