Natural History of the Ringneck Snake

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN RINGNECK SNAKE

                                                                 Diadophis punctatus

I have encountered many different amphibians and reptiles on our field trips but one of the most exciting discoveries, in my opinion, was that of the ringneck snake, Diadophis punctatus.  I have been waiting very patiently to find a snake in the wild and this moment was a very exciting one!  It was found under a small log and was so hidden that it was almost missed completely.  It was very apparent that this was in fact a ringneck snake upon discovery because of the one solid ring around the snake and its orange belly pattern.  Since females are larger and have proportionally shorter tails than males, we identified this one to be female.  As you can see in the photo on the upper left hand side, the snake was very small in size and was barely as big as my palm.  From it's small size we were able to determine that it was not a hatchling but still an adolescent ringneck snake. 

The ideal habitats for ringneck snakes are woodlands, which is precisely where we found her.  They are also natural burrowers.  This one in particular was very active and kept trying to burrow into my hand.  An interesting fact I learned about ringneck snakes is that they have weak venom in their saliva used to capture their prey.  This weak venom is completely harmless to humans (thank goodness!)

My experience with this snake was very exciting.  I had been waiting a long while to find a snake in the wild.  It's just more exciting than encountering a pet snake whether it be at the zoo or at someone's home.  I am hoping to find another species of snake on our last field trip next week!