Texas Brown Snake
Storeria dekayi texana • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Colubridae, Subfamily: Natricinae, Genus: Storeria, Species: Storeria dekayi
Found in North America, ranging from southern Canada through the eastern and central United States down into northeastern Mexico, with the subspecies texana typically inhabiting the central United States including Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding regions.
Look up Texas Brown Snake in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Colubridae, Subfamily: Natricinae, Genus: Storeria, Species: Storeria dekayi
Conservation
Least Concern according to the IUCN Red List, as the species has a wide distribution, tolerates habitat modification well, and often persists in suburban environments.
Physical Description
Small, slender body with light brown to reddish-brown coloration. A lighter vertebral stripe is often bordered by small dark spots. The head is distinct from the neck with a dark temporal bar or blotch just behind the eye. Scales are keeled, and the underside is typically whitish or pinkish with tiny dots along the edges.
Size & Dimensions
The specimen shown is likely a juvenile or small subadult, approximately 20 to 25 cm in length. Typical adults reach total lengths of 23 to 38 cm, with a maximum recorded length of around 52 cm.
Habitat
Found in a wide variety of moist habitats including woodlands, fields, marshes, floodplains, and heavily urbanized areas like suburban gardens and parks. They are secretive and frequently shelter under rocks, logs, bark, leaf litter, and artificial debris.
Diet & Feeding
Specialized diet consisting primarily of soft-bodied invertebrates such as slugs, snails, earthworms, and sometimes small insects or spiders. They actively forage under cover objects to locate prey.
Reproduction
Viviparous (live-bearing), giving birth to litters typically ranging from 3 to 20+ young in the late summer (August to September). Mating generally occurs in the spring after emerging from brumation.
Look-alikes
Frequently confused with other small colubrids such as the Redbelly Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) and Earth Snakes (Haldea species). Distinguished from redbelly snakes by lacking bright red/orange ventral coloration and distinct neck spots, and from earth snakes by keeled scales and head markings.
Conservation Status
Least Concern according to the IUCN Red List, as the species has a wide distribution, tolerates habitat modification well, and often persists in suburban environments.
Cultural Significance
Acts as an important natural controller of garden pests like slugs and snails. Due to their secretive and harmless nature, they often go unnoticed by homeowners even when inhabiting suburban yards.
Notable Features
Exhibits specialized jaw adaptations for extracting snails and slugs from their shells. They are completely docile when handled, rarely attempting to bite, instead resorting to releasing a foul-smelling musk from cloacal glands when threatened.