‹ Compare two snakes
Red-bellied Snake vs Rough Earthsnake
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Red-bellied Snake
Storeria occipitomaculata
Non-venomous(c) shinylatias, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Rough Earthsnake
Virginia striatula
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Look at the belly. The Rough Earthsnake's belly is plain cream or pale yellow. The Red-bellied Snake's belly is bright red or orange, and it usually has pale spots on the neck.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Plain brown, gray, reddish or blackish back, sometimes with a paler stripe down the middle and faint thin dark stripes. The belly is bright red or orange with no spots (sometimes pink, yellow or black).
No pattern: plain brown, gray-brown or gray above with a cream to pale yellow belly. The back scales have a small ridge. Young snakes are darker and may have a pale gray or white band across the neck.
Head
Head is often darker than the body (dark brown to black), with a light collar or three pale spots just behind it and white on the chin and throat.
Small, pointed, cone-shaped head that is darkest toward the snout; the lower lip scales and chin are white.
Pits
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Short and thin, colored like the body, with the red belly color continuing underneath.
Short and plain, colored like the body.
What it does
Very secretive, hiding under logs, rocks and leaf litter. It very rarely bites; when bothered it curls its upper lip, may release musk, flatten its body or play dead.
Lives mostly underground or under cover and is seldom seen in the open. It does not usually bite when picked up but may release musk or droppings, or play dead by going stiff with its mouth open.
Where it lives
Eastern US from the Dakotas, Minnesota and Maine south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, with an isolated group in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. Also southeastern Canada (Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia).
Southern US: mainly the Coastal Plain from Virginia and the Carolinas south to northern Florida and west to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and southeastern Kansas. Largely absent from peninsular Florida and the lower Mississippi River Valley.