Description: A relatively long (usually 3-4 feet, but up to 6.9 feet total length), cylindrically bodied, supple snake with a head only slightly wider than the neck. Easily distinguished by smooth, polished, black to dark brown scales on back and sides brightly overlaid with a series of 23 to 52 narrow, cream, or yellow transverse bands. Some bands may be broken and often terminate, or are linked together, on the lower sides. Belly usually checkered or mottled with black and yellow. Juveniles have same color pattern as adults
Habitat: Nearly all terrestrial habitats with a relatively open canopy including native longleaf pine forest, annually burned pinelands, fields and meadows, abandoned farms, rural garbage dumps, and margins of ponds and streams. Does not live in closed-canopy pine plantations, dense hardwood forests, or mixed pine-oak-hickory stands with closed canopies. Sometimes found in river floodplains, coastal strands, or on barrier islands.
Range: Throughout the eastern United States from New Jersey to northern Florida, and confined in southeastern and southern Alabama
Diet: Food consists of other vertebrates such as frogs, birds, eggs of ground-nesting birds and turtles, rodents, lizards, and other snakes, including venomous snakes. A powerful constrictor, kills prey by suffocating with coils, although some prey, such as frogs and eggs, are eaten alive and without constriction.
Reproduction: Courtship and mating take place in spring from March to early May, and three to 29 leathery shelled eggs are laid in early summer (June-July) in soft, moist earth, usually under a log. Eggs hatch in July or August after an incubation period of about 60 days. Sexual maturity probably reached in the third spring after hatching when about three feet long.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the relatively large extent of occurrence, large number of locations, presumed large population size, relatively stable or very slowly declining trend, and lack of major threats.
Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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