black ring necked snake?

Question

Found a 2 inch long skinny black snake, by a Caltrans freeway cleaner in Los Angeles, california. The snake is all black with a ring around it's neck and an orange belly. My daughter is pregnant, she wants to keep it and I want to know if the snake is poisonous.

Answer 1

I have seen many similar snakes. It is actually called a ring-necked snake, and although it is not poisonous, you would probably have a hard time getting it to eat in captivity, so it is likely to die. You probably should just let it go.

Answer 2

It's a ringneck snake. There's a lot of debate on toxicity of saliva, they eat things like earthworms, centipedes, ant larvae, stuff like that, so if their saliva is toxic it's a good help for them. But the biggest subspecies of ringneck only gets to about 21 inches or so, most varieties simply aren't big enough to get their saliva into your bloodstream, so it doesn't matter how toxic it is.

These snakes are -very- fragile. I've kept some of our local variety here in florida for stretches of time, but it's hard to keep them completely healthy, and I always feel better after I've let them go in the yard. I've never seen them do very well at all unless they get to burrow, so there's a couple inches of soil (be careful it's not potting soil with stuff in it that would be bad for the snake), gravel on the bottom for drainage, dump in some earthworms....... now.... after two days, how many earthworms are left in there? How often do you have to feed them? This is where it goes south... do you stress the snake out by raking through the soil to find out if there's more earthworms, or do you just go get more earthworms and dump them in there whether they're needed or not? If it's overpopulated by worms, the worms start dying and then you have a tank that smells like decaying earthworms..... *mutter* This is the better of the two options.

Better for a ringneck that small to go back into the wild... find somewhere with some nice rocks and logs for him to live under (Let me guess, it rained right before you found it?) because at least 90% of their lives are spent underground.

Here's the california subspecies.....

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=AR0093

Answer 3

As an avid reptile lover and herpeculture hobbyist, from your description I can say that it's a variety of ringneck snake, which I used to catch and collect as a child. They are very docile snakes, sometimes when alarmed they will secrete musk from their anal slit which smells unpleasent, but otherwise harmless. They are also non-poisonus and totally safe, as long as you wash your hands after handling (good practice with any reptile). They usually attain a length of 14-18 inches, salamanders are an important food, but earthworms and small lizards and frogs also are eaten. They prefer an environment filled with small bark chips, dirt and adequate moisture. --- I hope this information was helpful.

Answer 4

CONGRATULATIONS ! You have a ring-necked snake (Diadophis). No, they are not poisonous and you may keep it. It is a burrower and will eat earthworms. Quality potting soil that is suitable for keeping earthworms makes a good cage base, keep it damp and introduce the earthworms for a self feeding environment and the snake will do just fine.

Answer 5

You found a ringneck snake...and although they're cute and harmless they are difficult to maintain in captivity. Their diet consists mainly of salamanders....some prefer a specific kind of salamander and unless you have a yearlong supply and can find them, it's quite difficult.

Answer 6

Sounds like a ring neck snake.

See if the pictures here look like it.

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=AR0093