The steppe rat snake is a nonvenomous rat snake with one of the widest ranges of any snake in Eurasia, including Central Asia, Mongolia, China, and Korea. It doesn't live in the wild in the US, but it does turn up in the pet trade, where it is often sold as the twin-spotted rat snake.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A medium-sized rat snake, usually about 1.3–3.3 ft (40 cm–1 m) long. Many are olive-tan with darker markings, but the species is very variable, with all-black, reddish, striped, and blotched forms.
Look-alikes
Twin-spotted rat snakeElaphe bimaculata
Hard to tell apart from photos. The two are often mixed up, and steppe rat snakes are frequently sold under that name in the pet trade.
Why they get mixed upA close relative from China with a similar size and brown, blotched pattern.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Steppe and grassland
- Shrubland
- Forest
- Rocky slopes
- Desert edges
- Wetlands
- Range
- Across the temperate middle of Eurasia, from Korea, northern China, and the Russian Far East west through Mongolia, Central Asia, Iran, and Afghanistan to eastern Ukraine. Not native to North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Very adaptable; found from sea level up to about 11,700 ft (3,580 m), including farmland and other disturbed areas.
Behavior
- Activity
- Active by day and by night, and partly a climber.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- Eggs are usually laid in July or August.
- Reproduction
- Lays eggs. Females mate with several males, sometimes with two at once.
- Clutch size
- 3–15 eggs, rarely up to 24
Cautions
- Cautions
- Nonvenomous.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- Widespread overall, but it has been listed as critically endangered in Ukraine, at the western edge of its range.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- The species name honors Dione, the mother of Aphrodite in Greek mythology.
More species to explore
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