Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some men bring flowers to their wives, mine brings turtles and snakes. I love him for knowing me so well.

Anyway, the snake he has brought me is a baby. It is about 2 and 1/2 inches long, and looks like a worm. It's body is black, there is one white stripe around the neck just behind the head, and it has a white/offwhite belly. No other markings or colors.

It was found under a stone in a friend's garden (in western GA) with some earth worms. My husband rescued it from an agressive shovel.

A local reptile pet store told me that it is a king snake, but it does not look like any pictures of kingsnakes that I have ever seen. Are they correct?

Also, when I asked the reptile pet store what to try feeding it (I have never had such a small/young snake before), they did not have any suggestions. I have been collecting small worms and some termite larva for it. Am I feeding it the right things? What else might I try? Suggestions?

Thanks for any help. The forums here have always been a great resource.

Sounds to me like you have a baby Brown Snake, Storeria dekayi (northern or flordia ssp.). Try offering small earthworms, or even better, slugs.

Did it look like this?

That's a ringneck snake found in Ga.

Don't quote me, but I think ringnecks eat salamanders.
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1.0 Bearded Dragon
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is a Ringneck Snake. Looks like a juvenile Storeria dekayii ssp. to me.

You are definately more knowledgeable than I, so I will take your word for it. I looked up "ringneck snake GA" in Google, and that popped up. I'll research it more when I get home. Leaving work now.
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0.0.1 corn snake
1.0 Bearded Dragon
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1.0 husband

The snake in the picture is a ringneck...dekayi dont have any kind of sheen to them. The snake itself sounds more like a Storeria though. But the picture that you posted is def. of a ringneck. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

I dunno, Andy....I live in Georgia and have herped here for a lot of years and I've never seen a Ringneck with a white collar and no orange or red..the venter of the one in the picture looks white from what I can see (I can only see the edge). I realize the adult Brown Snakes are dull looking because of the keeled scales and the Ringnecks have smooth scales, but this is not nearly as evident in juvenile Brown Snakes, especially from a photograph. They are very dark with a white ring and white venter. We have two varieties of Ringnecks here...the Southern Ringneck and the Northern Ringneck, and an intergradient zone between the two. Every individual that I have seen has had either a bright yellow ring or an orange ring...never a white one. The more southerly you get, the more orange the ring, as well as the posterior end of the venter.

Unless my eyes are failing me in my old age (a distinct possibility) the snake in the picture has a white ring and the edge of the venter is white.....it's pretty hard to see if the scales are keeled or not...I'll go back and try to get a better look at the picture.

I checked a few more pics and sites on the web, and Snakeguy, you are right. It is a Northern Rigneck in the picture I posted. The Northern Brownsnake, or Storyi (sp) is more ...well...brown. I can't find any pics of a juvie, though. Do you have one you can post??

Northern Ringneck jajhs.kana.k12.wv.us/vwv/animal/ rep_amph/nringnecksnake.htm

Northern Brownsnake and Northern Ringneck fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/ snakes_of_virginia.htm
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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband

Northern Ringneck

Northern ringneck and Brown snakes

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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband

Is it necessarily a georgia ringneck or a picture of a random specimen from another locale? Because that is definitely a ringneck...I would put my money on it. I have kept browns, ringnecks, and other small snakes of all sizes and none have the irredescent sheen that the ringnecks do if you look closely. But the question now is if it is a georgia ringneck or not I guess. Happy herping. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Yeah...that's what the text with the picture said.."Ringneck found in GA."

Oh well...

I have to go along with ringneck in the pic. The slate-colored, satin-looking dorsum, with what looks like smooth scales, says ringneck to me. The lack of yellow or orange in the ring or the belly (can't really tell about the latter from the pic) may well be the result of a color shift away from yellow in the image, a byproduct of either film type, photo processing, or scanning. I notice little or no yellow anywhere else in the pic, so the ring may be more yellow in real life than it is in the picture.

But - I've never known Oldherper to be wrong on these sorta things, so I won't bet on it! LOL

The snake described in the original post does sound more like a neonate Brown snake, tho.
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MichaelB

You could very well be right, Michael. I have a few things working against me here on this one..the quality of the picture, the quality of my monitor (every time I start to think about buying a new one, I find another snake to buy instead), the quality of my eyes.

I considered a maladjusted monitor as well, and even called the picture up on another machine. But since you saw the ring as white, and I saw it as white on two different monitors, it doesn't appear to be a monitor problem. So I'd keep buying the snakes, and hold off on a new monitor!
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MichaelB

>>is a Ringneck Snake. Looks like a juvenile Storeria dekayii ssp. to me.

The snake in the picture IS a Ring Neck Snake
I have caught them like that since I was old enough to turn over rocks.
I live in Southeast Tennessee just a stones throw away from the Georgia border.
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Remember, my posts are MY opinion only.
Jimmy (draybar)

Just on a note of what ringnecks eat. They eat LOTS of things...salamanders, worms, slugs, small insects, centipedes, lizards, even other snakes. Unfortunately I don't think they eat any of the commonly available herp foods, although you might want to give waxworms a try.
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