with this, they flee and hide in dense patches of grass in which they will coil up and get as low to the ground as possible. Given that snakes consume their prey whole, small individuals are particularly constrained in the size and shape of prey that can be consumed. These smaller snakes compensate for their smaller body size by having larger heads. Reproduction Beginning in the spring, after hibernation, ribbon snakes begin to look for another snake with which to mate. Ribbon snakes are ovoviviparous snakes, meaning they give birth to live young. The live young tend to be born in the summer, in litters of 4 to 27 snakes. Ribbon snakes tend to mature after two to three years, which is when they will be able to start breeding. Ribbon snakes tend to breed once or twice each year after they mature. References Further reading Conant, Roger; Bridges, William (1939). What Snake Is That? A Field Guide to Snakes of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. (With 108 drawings by Edmond Malnate). New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Company. Frontispiece map + 163 pp. + Plates A–C, 1–32. (Thamnophis sauritus, pp. 121–124 + Plate 23, figures 68, 69B). Linnaeus C (1766). Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Duodecima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 532 pp. (Coluber saurita, new species, p. 385). (in Latin). Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. . (Thamnophis sauritus, pp. 430–431 + Plate 43). Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp., 34 plates, 103 figures. (Thamnophis sauritus, pp. 255–257 + Plate 28). Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. (paperback), (hardcover). (Thamnophis sauritus, pp. 144-145). Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp., 306 figures, 70 maps. (in 2 volumes). (Thamnophis sauritus, pp. 824–828, 831–834, Figures 239, 241 + Map 59 on p. 767). Zim HS, Smith HM (1956). Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide