Kansas is a region of North America’s Great Plains. Although Kansas is recognized as the country’s top wheat producer, there are also different types of snakes in Kansas.
Kansas is home to various aquatic snakes in addition to a few dangerous types of snakes.
It’s always a good idea to be aware of the potential snake encounters when traveling throughout Kansas, regardless of whether you live there or are just visiting to enjoy the great outdoors.
Here is a list of some of the most typical types of snakes in Kansas, along with some fascinating facts about each species, so you’ll know what to look out for the next time you enjoy nature.
1. Great Plains Rat Snake
The Great Plains Rat Snake is starting our list of types of snakes in Kansas.
It has brown, dark gray, or greenish-gray blotches down its back and a light tan stripe that meets in the middle of each side of its head. Its overall color is usually tan or lighter gray.
They are not poisonous and have little fangs, although they tend to bite. However, these types of snakes in Kansas are generally not hostile.
They can be found in many habitats, including riparian zones, farms, barnyards, canyons, hills, prairies, and even abandoned houses.
They like any location where they may hide beneath boards, logs, rocks, or even abandoned animal burrows.
As their name implies, rodents are their main food source, but they also consume birds, frogs, and lizards. They wait to strike, constrict, and swallow their victims until they spot them.
Because of their name, “rat snakes,” you can utilize them to assist you in eliminating an excessive number of rats from your property if necessary.
For this reason, farmers sometimes keep them and find them beneficial.
2. Western Rat Snake
Large snakes, black rat snakes, can reach lengths of six feet. Due to their docile disposition, substantial stature, and capacity to aid rodent management, they are America’s most common variety of rat snakes.
As their name implies, they have mostly black scales with the possibility of some light white bands separating them.
Their undersides are typically white and extend down to their chins. Hobbyists like these fascinating types of snakes in Kansas because they can aid in pest control.
Because of their name, “rat snakes,” you can utilize them to assist you in eliminating an excessive number of rats from your property if necessary.
They can be found in flat farmlands, rocky hillsides, and hilly areas…
They are skilled climbers who can survive at various elevations and live in tree cavities formerly occupied by other creatures. They eat bird eggs, lizards, amphibians, and rodents.
3. Gopher Snake
The Gopher Snake, which has a large body and considerable length, is also on our list of types of snakes in Kansas. They are generally peaceful animals unless they feel threatened.
These snakes are escape artists, so they’ll need an extremely secure enclosure. Because of their size and busy lifestyle, they also need a lot of space.
Gopher snakes have linear patterns down their length and are often light tan to brown with big, dark brown, occasionally reddish-brown patches.
They are occasionally confused for rattlesnakes, but all you would need to do is look for their lack of a rattle.
They are located in arid, warm forests. Their fondness for consuming little rodents is essentially the source of their name.
In whichever area they wander, these types of snakes in Kansas contribute to reducing the rodent population.
4. Long-Nose Snake
Due to their famed escape skills, long-nosed snakes are not frequently encountered as pets because they are difficult to keep.
Their long, almost shark-like snout, slightly upturned, gives them their name. With their black and reddish-orange stripe pattern, they resemble milk snakes or coral snakes.
However, long-nosed snakes have somewhat faded sides resembling a checkered pattern in the same colors as their bodies.
They also have a cream or light yellow body, which acts as a backdrop for other colors.
These nocturnal snakes in Kansas prefer dry, arid areas like deserts and dry prairies. They spend the day underground and crawl on chilly highways.
These snakes mostly consume lizards and amphibians, but they are occasionally observed consuming rodents and other smaller snakes.
5. Crawling Common Watersnake
Northern water snakes are common household pets because they are easy to care for and reasonably safe, even around small children. They can get fairly big.
They often have keeled scales and are dark in color, ranging from brown to tan to gray.
They also have square spots on their sides and backs that can create bands down their length or alternate.
Water snakes get their name because they usually inhabit or are close to aquatic environments.
They enjoy lounging on rocks near still or slowly flowing bodies of water, such as lakes, ponds, and seasonal pools.
They may also be spotted hunting and swimming in the waterways. They prefer to consume whole, living fish and amphibians.
These types of snakes in Kansas consume many fish species, including brook trout, minnows, bullhead catfish, hogsuckers, and sunfish.
6. Graham’s Crayfish Snake
Graham’s Crayfish Snakes, a subspecies of water snakes, is not recommended to be brought into captivity from the wild.
They are heavy snakes with two pale yellow or cream stripes along the length of their bodies, wide eyes, and small heads. Their scales are dull and smooth, brown-olive.
They are common in Iowa and are native to the central region of the United States. Sloughs, floodplains, ditches, marshes, ponds, woods, and prairie streams are among the places they call home.
These burrowing snakes in Kansas prefer to settle close to bodies of water, where they feed on fish, amphibians, tadpoles, and crayfish—particularly those that have just shed their shells.
7. DeKay’s Brown Snake
Humans often encounter brown snakes, which are not timid animals. Because of their kind attitude and small stature, they might be excellent pets for novices. It’s also very simple to feed them.
As their name implies, these non-venomous types of snakes in Kansas are often brown, but they can also have red, yellowish, or grayish-brown tones.
Usually, they have two rows of spots along the side of their head that are either lighter or darker.
These spots may also be connected, giving the appearance of a collar or middorsal streak. A little black patch can also be beneath each eye.
Some people may not even have these markers. They will have tan or white undersides.
They appreciate living in several types of forests, but mostly in damp places such as the edges of swamps or the borders of wetlands.
They enjoy prowling the litters of defunct fields, oak savannas, lowland forests, and prairies. Additionally, they are frequently observed in urbanized or residential regions.
Their specialized jaws and teeth will eat small invertebrates like snails, slugs, and earthworms in their surroundings. If they come to salamanders or beetles, they might also consume them.
8. Northern Red-bellied Snake
Although uncommon in the state, red-bellied snakes can still be seen in the wild. They are quite reticent.
On the warm days of September through October, you can find these little snakes lounging in the sun in clusters.
They can also be found in fields, sphagnum bogs, bike routes, forests, logs, and woodlands. In these habitats, they eat slugs, earthworms, and beetle larvae.
Sometimes, these types of snakes in Kansas can be found in the wild or in gardens free of pesticides, and people may wish to keep them as pets.
But in captivity, they truly struggle to feed, and when taken out of the wild, they can completely refuse to eat.
They would rather be left alone to wander the area at their leisure because they do not thrive in captivity.
While they are not difficult to find in the wild, they do not perform well outside of their natural habitat, so if you plan to keep them for a long time, they might not be the greatest pet.
Because they tend to keep to their spaces, you might not encounter them as frequently in the wild. They do not tolerate populated places as well.
These snakes are easy to identify because of their vivid red or orange undersides, which truly live up to their name.
Their bodies could be copper brown, black with a blue tinge, or dark steel gray.
Additionally, some might have a thick band of bright color down the middle of their backs or two black stripes running along their sides.
Their brief nibble probably won’t hurt you anyway, even though they usually curl their tails or run away in defense before trying to bite.
Despite their beauty and small size, they are not recommended as pets because they do not typically thrive in captivity.
9. Checkered Garter Snake
Typically olive green or brown-green in hue, checkered garter snakes have a pronounced checkerboard pattern on their sides and a thin stripe of pale yellow or tan down the length of their back.
They can be found in semi-arid environments, including tropical forests, grasslands, deserts, savannas, and thornbush savannas.
They will eat whatever they can overwhelm, including rodents, amphibians, snails, leeches, and earthworms.
10. Western Ribbon Snake
The Western Ribbon Snake is another species of Garter Snake and the most common type in Kansas.
As discussed with the Eastern, they are a desirable pet option because they are non-poisonous and come in various morphs.
Like their Eastern counterparts, Western ribbon snakes can have light green or yellow stripes along their bodies, and they can also be brown, nearly black, or olive in color.
Ribbon snakes are semi-aquatic and found close to bodies of water, such as lake or river shores.
They occasionally live beside waterways that are close to wetlands or woods. As carnivores, their primary food sources include tadpoles, insects, and small fish.
11. The Plains Gartersnake
Because of their amiable disposition, these non-venomous types of snakes in Kansas are excellent pets for novices.
Additionally, because they are little, they are easy to care for and don’t require much attention.
They have a noticeable, lengthy stripe that runs the entire body length, either orange or yellow, and are black.
They consume anything that fits inside their mouths, such as fish, worms, eggs, and rodents.
They make excellent garden snakes since they will consume insects and other pests for you. They are at home in grassy, damp habitats near lakes and streams.
12. Common Garter Snake
The common garter snake poses no threat to people. These types of snakes in Kansas are typically small and prefer to be active during the day.
These guys will need a bowl in their tank to soak in, especially when it’s time to shed, because they enjoy soaking frequently.
Because they are gentle and won’t get too big, garter snakes are excellent first snakes.
Common Garter Snakes have a characteristic yellow stripe running the length of their bodies. Their color can vary from dark olive-green to brown or black.
They might release a scent to scare off predators when they feel threatened. They are found in various habitats, including hillsides, meadows, forests, and marshes.
These snakes consume amphibians, small fish, worms, slugs, leeches, and other snakes.
Additionally, they are impervious to toxic frogs, which release toxins from their skin to scare off potential prey.
13. Lined Snake
The only thing we know about Lined Snakes is that they are closely related to Garter Snakes, which helps fill in some details about these adorable little animals.
These nocturnal types of snakes in Kansas are frequently found in parks, grassy areas, abandoned lots, and beneath debris in urbanized regions.
In addition, they may live in suburban or residential areas, woodland passageways, abandoned prairies, grasslands, and oak woods.
They prefer to hide or find cover; if they are found or apprehended, they will release a musk.
They rarely attempt to bite or assault someone. Instead, they may dig a hole in the ground or hide beneath rocks or leaf litter.
With their brown or gray-brown bodies and dark stripes that can vary from olive-gray to various shades of gray, these little snakes resemble miniature Garter Snakes.
Their undersides have two rows of gray blotches or spots that give them a cream color. Along their midline, half-moons could also be visible.
14. Rough-earth Snake
If you come across one of these tiny types of snakes in Kansas, it may be tempting to take it into your care, but they do not adapt well to confinement and usually die very quickly.
It is preferable to leave them in their native, untamed environment.
The brown-gray, worm-like Rough Earth Snake has small, beadlike eyes and a tan or cream underside.
Several states, including Virginia, Florida, the Gulf Coast, Texas, Missouri, and Kansas, are home to these microscopic, worm-like snakes.
Rough earth snakes prefer forested habitats, as well as places with rocks, leaf litter, compost piles, logs, or any other type of ground cover for hiding.
They can be found in many various settings, including urban environments.
Although they will consume other invertebrates like snails, slugs, larvae, and insect eggs, their primary food source is earthworms.
15. Western Earth Snake
Western Earthsnake is next on our list of types of snakes in Kansas. Smaller in size, smooth earth snakes can have colors ranging from light brown to gray to even copper.
Usually cream or off-white, their undersides lack any distinguishing pattern.
They are native to North America and can be divided into numerous subspecies, each with a unique pattern or color depending on where it is found. They prefer to reside in warm, humid environments.
They are more likely to be discovered lurking among rocks and leaf litter in wooded areas, damp woods, or wooded hillsides.
Being nocturnal, these types of snakes in Kansas prefer to hunt at night. They consume slugs and earthworms, as well as soft-bodied insects.
16. The Broad-banded Copperhead
These snakes have vertical eyes and a heat-sensitive pit between their nostrils and eyes on each side of their heads.
Their body is tan, and their tail is banded with big, coffee-brown spots.
They are native to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, in the southern states of the union.
They live near ponds and streams and eat insects, mice, frogs, and tiny snakes.
17. Eastern Copperhead
Bites from copperheads are uncommon, even in places where they have been sighted, because they are not aggressive towards humans until provoked.
These big, tan snakes have blotches all over their body that resemble spilled coffee and have a copper or rusty appearance.
The head of the types of snakes in Kansas is distinctly formed like a triangle.
They are found in many different settings, ranging from terrestrial to semi-aquatic.
This includes rocky places, marshes, wooded hillsides, and deserted suburban construction sites where they can discover sawdust or rotting wood mounds.
Being carnivorous, these snakes primarily consume tiny rodents like mice.
They also eat insects, amphibians, birds, lizards, and smaller snakes.
They hunt by ambushing their victim, injecting it with venom, and then consuming it.
18. Northern Cottonmouth
Cottonmouths, often called water moccasins, are typically dark brown or duller black with lighter side banding in certain cases.
These are found in Atlanta, Georgia’s Piedmont region, and the Coastal Plain.
They favor wet environments such as retention ponds, streams, lakes, roadside ditches, and marshes.
Among their food sources are little animals, birds, lizards, amphibians, fish, crayfish, insects, turtles, and even other types of snakes in Kansas.
19. Timber RattleSnake
Because rattlesnake bites can be fatal, they should be handled like a medical emergency.
They are not frequently spotted, though, as they are also quite shy animals.
Typically, timber rattlesnakes have a gray or yellow-brown hue, with dark brown spots or stripes all over their body.
They also have a brown, yellow, or copper stripe that runs the length of their back.
They are generally found in rocky ledges, dense forests with closed canopies, croplands, bluffs, and rough deciduous forest terrains.
These types of snakes in Kansas enjoy shifting about with the seasons, and when a female is pregnant, she will go to rocky areas to avoid the cold.
Although their primary food source is smaller mammals, timber rattlesnakes occasionally consume birds as well.
20. Prairie RattleSnake
Prairie Rattlesnakes is ending our list of types of snakes in Kansas that can bite you, and if you don’t obtain medical attention, it might be deadly.
This deadly pit viper is a tan, robust rattlesnake with dark brown stripes or blotches running the length of its back.
These stripes or blotches split into rings near the tail that are either dark olive or brown.
They are visible in meadows, sagebrush, and on steep rocky ledges.
Prairie dogs and rabbits are among the several rodent species that prairie rattlesnakes primarily eat.
