Habitat
Habitats are varied and include mixed pine and hardwood forests, subtropical thornscrub, tall-grass prairie, and riparian woodlands in otherwise dry areas (Campbell and Lamar 2004). In Louisiana and Arkansas, this snake inhabits forested areas (Dundee and Rossman 1989, Trauth et al. 2004). In Texas, habitats include rocky creek banks and canyons of oak-juniper brakes, live oak woodland, thornbrush chaparral of the coastal plain, sandy grass/mesquite, Cross Timbers woodland/thickets, and pine-hardwood forest; also gardens, wooded lots, and undeveloped parklands in cities; habitat is generally partially wooded and has organic ground litter (Werler and Dixon 2000). In western Texas and northern Tamaulipas, this snake usually is found near watercourses and in vegetation along temporary streams (Campbell and Lamar 2004). In northern Mexico, this snake occurs in mesquite-grassland, thorn forest, and desert; in southern Tamaulipas, it reaches 900 meters in oak savanna; at the south end of the range it is apparently restricted to high elevations in pine-oak forest and mesquite-grassland (Campbell and Lamar 2004). This snake is often underground, under leaf litter, logs or stumps, or similarly secluded. Eggs probably are laid in loose soil or decaying organic matter, or underground or under leaf litter or surface objects (Ernst 1992).