| 1 | The USA’s top urban snake |
In the eastern USA, if you’re rummaging around a vacant lot in an urban town, or shifting plant pots in your suburban garden, there’s one snake you’re likely to encounter above all others: Dekay’s brown snake (Storeria dekayi). This harmless species is undoubtedly the best adapted to urban zones of all in the USA. It’s the most common snake in various bustling cities, including Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Raleigh, New York’s suburbs, etc.
Dekay’s brown snakes measure 30-45cm, with an all-time record of 52.7cm. They lack any venom or a vicious tearing bite, and prey mainly on slugs and earthworms. Dekay’s brown snakes are not only common in urbanised areas where all remnants of the wilderness have disappeared, but thrive in them. It’s believed that humanity has made this species more common, not less, like the eastern brown snake of Australia (though with less venom).
Dekay’s brown snakes appear in swimming pools, beneath garden chairs, in flowerbeds, beneath piles of cardboard, in farmhouse barns. If you meet one, they’re safe to pick up, albeit relatively feisty.
| 2 | Empire of Dekay’s brown snake |
Look at a map and you’ll see that Dekay’s brown snakes overwhelmingly concentrate in the eastern USA. They’re absent from western realms like California, Oregon, and even Colorado. Their westernmost point discovered so far lies in Texas, around Lubbock County, although it’s always possible that there’s hidden colonies (as this species likes to hide under shelter). In 1922, a sighting was recorded in Roberts County, South Dakota. Whether this was made in error remains a mystery to this day, as they resemble several other small brownish snakes.
Dekay’s brown snakes reach Montreal to the north, and are plentiful in temperate southern areas of Ontario. In the USA, they remain abundant all the way through to southeast Maine.
Dekay’s brown snakes plunge beyond the border deep into Mexico, being common in the east of Mexico, though absent in the west. Finally, Dekay’s brown snakes have a strange isolated colony in Honduras and Guatemala, which is separated from the main bulk of the range. Here they must compete with coral snakes and rattlesnakes galore. Honduras is the furthest south this extremely abundant snake reaches.
| 3 | A swimming pool snake |
Dekay’s brown snakes have a simple survival strategy: lurk under cover and hope that nobody finds them. In the wild, they’re commonly found under loose stones or flat rocks. They can inhabit wetlands, grasslands and ancient forests alike, with their main tendency being to prefer moist areas. They lurk in upper layers of soil, below logs, and in any form of random scattered debris (except perhaps radioactive waste).
Dekay’s brown snakes are also fond of abandoned agricultural land, and they commonly hibernate in rocky crevices. They’re generally a solitary snake, which is less prone to gathering under objects than the similarly shy ring-necked snake. However, gatherings of over 20 have been found.
One strange report came from the Little River Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Over summer 2009, a scientist watched a Dekay’s brown snake, copperhead, ring-necked snake, common garter snake, timber rattlesnake, and northern watersnake share one hollow log with each other.
Dekay’s brown snakes can also be found on grassy, bushy verges adjacent to busy highways in places like Pennsylvania. You can wave to them from your car window, although they may neither notice you nor care.
| 4 | Not harmless (avoid their teeth) |
Dekay’s brown snake’s first goal in lurking under cover is to lurk in a place where their earthworm and slug prey is common. Their second goal is to hide from predators, of which they have plenty: blue jays, American crows, cats, brown thrashers.
However, Dekay’s brown snakes are much less cowardly than the similarly-sized ring neck snake (which they’re occasionally mistaken for). Dekay’s brown snakes won’t react fondly to being picked up by a human. They’re won’t coil up in your palm and pray that you drop them, as their first defensive move is releasing a revolting smell. Dekay’s brown snakes commonly bare their mouths wide in a demented pose and make vicious lunges at their opponents, as shown by the main image on their wikipedia page.
Yet another Dekay’s brown snake skill is feigning death. Their favoured strategy is to flip onto their back and remain totally motionless, like a corpse. Once they deem the coast to be clear, they rapidly escape.
| 5 | Theatricality and deception |
Dekay’s brown snakes are normally brown to the naked eye, but when stressed, they can stretch the skin on the chest. This reveals the skin below in a checkered pattern of alternating dense black and pure white. They’re able to widen their upper body to create an impression of size, which may momentarily fool their many bird predators.
Though not commonly observed, an even weirder trick was discovered in May 2016. The location was Marsh Trail in Rondaeu Provincial Park in Ontario. A Dekay’s brown snake was found on a road, and began by producing a foul musky smell. As the researcher approached, the snake stayed still and widened its back to add to its size.
Then came the weirdness; the Dekay’s brown snake slithered slowly forward on the road, all while swaying its back from side to side, while still stretched and enlarged. The goal here was surely distraction. It’s possible that this is a confusion technique designed to addle the minds of bird predators like blue jays and American robins.
| 6 | Preyed on by various snakes |
Dekay’s brown snakes also hide their head in their coils, which acts as a protective armour to defend their brain. In a 1986 report, a scientist found an individual on a road in Point Pelee National Park, Ontario. After poking the snake with his fingers, it buried its head in its coils.
A second Dekay’s brown snake in Michigan acted similarly, and a third (also from Michigan) hid its head for a full 120 seconds before releasing. The interesting thing was that when the scientist encountered three northern redbelly snakes (Storeria occipitomaculata), a close relative belonging to the same genus (with a redder appearance), none of these hid their head in their coils.
Dekay’s brown snakes are proven to have several snake predators. In an investigation of milk snakes (Lampropeltis triangulum) from Oakville, Ontario, four individuals had Dekay’s brown snakes in their belly. A 13 inch ring-neck snake coughed up a 7 inch Dekay’s brown snake in Cowley County, Kansas, while a plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix) once regurgitated a Dekay’s brown snake, which was actually the first ever confirmed snake prey for that species.
| 7 | Correlates with ants and milipedes |
Dekay’s brown snake is part of the 5-member Storeria family, and the most common. Other members include the red-bellied snake of the eastern US (Storeria occipitomaculata), and the Florida brown snake (Storeria victa).
Even though they don’t eat ants and ants don’t eat them, it’s been noticed that Dekay’s brown snakes are more abundant where ants are concentrated. The explanation might be that they hide in anthills as shelter.
Dekay’s brown snakes are likely to be found alongside millipedes as well, partly because they like the same moist, mulchy, surface level areas of accumulated forest debris. However, there’s a couple of secret relationships; Dekay’s brown snakes occasionally eat millipedes, as a survey found 6 remains when 74 individual Storeria dekayi were tested. All these were spotted snake millipedes (Blaniulus guttulatus).
In reverse, millipedes are known to consume the shed skins of snakes. These forest mulch dwellers may have a mutually beneficial relationship. Earthworms are also known to use the shed skins of Dekay’s brown snakes to plug their burrows.
| 8 | Unexplained mass gatherings |
Another strange piece of lore in the Dekay’s brown snake’s databanks took place in Brazoria County, Texas. As we said earlier, this species isn’t especially communal. However, in December 2016, a scientist spotted 40 Dekay’s brown snakes trying to cross one highway, in a rare mass migration. There was a mixture of adult and juvenile snakes, alongside 24 Storeria deyaki which had already become roadkill, making for 64 individuals in total.
What triggered this migration was a mystery. Another gathering was found below a bundled corn tarp inside a barn. This contained 24 resting Dekay’s brown snakes, including juveniles and adults.
Dekay’s brown snakes hibernate each year like any snake. In a survey from Eric County, Pennsylvania, the latest a Dekay’s brown snake was sighted was October 25th, while the earliest was January 6th. However, that came in a freakish spell of warm weather, with an air temperature of 13.9c versus a January average of 1.1C. The earliest apart from the January fluke was March 20th.
| 9 | How to ID Dekay’s brown snake |
As a small brown snake, Storeria dekayi isn’t instantly recognisable. As juveniles, they have a pale neck collar which disappears in adulthood, leading some to be confused with ring-neck snakes. A typical Dekay’s brown snake is brown or beige with a series of broken black spots down their sides. Their head is normally darker than the body, and they usually have a pale belly with only occasional dark speckles. They have rough (keeled) scales to touch rather than smooth. Remember that Dekay’s brown snakes have round pupils rather than vertical.
Overall, an adult Storeria dekayi is most likely to be confused with a rough earth snake, but the latter has a narrow, more tapering snout, and far less markings on their body. Rough earth snakes are typically a consistent olive colour.
Dekay’s brown snakes lay live young rather than eggs, typically in batches of 4-20. These are born in late July to early August, and mothers provide no parental guidance or care to their offspring, unlike many rattlesnakes.
| 10 | Diet: slugs and earthworms |
Dekay’s brown snakes almost exclusively eat small and slimy creatures. Slugs are their top priority followed by earthworms, and millipedes have been recorded occasionally, as well as snails. Snail jaws have been found inside Dekay’s brown snakes, but without the shells, showing that they probably suck them out of their shells using special jaw movements.
No reptiles, mammals, nor amphibians have been reported in their diet. A 2013 study from northwest Pennsylvania decided to settle the question for good. Of the 74 Dekay’s brown snakes examined, 47 contained slug remains, and 6 earthworm remains. Some of their popular prey include the blue-black garden slug and grey garden slug. They had fine tailored tastes as well, as when they were offered white-lipped snails, they happily ate them, but refused to consume dusky snails.
When it comes to small US snakes, Dekay’s brown snakes have successfully cornered the slug market. They eat a few earthworms, but the rough earth snake, which lives in similar habitats, gets 100% of its meals from them. Ringneck snakes eat some slugs, but far more ants than its neighbours.