Missouri Department of Conservation

Other Content You May Like

• Massasauga (Massasauga Rattlesnake)Video of a massasauga in the wild.
• Variable GroundsnakeA small, secretive, shiny snake that is highly variable in color. It can be gray, brown, orange or even red with or without dark bands, and it has a plain white or cream colored belly with dark transverse bars on the tail.
• Northern ScarletsnakeOne of Missouri's most brilliantly colored snakes is extremely rare to find. It is similar in pattern and color to the red milksnake, but instead has a red or orange color snout and a spotless, white belly. It is named for the red or crimson colored blotches along the back.
• Texas Ratsnake (Black Rat Snake)This glossy “black snake” is one of Missouri’s largest and most familiar snakes. It size and often deep-black color makes it seem imposing, but it is as harmless to humans as it is bad news for rodents!
• Massasauga (Massasauga Rattlesnake)This shy, reclusive, nonaggressive rattlesnake used to live in floodplain wetlands of the Mississippi, Missouri and Grand rivers, but as those wetlands have been drained and destroyed, the massasauga has disappeared with them. Now it is an endangered species.