Harmless · Native to the United States

Smooth earth snake

Virginia valeriae

Also called smooth earthsnake, ground snake, little brown snake
Data updated October 2026

Small plain gray-brown smooth earth snake coiled on damp soil and leaf litter
Fig. 1 — Adult on damp soil. The plain gray-brown back is broken only by tiny black dots.
Close view of a smooth earth snake's small pointed head and smooth scales
Fig. 2 — A narrow, slightly pointed head built for pushing through loose soil.

At a glance

A tiny, plain brown or gray burrowing snake of eastern and central US woodlands. It spends nearly all its life under logs, rocks and leaf litter eating earthworms, so it is rarely seen even where it lives. It is completely harmless.

01

Identification

This is a small, slightly stout snake with no bold markings at all. The back is gray, tan, brown or reddish brown, usually sprinkled with tiny black dots, and some have a faint pale line down the middle. The belly is plain cream, white or pale yellow and blends into the sides. Eastern snakes tend to be grayer with smooth scales; western snakes are more reddish and may have weakly keeled scales. Young look like small, unmarked adults.

  1. 01Smooth scales. The scales feel smooth or only faintly ridged, unlike the strongly keeled rough earth snake.
  2. 02Six upper lip scales. Count six scales along each side of the upper lip; the rough earth snake has five.
  3. 03Plain belly, no neck ring. A pale belly that does not contrast sharply with the sides, and no collar.

Commonly confused with

Brown snakes have keeled scales and rows of dark spots; ring-necked snakes have a yellow collar and a bright yellow belly.

02

Size

02 in4 in6 in8 in10 in12 in Typical adult · about 9 in (23 cm)

Most adults are 7 to 10 inches (18–25 cm) long, and a few reach a little over 15 inches. Snakes from the Coastal Plain tend to be smaller than those from the Piedmont and mountains.

03

Range & habitat

Smooth earth snake partly hidden under a rotting log in moist woodland
Fig. 3 — Rotting logs and deep leaf litter in moist woods are typical hiding places.

The smooth earth snake ranges from New Jersey south to northern Florida and west to Iowa, Kansas and Texas, though its distribution is patchy, with gaps on either side of the Mississippi River and none in most of peninsular Florida. It lives in moist deciduous and mixed pine-hardwood forests, rocky wooded hillsides, forest edges, old fields and wooded neighborhoods. It needs loose, damp soil and plenty of cover such as logs, rocks, leaf litter and humus, and often turns up under boards and sheet metal in overgrown lots.

State guides: Texas · Florida

04

Diet & predators

Earthworms are the main food. Smooth earth snakes also eat slugs, snails and soft-bodied insects and their larvae, such as cutworm caterpillars, all found by searching through soil and leaf litter. Being small and slow, they are eaten by many larger animals. Their defenses are camouflage, staying hidden and smearing musk on anything that picks them up.

Feeds on

  • Earthworms
  • Slugs and snails
  • Soft-bodied insects and larvae

Preyed on by

  • Predatory birds
  • Larger mammals
  • Domestic cats
Earthworm on moist soil
Prey — earthworms.
Domestic cat hunting in a garden
Predator — domestic cats.

05

Behavior & seasons

This is a secretive burrower that spends most of its time under rocks, logs, leaf litter or trash, and is mostly active at night, especially in warm, humid weather. It is sometimes seen on the surface after heavy rain. It is harmless to people and pets.

In Missouri it is active from late March through early November, with peaks in April–May and September–October. It spends the winter underground in rock crevices, animal burrows, rotting stumps and logs, or deep in loose soil.

06

Reproduction

Smooth earth snakes give birth to live young instead of laying eggs. Mating takes place in spring and early summer, possibly also in autumn, and young are born from August into early fall. Litters usually hold 2 to 14 young. The snakes reach maturity in their second or third year.

07

Conservation

The species is not listed under the US Endangered Species Act. Because it is so secretive, its true numbers are hard to judge: it appears fairly common in Tennessee and can be abundant in good habitat in Missouri, but across much of its range it is considered uncommon, and in South Carolina it is scarce and patchy. It is protected throughout Georgia and has been named a species of special concern in South Carolina and Virginia. House cats kill them regularly, though what that does to populations is unknown.

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages