by Christy Solo – Editor
In pre-celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and in honor of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland—
Okay, look, there never were any snakes in Ireland, but work with us here because we have lots of snakes in Oregon and they deserve to be celebrated! In lieu of a St. Snakes Day, we’ll have to piggy-back on St. Pat’s.
So we’ll just pretend St. Patrick did drive snakes into the sea, they swam the Atlantic to the East Cost and then slithered their way to Oregon.
As with squirrels and types of trees and species of birds and, and, and – Oregon has more than our fair share of snake species.
True, most of them are various types of garter snake which are super cool, but we do have many cool non-garters too.
So let’s raise a glass of green beer to a few of our local species.
We’ll meet our local ring-necked snake, rubber boa and sharptail snake in alpha order, so as not to hurt any snake feelings by picking a favorite.
Oh! We also note that none of our featured snakes pose any threat to humans and all are free pest controllers.
Ring-necked snakes (Diadophis punctatus) are so pretty nature put a ring on it.
Our Oregon ring-necked are gray-green on top with a vibrant red-orange underbelly and neck ring.
These small snakes (adults range from 11 – 16 inches) have a very mild venom which is harmless to us, but enough to subdue their tiny prey. Ring-necked feed mostly on slugs and slug eggs but will not turn up their noses at a nice earth worm. They will also dine on small salamanders, frogs and lizards.
Ring-necked snakes can be found throughout the United States in moist habitats including, including wet meadows, rocky hillsides, gardens, farmland, grassland, chaparral, mixed coniferous forests and woodlands.
In Oregon they are a western species, found only from the Cascades to the ocean.
Fun fact: Eastern ring-necked are called Northern ring-necked. We don’t know why. Their underbellies are a lighter orangey-yellow.
If you find a ring-necked out in the wild, they might put on a show for you. Because their venom lacks teeth as it were (see what we did there?) when threatened ring-necked will twist and roll over exposing their vibrant colored bellies in the hopes that potential predators will see red and flee.
(Photos: Ring-necked snakes (Diadophis punctatus) showing off their colorful underbellies. Top western coloration, bottom is the eastern coloration. Photos via Washing Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state of Massachusetts)
So do a ring-necked a favor and if you spot one in the wild and they go into “I am very dangerous! No really!” mode – flee in “terror” maybe scream a bit as you go. It will make their day.
Next up is the rubber boa (Charina bottae) as with the ring-necked they scored a spot-on common name.
Fun fact: Their genus name Charina is from the Ancient Greek “graceful” or “delightful!”
They are also quite pretty and come in a range of hues including, light brown, dark brown, pink, tan, or olive-green above, and yellow, orange, or cream colored below.
Funner fact: If you looked at the boa in the upper right of the photo above and thought “That snake’s butt looks like their head” (or vice versa), ding, ding, ding! Good observation. The rubber boa’s butt-head (head-butt?) is in fact their main defense against all things predatory.
When frightened a rubber boa will curl up, hide their head and raise up their tail in a “Go ahead! Bite me!” stance. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Because rubber boas fall into the “chonk” category, in photos with nothing for scale they look quite large. Don’t let the chonk fool you, rubber boas are small snakes averaging 15 – 25 inches. For comparison Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes average up to 36 inches and not uncommonly reach 48 inches.
Rubber boas can be found throughout Oregon, they are most common in the northwest, but there are lots of sightings here in our area. They are not typically active during the day but can be found at dusk and dawn.
They do have a more robust diet than ring-necked snakes. Rubber boas chow down on small mammals, birds, salamanders, lizards, snakes and possibly frogs. Still, their mild venom is not harmful to humans (or dogs, or livestock, etc.)
We’ll wrap up our St. Pat’s snakefest with the common sharp-tailed snake (Contia tenuis).
Sharp-tailed snakes are little rosy bits of snakey goodness. They are slender snakes with an average length of 8 – 12 inches. They range in color from rusty, brick-red to orange-red and most have bright red or red-orange stripes along both sides.
Sharp-tailed are a strictly West Coast species, found in Oregon, Washington and California. They are very elusive and secretive little snakes. However, our little corner of Oregon is one of the best places in the state to see one.
This isn’t too surprising when you learn they prefer to live in well-shaded moist forest habitats dominated by Douglas fir and redwoods. They are also found in mixed woodlands with oaks and conifers.
Sharp-tailed spend nearly all their time under items such as boards, logs, rocks or leaf litter. They are good burrowers and can hide in the soil as well. Usually people find them when doing garden or yard work. It’s possible you’ve even seen one but didn’t know it. When they are exposed from under – for example – a piece of plywood on the soil they look remarkable like earth worms.
Also like earthworms, they are active when the soil is damp and sometimes after rainstorms, so it pays to look twice at a “wiggly worm.”
Having sharp-tailed hiding out in your garden would be a lucky thing indeed because their diet consists almost exclusively of slugs. It’s thought they use that sharp tail tip to hold their slippery meals in place, though that is still being studied.
So next time you spot an “earthworm” while out doing yardwork, take a really good look and you might just get to see a sharp-tailed snake up close and personal.
