I have seen several discussions on this board in the past about whether or not ring-necked snakes (Diadophis punctatus) are venomous. I thought readers of this forum might be interested in the following article that was just published:

O'Donnell, R.P., K. Staniland, & R.T. Mason. 2007. Experimental evidence that oral secretions of Northwestern ring-necked snakes (Diadophis punctatus occidentalis) are toxic to their prey. Toxicon 50(6):810-815.

You can reach this article at my webpage at http://home.comcast.net/~tsirtalis/017experimentalevidence.pdf

-Ryan