Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae) from Snake Road, Illinois
Found four individuals, two together under one rock, of the two, one looked like it had a mite infestation.
The Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae) is a species of non-venomous colubrid snake native to the eastern half of the United States, from Texas and Iowa to New Jersey and Florida. It is a small, fossorial species which spends most of its time buried in loose soil or leaf litter, and eats primarily earthworms and other soft-bodied arthropods. The epithet valeriae is in honor of Valeria Biddle Blaney, cousin of Spencer Fullerton Baird, who collected the...
