Eastern Ribbon Snake - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Eastern Ribbon Snake or Common Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus sauritus) is a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

of ribbon snake

Ribbon snake

The Ribbon Snake or Ribbonsnake is a common snake found throughout North America. It averages in length and is a member of the garter snake genus...

found in the northeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Some species that are similar to the Eastern Ribbon Snake are the Western Ribbon Snake

Thamnophis proximus

The Western Ribbon Snake is a species of garter snake. There are several subspecies.- Taxonomy :*Western Ribbon Snake, Thamnophis proximus**Chiapas Highland Ribbon Snake, Thamnophis proximus alpinus...

, Common Garter Snake

Common Garter Snake

The Common Garter Snake is a snake indigenous to North America. Most garter snakes have a pattern of yellow stripes on a brown or green background and their average length is about , maximum about .-Subspecies:...

, Plains Garter Snake

Plains Garter Snake

The Plains Garter Snake is a species of Garter snake native to most of the Central United States stretching as far north as Canada and as far south as Texas. It has a distinctive orange or yellow stripe that goes from its head to tail, the rest of its body is mainly a gray-green color...

, and the Butler's Garter Snake

Butler's Garter Snake

The Butler’s Garter Snake, Thamnophis butleri, is a species of garter snake.-Description and identification:It is a small slender snake, averaging 38-51 cm long, with three yellow to orange stripes along the length of the body...

. (Mayer 2003)

There are four subspecies of Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus), including the Northern Ribbon Snake (T. s. septentrionalis

Thamnophis sauritus septentrionalis

The Northern Ribbon Snake is a subspecies of garter snake. It is one of four subspecies of the Ribbon Snake and occurs in the United States and Canada in southern Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, southern Ontario, Michigan, New York, Nova Scotia, northern Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana...

). (Mayer 2003)

Description

The Eastern Ribbon Snake gets its name from its very thin body. At maturity it can be anywhere from 18 to 86 cm in length. (Kingsbury 2007) It is a slender black snake with a yellow midback stripe and one on each side. A brown stripe that is 1-2 rows of scales extends onto the sides of the belly. The rest of the belly is a greenish white color. They also have two rows of black spots between the back and side stripes. It also has a long tail that is about a third of the length of its body.(Mayer 2003) The labial scales around the mouth of the snake are unmarked and uniformly bright yellow or white. A white or light yellow bar borders the front of their eyes. (Kingsbury 2007) Juveniles are colored like adults. (Towson University 2007)
Here are some aspects of the Eastern Ribbon Snake that make it different from a close relative, the Garter Snake

Garter snake

The Garter snake is a Colubrid snake genus common across North America, ranging from Alaska and Canada to Central America. It is the single most widely distributed genus of reptile in North America. The garter snake is also the Massachusettsstate reptile.There is no real consensus on the...

. The Eastern Ribbon Snake has a much thinner body than a Garter Snake

Garter snake

. It also has a tail that makes up about one third of its body length. This snake has stripes on the third and fourth scale rows. The Eastern Ribbon Snake has pure white lips and a mark of white color in front of its eyes. These characteristics make it easy to tell the difference between the snakes, but it may help to have one of each on hand to look at (Crowe 2006).
Eastern Ribbon Snake (below left) has a dot in front of its eye, whereas the Garter Snake (below right) does not.

Habitats

The Eastern Ribbon Snake is typically found in the Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada. You can usually find them in wetlands and near the edges of ponds and streams. (Kenney 2007) They are comfortable both in and out of water, they are adapted to both environments. When they are frightened they take to the water or bushes.They do not dive like water snakes, they glide across the surface of the water. (Buchanan 2007)

The only parts of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

known to have this reptile are Southern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

and Southwest Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

and Quebec. This passage from Northeastern Naturalists focuses on finding out more about the distribution, seasonal activity, movement patterns and over-wintering sites of the Eastern Ribbon Snake. There is very little information in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

about these topics. The entry in this book is an overview of an experiment that naturalists conducted in the Southwest part of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

in the Kejimkujik National Park

Kejimkujik National Park

Kejimkujik National Park is part of the Canadian National Parks system, located in the province of Nova Scotia...

, taking place from Mid-May to Mid-November 2001. They marked 105 snakes in the area, pin pointing the areas each snake was captured and marked by using a GPS. The naturalists knew the background of the Eastern Ribbon Snake including that they are generally semi-aquatic, are found near water, and usually prey on amphibians. In order to do their study, the naturalists always had someone out in the field observing the snake as to what they ate and their living range. The experiment found that between late May and September the snakes were always found within five meters of water and lived in a five to ten square meter area. They also found that between September and mid October they would expand their range and were found as far as 173 meters away from a shoreline. From their experiment, they naturalists from Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

discovered a lot more about the Eastern Ribbon Snakes in Southwestern Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

. The most important conclusion they found was that with the low activity rate and activity range indicate that the lack of ability to expand the areas that they are found in puts these snakes in danger of local extinction. (Bell, Hermann, Wassersug pg. 279)

Eating Habits

The Ribbon Snake generally eat small fish, tadpoles, salamanders, small frogs and toads, and occasionally insects. In some cases the female has been observed eating her young. The typical time for snakes to hunt is in the morning or early evening. Once the snake has spotted its prey, it will quickly slither to catch its prey and swallow it whole. (Ohio Department of Natural Resources 2006)

Reproduction

Reproduction in Eastern Ribbon Snakes takes place after they emerge from hibernation in the spring time, in April or May. Mating occasionally takes place in the fall, but the female will delay fertilization and development until the next spring. The average gestation period is three months. They average number of young is around 12 but can range anywhere from 4-27. Females give birth in late summer or maybe even the early fall. After birth there is no parental care involved, the young are left to fend for themselves. Most young reach sexual maturity after two years, but most usually wait until the third year. (Towson University 2007)

Behavior

Thamnophis Sauritus Sauritus likes to stay active year around. However, when the colder months set in the snakes may be forced to hibernate. It typically hibernates in ant mounds, vole tunnels, crayfish burrows, muskrat lodges, and bank burrows. Ribbon Snakes rarely bite when handled but they do produce a foul musk from their anal glands when they feel threatened. (Buchanan 2007)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.