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Project Noah Nature School
Regina septemvittata
The Queen Crayfish snake is a small sized snake that seldom grows over 2 feet long. They are olive to gray or dark brown in overall coloration, with peach or yellow stripes that run down its length at the first scale row. Queen Snakes prey almost exclusively on newly-molted crayfish, which are not able to defend themselves effectively with their pincers. Other sources of food include frogs, tadpoles, newts, minnows, snails, and fairy shrimp. The queen snake does not find its food by sight or heat detection, but by smell, using its tongue to carry the scent of its prey to receptors within its mouth. In this way it is able to home in on its prey, even under water.
Southern Ontario - Eastern U.S. Areas of clean running streams and watersheds with stony & rocky bottoms. Water temperature must be a minimum of 50°F. during the snake's active months.
A native snake in southern Michigan / Great Lakes, but very uncommon and is considered to be endangered in Wisconsin.
Spotted on Apr 7, 2012
Submitted on Apr 11, 2012
5 Comments
Thanks Neil!
Thank you so much janson for your appreciation... It means so much coming from a herp expert! I hope your encounter with the queen comes soon :)
Really cool! Great spotting of a rare snake.
Thank you Alice :) It's always nice to encounter the less common species in their native environment!
Lovely that you got him shedding his skin. Excellent information.