Diet
The diet of the ring-necked snake consists primarily of smaller salamanders, worms and slugs, but they also sometimes eat lizards, frogs, and some juvenile snakes of other species. The frequency at which prey species are chosen is dependent on their availability within the habitat. Ring-necked snakes use a combination of constriction and envenomation to secure their prey. The snakes do not have a true venom gland, but they do have an analogous structure called the Duvernoy's gland derived from the same tissue. Most subspecies are rear-fanged with the last maxillary teeth on both sides of the upper jaw being longer and channeled; the notable exception is D. punctatus edwardsii which is fangless. The venom is produced in the Duvernoy's gland located directly behind the eye. It then drains out of an opening at the rear of the maxillary tooth. Ring-necked snakes first strike and then secure the prey using constriction. Next they maneuver their mouths forward ensuring that the last maxillary tooth punctures the skin allowing the venom to enter the prey's tissue. Ring-necked snakes are rarely aggressive to larger predators suggesting that their venom evolved as a feeding strategy rather than a defense strategy. Rather than trying to bite a predator, the snake winds up its tail into a corkscrew, exposing the brightly colored belly.
Ring-necked snakes are primarily nocturnal or highly crepuscular, though some diurnal activity has been observed. Individuals are sometimes found during the day, especially on cloudy days, sunning themselves to gain heat. Yet, most individuals lie directly under surface objects that are warmed in the sun and use conduction with that object to gain heat. Even though ring-necked snakes are highly secretive, they do display some social structure; but the exact social hierarchies have never been evaluated. Many populations have been identified to have large colonies of more than 100 individuals, and some reports identify that some smaller colonies occupy the same microhabitats.
Read more about this topic: Diadophis Punctatus
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