Rough Earth Snake & Marsh Brown Snake (April 7, 2007) Hurst, Texas

Rough Earth Snake (Virginia striatula) Harmless, Inoffensive (not known to bite but, even if it did, its tiny teeth pose no danger), slow-moving, may play dead when threatened.

Marsh Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi limnetes) Harmless, Inoffensive (rarely bites in self defense, but its tiny teeth pose no danger)

Photos courtesy of Aprile L.

The rough snake (the larger of the two snakes in the photo, below, is uniformly brown in color for this specimen, but may be more olive or reddish in other specimens of the same species.  According to some authorities this snake is often mistaken for the poisonous copperhead, though one might wonder how that could happen. The rough earth snake and the copperhead are nothing alike.  Methinks the reddish versions, being "copper-colored", lead to the thought that the snake might be a copperhead.  Copperheads, however, have distinctive markings, while the rough earth snake has none. Persons with little experience with snakes don't need much of an excuse to wield the shovel, rake, or hoe; that's good when the snake is venomous, but it's unfortunate when the snake is harmless and beneficial. 

The smaller snake is definitely a harmless brown snake (they used to be called Dekay's snakes) and is likely a marsh brown snake, though that identity cannot be assured. The possibility exists that it is, instead, a Texas brown snake, but the latter tends to have darker neck markings and the former has a cheek stripe that appears present in this specimen.

The distinguishing feature of the rough earth snake, that separates it from all others, is its cone-shaped head.  The narrow head, slowly tapering to a point at the nose, with a relatively long distance from the eye to the tip of then nose (the ground snakes have shorter snouts) is distinctive.

Mid-body scalation is another way to identify the rough earth snake.  Note that the spinal scales are weakly keeled (with longitudinal ridges) while the lateral scales are smooth.  This helps you locate the spinal row.  Now count the rows of scales, diagonally to the side until they disappear from view.  I count nine rows, including the spinal row, which would make a total of 17 rows across the mid-body of the snake.  The ground snakes (in the genus Sonora) have only 13-14 mid-body scale rows, but the rough earth snake has 17.

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