Bull Snake
Characteristics:
- Yellowish body with brown or black blotches that appear as rings near the tail
- Alternating dark blotches found along each side
- The belly is cream colored to whitish, with dark spots along its borders
- A dark mask or line that extends across the head from the angle of the jaws to the eyes
- Keeled scales
- Nonvenomous
- Diet: rodents (including gophers, ground squirrels, and mice), birds and their eggs, and various amphibians
- Habitat: open grasslands
- Distribution: counties in the western two thirds of South Dakota