Ribbon Snake
Description
 18-40". A slender, streamlined garter snake. 3 bright, well-defined stripes usually contrast sharply with dark back and sides. Side stripe involves 3rd and 4th scale rows. A dark, brownish stripe suns along margin of belly scales. Lip scales and belly unmarked. Tail very long, about a third of the snake's total length. Scales strongly keeled, in 19 rows. Anal plate single.
Voice
none
Breading
Mates in spring. Live-bearing. 3-26 young, 7-9" long, are born July to August, mature in 2-3 years.
Habitat
Wet meadows, marshes, bogs, ponds, weedy lake shoreline, swamps, and shallow, meandering streams.
Subspecies
 Blue-striped, Peninsula, Northern
Other
Semiaquatic; almost always encountered in low wet places. Likes to bask in bushes. When startled it takes to water. Unlike water snakes, which dive, ribbon snakes glide swiftly across the water's surface. They feed on frogs,salamanders, and small fish.
Picture
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