Newborn tail tip yellow, but darkens with age. Old fields, floodplain forests, marshlands, and bogs. Active April through October, often suns on clumps of grass, in branches of small shrubs, or near crayfish burrows. Feeds on small rodents. Breeds spring and autumn with 4-20 young born late summer or early autumn.
Main predators are hawks, predatory mammals, and other snakes.
Formerly common over northern two-thirds of the state, prior to drainage of prairie marshes and intensive agriculture. Once known from 24 widely scattered relict populations, now thought to occur at only 6-8.