Yellow-lipped snake, Brown-headed snake
The Pine woods snake (Rhadinaea flavilata) is a secretive colubrid found in scattered locations across the south-eastern United States. It is rear-fanged and mildly-venomous, but not dangerous to humans.
The Pine woods snake is a small reddish brown to yellowish brown or dark orange snake with a whitish to yellowish, unmarked underside. A dark stripe runs through the eye. A light stripe may be present along the middle of the back. The upper labial scales (lip scales) are a whitish or pale yellow color which led to its other common name, the Yellow-lipped snake.
These snakes are found in coastal North Carolina and South Carolina, most of peninsular Florida, and small portions of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. They inhabit pine and mixed-pine hardwood forests and damp woodlands.
Pine woods snakes are fossorial ground-welling creatures. They are secretive and often hide buried in sandy soil, under bark, leaf litter, and in rotten logs and stumps. Because many Pine woods snakes are found in warm coastal areas, they are active for most of the year and will hibernate underground or in logs in cold winter conditions. These snakes do not bite when picked up but they can release a foul-smelling odor.
Pine woods snakes are carnivores. Little is known about their diet in the wild but in captivity, they have been known to eat small frogs, salamanders, snakes, and small lizards.
Pine woods snakes probably mate in the spring and females lay 1 to 4 eggs during the summer months. Some females lay two clutches of eggs each year. The incubation period is 6 to 8 weeks.
There are no major threats to this species at present.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Pine woods snake total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are stable.