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Florida Gardening

itsy-bitsy snake ID, please

15 years ago

while sweeping the back porch around my pots, this little guy was trying to attack me. Stike pose and all. it has an overall length of 3 maybe 4 inches. Since it is so itsy-bitsy I wasn't really afraid, but the thought comes to mind, maybe it will grow up to be huge and will lay in waiting someday somewhere to eat me , what do our experts say, please?

Thanks,

Evelyn

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Comments (14)

suegrew
15 years ago
Marcia....Please help Evelyn.
Where in zone 9 do you live Evelyn? That snake looks aggressive and I REALLY hope I never come across this guy. I'm kind to snakes but this one frightens me. He looks alot larger in your photo.
Thanks sooooo much for posting,
Sue
(I live in west St.Pete, near Treasure Island)
manature
15 years ago
Hi, Evelyn! I believe this is a southeastern crowned snake, dark form. Usually the body is more tan, but they can be very dark brown, nearly black. I think he's an adult snake...they don't get very large...and I KNOW he's harmless. (He's definitely not one of our venomous snakes.) Crowned snakes eat slugs and other insects, and only get about 13" long, total.

Not to worry. His "aggressive" stance is his way of trying to scare you off so you won't whack him with a garden hoe.

He's mostly nocturnal and you'll probably never see him again.

Great pics, btw!

Marcia
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abendwolke
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Marcia, I knew I can count on you :-)
mine can't be an adult if they get to be 13", he/she is smaller than an average sized earthworm, and really just 3" or 4" long, but oh so feisty!
(compare the size to the artillery fern leaves)

Evelyn
PS: suegrew, I am in East Orlando :-)
atreelady
15 years ago
Great pictures Evelyn. I love the first one. It's humorous when you know what the size is. And who needs an encyclopedia when we have Marcia! So you have a slug-eater there... hehehe Organic pest control.
jupiterplants
15 years ago
I had to look this one up since I have never seen one. I grew up in Broward where the little ringnecks were around , but not this guy. Looks like his head is too big for body !

What a treat Evelyn, nice shot :)
abendwolke
Original Author
15 years ago
treelady, yeah, as long as they are babies, but what if they grow up *shudder*....

I am sure it is not a ringneck, I know them. This one had just a light colored underside.

Marcia, I am just curious, where do they come from? I live in the middle of a subdivision, surrounded by streets and homes that don't have a garden, just grass. Do snakes migrate?
cindeea
15 years ago
Evie-great photos, please let me borrow him to DE-SLUG my garden beds! lol
manature
15 years ago
Hahaha...now that you point out the artillery fern, I can see that this really IS a baby. But even when he's grown, he's smaller than my shoe size, so how bad can he be, eh?

And yes, many snakes do migrate, but probably not this little guy. Like the toads, lizards and other critters who share our gardens...they FIND the home they need, somehow. (If you plant it, they will come!)

I agree that anything that eats slugs is welcome in my yard. Hope I find one of these out back someday! Great photos!

Marcia
manature
15 years ago
I have been doing some extra reading on the crowned snakes, and now think I may have been too quick in saying it was the "southeastern" crowned snake. There are three species of crowned snakes found in Florida and 3 subspecies of one of them. The differences are tiny and, to me, a bit confusing. So I'm waiting for an expert to show up here and let us know which one they think this is (or if they think it is something else altogether, by any chance). I found enough photos to make me feel that it IS a crowned snake, but it could be a Florida crowned snake, or one of the other very, very similar species.

The more you learn, the more you see you just CAN'T learn it all! Drat!! And I so wanted to know EVERYTHING. Every. Single. Thing. *sigh*

Marcia
alabamakings
15 years ago
Your snake is a juvenile Florida Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi victa). Totally harmless.
abendwolke
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Marcia for all your help, and thanks alabamakings for this ID.
Too bad I did not see momma-snake. Hopefully the baby will be able to avoid the leopard frogs hanging out in this area of my yard :-/
manature
15 years ago
I had looked at the Florida brown snake, but the adult looks very different from the juveniles, and I've never seen any to compare with it. After your ID, alabamakings, I googled more images and finally found an adult with babies, and sure enough, they look exactly right. I have learned a new snake today, and thanks for the ID.

This one was really tricky for me, Evelyn. I should have realized that juvies can be VERY different from the adults, having seen enough black racer babies in my day. You can see how different the adults are at the link below, and then there is a 3rd picture of an adult with juveniles.

Happy to have this one sorted out, finally.

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Brown Snake with Babies
manature
15 years ago
Ummmm...that didn't sound right. I mean pictures of the adult snake, of course!

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: Adult Florida Brown Snake
wayne_mo
15 years ago
This forum is getting really good with snakes! I am impressed that everyone correctly noted that it was not a Ringneck Snake.

And Alabamakings indeed wins the prize. It is a baby/juvie Florida Brown Snake.

Juvie snakes can be tricky ids because in some species they look different than the adults.

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