Order Serpentes
Data in the tables below are primarily from Maine Amphibians and Reptiles (copyright 1999; ISBN 0-89101-096-3) edited by Malcolm L. Hunter Jr., Aram J. K. Calhoun, and Mark McCollough.

Maine is home to 9 species in 7 genera in 1 family (Colubridae). If you know which species you have or are interested i learning about, click on the appropriate link from the species list below. Otherwise, to determine which genus your snake belongs to, refer to the table below the species list.

Family Colubridae
   Coluber (1 species)
      Coluber constrictor - Eastern Racer
   Diadophis (1 species)
      Diadophis punctatus - Ringneck Snake
   Lampropeltis (1 species)
      Lampropeltis triangulum - Milk Snake
   Liochlorophis (1 species)
      Liochlorophis vernalis - Smooth Green Snake
   Nerodia (1 species)
      Nerodia sipedon - Northern Water Snake
   Storeria (2 species)
      Storeria dekayi - Brown Snake
      Storeria occipitomaculata - Fed-bellied Snake
   Thamnophis (2 species)
      Thamnophis sauritus - Ribbon Snake
      Thamnophis sirtalis - Common Garter Snake

Family Colubridae
[information to be added]

Key to the genera of Family Colubridae that live in Maine

	dorsum color	special coloration	length (in inches)	char. 4	char. 5
Coluber	glossy black		35–55(–73)
Diadophis	slate-gray, brown, or black	yellow to orange neck ring	10–14
Lampropeltis	light gray to tan with brown or reddish brown blotches		24–36
Liochlorophis	grass green		14–20(–26)
Nerodia			24–42
Storeria	light grayish brown to dark brown; brown or slate-gray
Thamnophis		longitudinal stripes

Coluber
[information to be added]

Coluber constrictor (Eastern Racer) - [information to be added]

Diadophis
[information to be added]

Diadophis punctatus (Ringneck Snake) - [information to be added]

(photo by Carol Muth; click on image to enlarge)

Lampropeltis
[information to be added]

Lampropeltis triangulum (Milk Snake) - [information to be added]

(photo by Don Lenahan; click on image to enlarge)

Liochlorophis
[information to be added]

Liochlorophis vernalis (smooth green snake). The following is excerpted from the Firefly Farm Nature Notes.

“It’s hard to beat the beauty and artistry of Smooth Green Snakes! Their grass-green palette is not just the simple chemistry of pigments but is created with a bit of smoke and mirrors ... well, at least with mirrors. Called iridophores, these skin cells, filled with shiny plates of guanine, reflect and scatter blue light upward. Sitting atop the iridophores are pigment-filled xanthophores. ... Xantho- means yellow. Blue light passing through yellow generates the lovely green. Sometimes green snakes are born with no yellow pigment and are blue! Like most pigments, yellows degrade after death, leaving the Smooth Green Snakes blue.

The Smooth Green Snake, native across northern North America, is so-named because it has glossy smooth scales, not keeled ones as does its southern relative, the Rough Green Snake. Its scientific name, Liochlorophis vernalis translates directly to “smooth green snake of spring”. And indeed, they emerge in April, mate in spring or summer, females laying two clutches of 4–6 eggs. The eggs, laid in an abandoned rodent burrow or a rotting log hatch quite quickly for snakes, between 4 and 23 days depending on temperature. Green snake eggs can hatch so fast because the mother incubates them internally before laying. Babies hatch out olive-green or blue-green. Come fall, Smooth Green Snakes hibernate together, sometimes mixed with other species of snakes, in anthills and burrows.

Smooth Green Snakes are a great insecticide because they feed entirely on insects, spiders, centipedes and millipedes. As insectivores, they are particularly sensitive to chemical pesticides.”

This snake was basking between Aunt Betty Pond and the carriage road in Bar Harbor on 2 August 2009.

(click on image to enlarge)

Nerodia
[information to be added]

Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake) - [information to be added]

Storeria
[information to be added]

Key to the species of Storeria that live in Maine

	char. 1	char. 2	char. 3	char. 4	char. 5
S. dekayi
S. occipitomaculata

Storeria dekayi (Brown Snake) - [information to be added]

Storeria occipitomaculata (Red-bellied Snake) - [information to be added]

Thamnophis
[information to be added]

Key to the species of Thamnophalis that live in Maine

	longitudinal stripes	char. 2	char. 3	char. 4	char. 5
T. sauritus	continuous
T. sirtalis	broken

Thamnlphis sauritus (Ribbon Snake) - [information to be added]

Thamnophis sirtalis (common garter snake) - [information to be added]
The photograph below was taken on 25 June 2009 next to the trail that was once the Breakneck Road in Bar Harbor.

(click on image to enlarge)

   
(photos taken on 12 June 2020 in Benton, Maine; click on an image to enlarge)