Belly clear white or cream. Mixed woodlands on rocky, sandy soils. In other states, eggs have been found buried in sand and pine needles late June through August. The 2-9 eggs per clutch probably hatch in September. Eats reptile eggs, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, and mice.
Main predators are other snakes, birds, and mammals.
Known in Illinois from one specimen collected in 1942 by Fred R. Cagle at Wolf Lake Swamp, Union County, and originally identified as a red milk snake. The specimen subsequently was correctly identified by Philip W. Smith, noted herpetologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey. Searches in the vicinity of Wolf Lake and nearby Pine Hills have yielded no additional specimens.