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| Mike Chiles |
Mike Chiles showed me this picture on his cellphone, asking for identification. I didn't recognize its small size in the palm of his hand until later when he sent me these pictures. In the picture below, the snake was hiding its most prominent feature, the neck.
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| Mike Chiles |
This is a prairie ring-neck snake,
Diadophis
punctatus arnyi, an extremely common, somewhat secretive snake which is usually discovered under wood, rock and litter of leaves and wood. Mike's specimen was so secretive that it hid its head and neck with its most distinguishing feature from his camera.
As you have guessed, ring-necks have a ring around their neck. Their underside is quite distinctive; yellow which turns to orange-red near the tail. There are scattered rows of black spots down the center and along both borders. I went to
Ryan Thies' photographs to show this feature more clearly.
The ring-neck's diet is primarily earthworms garnished with the odd insect and small salamander. This is perfect for its lifestyle along and under the ground. Unlike many snakes which maintain their preferred temperature by basking in the sun, a ring-neck prefers to hang out under a nice warm rock and escape the cold by crawling into a neighbor's burrow. This also keeps it safe from predators such as cars and my ATV.
When stressed, they may coil their tails to show the bright red underside as seen above. This may serve to either repel a predator or cause it to attack the tail, leaving its head to live another day. They are constrictors, and although they will not bite you, they do produce a venom, but only from its tiny hind teeth. This
probably helps paralyze its prey even though its doesn't have a role in
defense. The ring-neck's main defense is emitting a pungent odor as well as emptying its
cloacal contents into your hand, so be sure to treat it gently like Mike did or it will raise a stink.
Resources:
Shelly Cox at mobugs.blogspot.com
Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri, Tom Johnson.
