Conservation Status: Not listed

Size: 52 cm (20”)

Defining feature(s): Brown snakes are uniformly brown in colour with two rows of small dark dorsal spots running the length of the body.  The spots may merge to form two lines with a lighter brown band of scales between them giving the snake a striped appearance.  A dark line extends from the top of the cheek behind the eye toward the angle of the jaw.  The belly is uniformly pink or white in colour.

Other features: Brown snakes have keeled dorsal scales and a head that is typically only slightly wider than the neck.

Habitat: This species is very tolerant of disturbance and can be found in urban and rural settings in a wide variety of habitats.  They are frequently found rocks, logs and similar litter on the ground in forests and fields or abandoned lots and city ravines.

Reproduction: Males seek out females in early spring by following their pheromone trails.  As in most colubrids, courtship consists of rapid tongue flicking followed by the male rubbing his chin along the back of the female.  Gravid females give birth to broods of 5 to 10 neonates in late July or early August.  The record brood size is 41.