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Eastern ribbon snake

Thamnophis sauritus · Snakes · Reptiles

Eastern ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus): Slim, long-tailed striped snake, 46-86 cm, with three white, yellow or greenish stripes on a black or dark-brown ground colour. Head wider than the neck with large eyes and a light bar in front of each; upper lip scales bright white or yellow without the dark borders of garter snakes. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Thamnophis sauritus
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Eastern North America east of the Mississippi River from southern Maine and southern Ontario to Florida and Louisiana; in Canada Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia (NatureServe rank N4).
Biology

How to identify it

Slim, long-tailed striped snake, 46-86 cm, with three white, yellow or greenish stripes on a black or dark-brown ground colour. [1][2]

Head wider than the neck with large eyes and a light bar in front of each; upper lip scales bright white or yellow without the dark borders of garter snakes. [1][2]

Belly white, yellow or green and unblotched; scales keeled; females slightly larger than males. [1][2]

Compared with the western ribbon snake: Western lacks the broad brown ventrolateral stripe and has large paired parietal spots and a longer muzzle and tail (Animal Diversity Web). [1][2]

Compared with the garter snakes: Garter snakes have dark borders on the upper lip scales, whereas ribbon snake lip scales are plain white or yellow (Animal Diversity Web). [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a eastern ribbon snake before you act. Compared with the western ribbon snake: Western lacks the broad brown ventrolateral stripe and has large paired parietal spots and a longer muzzle and tail (Animal Diversity Web).[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Wet meadows, marshes, seasonally flooded prairies, bogs, pond and lake shores and swamps, in or near sun-exposed vegetation along water's edge; climbs low vegetation. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Fast-moving and diurnal; usually at the edge of water but also in moist meadows; basks on logs and rocks and in bushes. [1][2]

Active April-October, hibernating in abandoned rodent or crayfish burrows or anthills, sometimes with other snakes. [1][2]

Eats mainly frogs, salamanders and their larvae plus small fish, taken by stalking or chasing; live-bearing with young 16-24 cm. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Eastern North America east of the Mississippi River from southern Maine and southern Ontario to Florida and Louisiana; in Canada Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia (NatureServe rank N4).

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology