I can't get enough of these little gems. However, not only are they gorgeous, they are behaviorally interesting as well. Post your beautiful red-bellies!

one of my favorites:

That melanistic is beautiful, and that is a great picture of the lip flaring.

Kinda lame photo, but here it is anyhow. Found 3/21/11. I often see these earlier in the spring in my backyard. Next one I find, I will get a lip-flaring photo.

This one is actually an Orange-bellied Snake

we should add natural history discussions to these species specific posts...

One of my favorite finds of this abundant critter



Found together under tin. Horry Co., SC. I got very lucky with this shot.

A grey morph from Liberty Co., FL. I thought it was a ring neck when I took this shot 7 years ago.

That's a great idea.

What do we "know" about red-bellies?

They are supposedly fond of slugs, a very interesting food choice. They also occur in two color phases, those with grey dorsums, and those with brown dorsums. Their venter can be a wide range of colors, usually a lovely coral color, but can range from yellow to orange. Melanistic individuals occur occasionally, as posted above.

they tend to be locally common, but quite rare in many places. I have found over 15 individuals in the same log pile, over the course of several weeks (mark-recapture). I've found two neonates, on the crawl, during the day.

Red-bellies give birth to live young, with short gestation periods.

Another one from Tamara's backyard. Mobile County, AL. This would probably be considered a Florida Redbelly these days, but according to Robert H. Mount's book it would be a Northern.

Red-bellied Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


AHS 2006 Spring Field Trip / Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr


Redbelly Snake by kaptainkory, on Flickr

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Awesome Picture!! Wish these little guys weren't so uncommon around my area.

Russ

Awesome photos.

I only have this one lousy scanned slide, but I'm proud of it because it is from SE Texas where red-bellieds are tough to find.

Not only do dekayi outnumber red-bellieds thousands to one (it seems), but our red-bellieds aren't red-bellied and our dekayi are highly variable.
Which makes East TX red-bellieds are very easy to overlook. When you find a Red-bellied Snake in SE Texas, it's a memorable day!

Redbellies are not common in southeast Ohio -- I've seen less than 10 in 10+ years of herping here. There's one site where I've seen 4 of them; otherwise it's a matter of sifting through hundreds of ringnecks and Dekay's... Here's a few:


May 2004


August 2004


Same snake as above.


June 2005


June 2009


Same snake as above.


May 2011


Same snake as above.

I love how the dorsal strip varies in color and width.

Great idea John, Both Storeria are very under-appreciated snakes.

I don't have any photos, but I do have a natural history anecdote. Over the last three summers in Ohio, I've worked in the same field (the mesocosm field John V knows). For the first two summers we frequently saw milk snakes, but rarely S. occipitomaculata or S. dekayi. Last summer we saw no milk snakes, but lots of both Storeria. I've wondered if the disappearance of the predator (milksnakes) led to the increase in the prey (Storeria). I'm looking forward to seeing what snakes are there this summer.

Awesome pic!