- Size:
Length in Kansas up to 16 3/16 inches.
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Range:
Found in southwest-central Kansas in the Red Hills along the Oklahoma border in
Barber, Comanche and Clark counties. |
- Description:
Harmless. Smooth scales; body and tail are gray or grayish-yellow with 50–70
dark brown blotches on back; head is gray or brown with three large elongate dark brown
blotches on neck. Only harmless serpent in Kansas with pupils that are vertically slit
when exposed to light. Young are like adults.
- Habits:
A small, secretive snake most often found beneath rocks on rugged hillsides
between May and September. Breeding occurs in May and may continue during warm weather
until fall; up to 5-6 eggs are laid which hatch in a month or so. Feeds primarily on small
lizards and snakes. Never bites. When touched, may curl into a tight cone with its head
tucked in the middle for protection.
Click here for
information on precautions against being bitten by snakes
and what to do if you have been bitten by one.
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