Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Location: Berkeley County WV

This weekend while unearthing some soil in a wooded area with my skid steer I noticed I had scooped up in the bucket a small baby snake. The soil was moist and contained various rotten pieces of wood and soil.
The snake is about 3 to 4 inches in length, black/very dark grey in color on top with the belly being red. It moved quickly, I was able to catch him. I havent seen one this small before and with a red belly. My experience is with turtles but from what I can tell maybe this is a Northern Red Bellied snake?
What do they eat at this age/size 3-4"? Thanks for any input.

Sounds like either a Red-bellied Snake or a Ring-necked Snake. The ringnecks in your area would have an orange neck ring.

There are lots of good pics of Red-bellieds on the web. They come in both tan and gray phases, so make sure you see a gray phase snake before you dismiss it.

Red-bellieds eat mostly worms and small soft-bodied insects.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I have only been successful in geting my Florida Redbelly's to eat slugs. Let me know if you get that one to eat something else, I would love to have options!

-----
Jenea

1:1 Tricolor Hognose
0:0:2 Florida Redbelly Snakes
0:1 Gulf Coast Box Turtle
1:1 Red-eared Slider
0:0:1 Green Tree Frog
1:2:2 Mediterranean Geckos
2:0 Cats
1:1 Kids
1:0 Spouse