Earth snakes

[TrpnBils]

Anybody know where I can get some information on Mountain (or Eastern) Earth snakes?

There's next to nothing online, but there's got to be SOMETHING out there. All I'm looking for is natural history, habitat, or anything like that. In PA, they're only found in a few isolated places.

A week from Sunday I'm leaving for a 5 day hike of the Quehanna Trail. In addition to the arm-sized timber rattlers, there is also supposedly a higher than normal concentration of mountain earth snakes there that I figure I might as well try and hunt down while I'm in the area.

 

[diamondlil]

http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/earthsn.htm
this is a little bit I found. They're lovely, but I know I'd go crazy and never resist digging around for wormsnakes if they lived here!

 

[SkyChimp]

According to Snakes of the United States and Canada Smooth Earth Snakes, the kind found in PA, are found mostly in open, mesic, woodland (hardwood and pine) and scrub, and is also frequently found in fields near woods. It has been found under leaf litter, rocks, and logs on both dry and moist soils, but more frequently under moist conditions, especially after rains.


The only ones I've ever seen were ones that I've dug up when removing shrubs from my yard. My yard borders woods.

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Here you go lil, I found this little worm today:

 

[diamondlil]

Oh that's just a cuteness overload, thanks!

 

[Eriathiel]

Goodness! How adorable! I didn't know anything about them... Now I want one! I like that they only get to be about 10 inches.

 

[Eriathiel]

Are they very aggressive at all? The one in your hand seems to be quite ... chill.

 

[SkyChimp]

The earth snake referred to in the title post is a larger snake than the worm snake, though its sometimes found in the same habitat.

The Eastern Worm Snake is not aggressive whatsoever. They do squirm A LOT when you first pick them up. They try to "burrow" between your fingers when you hold them. When they figure out they can't burrow in your hand, there wrap themselves around your fingers pressing their heads tightly against you. They have a tiny little sharp hard point at the tip of their tail.

I've caught several in the last week or so. I have a few boards laid out at the back of my property. There's quite a few earthworms every time I lift a board. I been releasing them there hoping they will stay. I've been looking to some Ringneck snakes to release but I come across a lot more worm snakes.