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Redbelly snake

Storeria occipitomaculata · Snakes · Reptiles

Redbelly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata): Very small snake, 20-41 cm; gray, brown or reddish-brown, often with four faint dark stripes and/or a pale or red-orange mid-dorsal stripe. Belly usually bright red, orange or pink (rarely yellow, gray or black). 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
Storeria occipitomaculata
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Eastern North America: United States from eastern North Dakota and Wyoming (Black Hills) to the Atlantic and Gulf; in Canada Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (NatureServe also shows Newfoundland as an exotic record).
Biology

How to identify it

Very small snake, 20-41 cm; gray, brown or reddish-brown, often with four faint dark stripes and/or a pale or red-orange mid-dorsal stripe. [1][2][3]

Belly usually bright red, orange or pink (rarely yellow, gray or black). [1][2][3]

Three light spots around the neck (top and each side) sometimes fuse into a collar; white chin and throat, keeled scales (15 rows), divided anal plate. [1][2][3]

Compared with the copperhead (young): Copperheads are stout-bodied with hourglass markings, vertical pupils and a pit between nostril and eye (Missouri Department of Conservation). [1][2][3]

Compared with the dekay's brownsnake: Brownsnake has a tan back stripe flanked by two rows of small dark spots and a cream, yellow or pink belly, whereas the red-bellied snake typically has a red or orange belly and three light nape spots (Missouri Department of Conservation). [1][2][3]

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 redbelly snake before you act. Compared with the copperhead (young): Copperheads are stout-bodied with hourglass markings, vertical pupils and a pit between nostril and eye (Missouri Department of Conservation).[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Mostly moist deciduous and mixed forests, bog and swamp edges and adjacent meadows with abundant ground cover; often near buildings. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive, hiding under bark, logs, rocks and leaf litter; diurnal but nocturnal in hot or dry weather, more active after rain. [1][2][3]

Specialist feeder on slugs and snails, also earthworms and insect larvae; hibernates in ant mounds, foundations and animal burrows. [1][2][3]

Active April to October/November in the north and year-round in the south; migrates between floodplain and hillside overwintering sites. [1][2][3]

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: United States from eastern North Dakota and Wyoming (Black Hills) to the Atlantic and Gulf; in Canada Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (NatureServe also shows Newfoundland as an exotic record).

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Missouri Department of Conservation · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Missouri Department of Conservation

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

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology