Natural History of the Eastern Ribbon Snake

Our first herpetology field trip took our class to the Caw Caw Interpretive Center.  Everyone seemed to have a good time wading through swamps, catching critters and seeing a Copperhead snake that had been hiding underneath a log.  The day was warm and the area was swampy, so I expected to find many amphibians out and about to catch and identify.  However, along with the many salamanders that we caught in the traps, we were also able to capture two Eastern Ribbon snakes!

As soon as we found them, it became clear that they were non-venomous, and either Garter or Ribbon snakes.  After consulting our handy field guides, we decided that they were Ribbon snakes, or Thamnophis sauritus.  We decided this because of the placement of the lateral line on the snake.  It was located on the third and fourth row of scales (counting up from the bottom), rather than the second and third, which would have told us that it was a Garter snake.

The first one that we found was the larger of the two and seemed to be an adult, based on its length.  However, the smaller one was not yet long enough to be with the average range of this specie's length.  It was probably a juvenile.  The smaller one was also pretty badly hurt.  It had a gaping wound in its side about halfway down, and was missing some skin in other places.  It looked as if something had tried to make it a meal. 

Although we did not attempt to identify the sex of the snakes, the females of this species tend to be larger than the males.  Both of the snakes were very active.  The larger one was caught in a trap that had been set the day before, but the smaller one was spotted, and then had to be corralled with nets until it was picked up by a brave student.  While holding them, they kept trying to get away or hide by climbing up our arms, under our sleeves.  They seemed to be more active than other snakes that we have held, but that could be because they were wild and the others had been handled by humans before. 

The Eastern Ribbon snake is located along the East Coast in the U.S., but it is especially abundant in the Southeast. All of South Carolina is included in its range, except for the very southern tip of the state. 

All in all, this was definitely and fun and successful herpetology field trip!!


Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins (1998).  Garter, Ribbon, and Lined Snakes:  Genus Thamnophis and Tropidoclonion.  In A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eatern and Central North America (pp. 310-324).  New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.