Northern brown snake?

[woodjin]

Found this little guy late last night as I was heading out for a bike ride. He was in front of my garage. For perspective, the circular thing in the bottom of the bucket is about the size of a nickle. I believe it is a northern brown snake, but perhaps some of the herp experts on the forum could confirm.

 

[joc]

Nice find ! Appears to be a northern red-belly . I thought it was a brown @ 1st , as well but it seems to be a red . The easiest way to ID is you guessed it ; the red-belly . They come in several color phases : brown /black / Silver -Gray .I think there might even be others . The abdomen area is usually a shade of red , think crimson .. They are not as common as the brown . They seem to be found in isolated "pockets ".In General they are very similar to the brown in terms of diet / hab , etc . Hope I have helped .
Joe

 

[ecampbell]

Jeff, here's one I found.

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/snake-id.8234/#post-97728

 

[woodjin]

thanks for the ID. It is the same as Eds and was id'ed as red belly there, so I think you're right joc. Cool!!

 

[manumuskin]

I agree with joc....Redbelly

 

[joc]

thanks for the ID. It is the same as Eds and was id'ed as red belly there, so I think you're right joc. Cool!!

Very welcome ! It really is a solid find down here . They do not seem to be common anywhere in Central /Southern NJ that I know of . PA . , especially central and eastern seem to have more of this species for some reason .
Joe

 

[NJChileHead]

Great find! I believe that the faint ring around its neck suggests that it is a juvenile. I know that juvie brown snakes have the light ring as well, and both are of the same genus (Storeria).

 

[manumuskin]

They are very common in mountain creeks under rocks.Here I occasionally find them in or under spagnum moss.I think they are fairly common here but so secretive that they are hard to find.Flipping rocks is easy,they can't go down but in the swamps around here they can head down into the root mass and you'll never even see them.