The northern brown snake eats earthworms, slugs, snails, and insects. They breed in late March or early April and 9-20 babies are normally born. This snake is a member of the Colubrid family because it has teeth on the premaxillary bone. Snakes have specialized external ear openings and eyelids. An elastic ligament and a deeply forked tongue separate the lower jaw.
Snakes are reptiles which all have dry scaly skin and fertilization is internal in reptiles.
2 species of this kind of snake exists in West Virginia. Major Indentification Features Small, slender brown or gray snakes with a yellow middle stripe on the dorsal and cream or pinkish belly. Description Small snake measuring from 10-15 inches long. Sometimes there are series of small black dots on the edges of the ventrals and there is a yellow midline stripe that is bordered by 2 parallel rows of dark spots. They like to hide under old bark slabs, strips of linoleum, and tar paper.