Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Caught this pretty little worm snake today- they're so common around here it's hard to believe it's ?actually illegal? to posess one in Massachusetts? According to the UMass Amherst herp site... http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/pages/worm.html

I think they are protected in New Jersey too... weird...

They are beautifully iridescent!

Here's a pic of the boards I found it under... there is a stream 15 feet to the left that is the rear boundary of my yard, and this area is a long flat "glade", bounded on the right by ephemeral pools about 25 feet to the right. Past that is mixed 2nd growth forest (all this used to be dairy land). My house is part of a large subdevelopment, I just chose a house on the outer edge so it has woods out back.

Just dont turn yourself in lol. When you found him he was directly under the board not underground? I think they are cute thought they were constantly buried.
Imagine not easy to feed.

Well, here in NC they aren't protected at all, there are plenty of fascinating herps no need ot be an outlaw! Worm snakes are pretty much everywhere.

We have pretty liberal collecting laws, you're supposed to get licensed for $5 a year (I am in compliance), the point just being you should report what you've caught annually for species couniting purposes.

Although there are a couple of species like pine snakes that are rare here and protected but common in other states. Protected snakes include pines, pygmy rattlers, coral snakes... I forget if Pines Woods snakes are or not, haven't ever found one.

Worm snakes here are typically found between the leaf mulch layer and the actual dirt, like if I'm raking up leaves I turn them up, or cleaning leaves out of a flower bed... although I have also shovelled them up at a depth of 6-8 inches when planting shrubs, etc. Neither raking nor shovelling is usually good for the snake, sadly.

To answer your question, yes I find them right under the boards.

Eating- they are shy, I kept one in my daughter's class for almost an entire year and it looked fine when released. I just kept dumping worms and small crickets in, and they all disappeared, so I suppose it ate something. I have read the worm snakes won't eat crickets so I wonder if they all wound up in the classroom...

I haven't kept one long term here as they are very cryptic- I had one I injured with the rake that I tried to heal up but I wound up getting the soil too damp and it got blisters, the stress from injury and blisters and parasitess did it in.

I'll make another post about soil substrates in tanks...

I like the worm snakes but problem is you never really see them well maybe here and there .
I imagine in a terrarium the only way you see them is to dig them out.

Basically, correct. Which is why I don't generally bother to keep them.