Yesterday was warm, humid, and a little sunny. It was nice, especially after last week when our evening temperatures went below freezing. Some of the little animals that live here must have felt the same way. In one of the tire tracks in my drive was this tiny red-bellied snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) sunning itself on the warm gravel.
Red-bellied snakes are harmless, non-venomous, and eat small insects. They’re rather docile and don’t seem to get too upset when handled. I often find them in mounds of old hay and leaves where the decomposing plant matter generates heat.
The Minnesota DNR has a webpage on red-bellied snakes here.
Not Very Far Away 
Interesting. I’ve never heard of this snake.
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They’re small and the brown color helps them to blend in to their surroundings. If you flip them over the underside is bright red. As far as I’ve been able to find out they do live in New England.
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I’m colorblind, especially with red/green/brown, so I might have seen them and not known it. If they stayed real still I’d never see them.
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They do stay still but once they start moving they’re pretty fast. The best places to find them are piles if hay and compost heaps. They like the warmth and the bugs that are in there.
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