Queen Snake

The Queen Snake is a slender, highly aquatic colubrid closely tied to clean, well-oxygenated streams and rivers throughout the eastern and midwestern United States. Its populations serve as a useful bioindicator of water quality, since it depends heavily on crayfish, which are themselves sensitive to pollution.

This harmless species is rarely far from water, often seen basking on overhanging vegetation or rocks along stream banks before diving in when disturbed.

• Slender, keeled-scaled body
• Olive-brown to grayish-brown dorsal coloration with three faint dark stripes, often difficult to see
• Distinct pale yellow stripe along each side of the body
• Cream to yellow belly with four dark longitudinal stripes
• Relatively small head not strongly distinct from the neck; round pupils
• Distinguished from other watersnakes by its slender build and the yellow lateral stripe combined with striped belly

Strongly associated with clean, rocky or gravel-bottomed streams, rivers, and creek edges with abundant crayfish populations. Found basking on rocks, logs, or overhanging branches near flowing water across its eastern and midwestern range.

Diurnal and highly aquatic, often basking near water and diving in swiftly when alarmed. Feeds almost exclusively on freshly molted (soft-shelled) crayfish, making it highly dependent on healthy aquatic invertebrate communities. Gives birth to live young in late summer.