The Black Hills are an isolated range of mountains sometimes referred to as the “Island in the Plains.” The relatively higher elevation and forested hills provide an isolated habitat for species that do not occur anywhere else in the state of Wyoming.
My graduate work is focused on the Northern Long-Eared Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis), a forest-dependent bat which is only known to occur in the northeast corner of the state. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to spend two seasons working in this ecosystem observing local flora and fauna.
Although I have worked in the area for the past three summers, I had never seen the rare subspecies of snake called the Black Hills redbelly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata pahasapae). Wyoming and South Dakota consider the Black Hills redbelly to be a species of concern because of its limited range. According to a conservation assessment by the USDA Forest Service, the redbelly is rarely seen in the Black Hills, possibly because of its secretive habits. There are no published studies of their abundance. Peterson (1974) noted that redbelly snakes in the Black Hills are active nocturnally from mid-May to mid-October in the ground litter of moist habitats. They prey on small, soft-bodied invertebrates such as slugs, snails, and earthworms.
Redbellies are semi-fossorial, meaning they spend part of the time underground in burrows. This is part of the reason why they are so difficult to find. A specimen has been collected in Crook County, WY was described as one of the “few sightings” in the state. All of this means that I’ve been keeping an eye out for this snake for three years, and I would be very, very excited to see one.
In June of 2019, I encountered a small, 8-10 inch long snake lying in the path ahead of me while hiking back from a survey. The coppery color and lack of obvious stripes immediately stood out as something different. I did not wish to disturb the snake, so I snapped photos with my phone from a short distance. Looking back on it, I wish that I would have captured and handled the snake to examine it more closely. The snake was bothered by my presence and retreated into a nearby burrow, where I marked the location and left it alone.
I was most surprised by this observation because the snake was located on top of a dry ridge, far from the nearest wetland habitat where they are known to occur. This year the Hills have seen heavy rainfall and the ground litter is heavily saturated in most places. This observation makes me wonder whether the snake was able to use drier habitat because of the wet weather we’ve had so far.
The conservation assessment concludes that more records and sightings of this subspecies are needed in order to understand their habitat use and distribution in the Hills. If you happen to be hiking in the Black Hills region and encounter a coppery snake with a vivid red belly, report it to the local Forest Service office and note the location–there are so few reports of this species, individual sightings are valuable information.
For photos of the actual red belly, see photos by Dan Lewis at Wyoming Naturalist.
References and Further Information:
- Wyoming Game and Fish: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Habitat/SWAP/Reptiles/Black-Hills-Red-Bellied-Snake.pdf
- USDA Forest Service: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm9_012483.pdf
- Wyoming Naturalist: http://wyomingnaturalist.com/html/herps/r_redbelly_snake.html