Solid black snake with orange ring around neck?

Description: Ringneck snakes are small - 10 - 15 in (25 - 38 cm) - slender snakes that are generally grayish with a yellow or orange band around the back of the neck and a yellow or orange underside. Two subspecies are found in our region. The northern ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus edwardsi) inhabits the mountains and generally has a complete neck ring and unpatterned underside. The Southern ringneck (D. p. punctatus) is found in the Coastal Plain and often has a broken neck ring and underside that is marked with a single row or black spots. The northern ringneck is also generally larger than the southern. Although usually grayish in coloration, both subspecies may range from nearly black to tan and both have smooth scales and round pupils. Females are larger and have proportionally shorter tails than males.

Range and Habitat: The ringneck snake is found throughout the eastern two thirds of the United States from southern Canada to Florida , across the desert southwest and along most of the Pacific coast. Ringneck snakes can be found in virtually any habitat but seem to prefer wooded areas. In the Piedmont and Coastal Plain ringnecks are particularly common in moist areas including river floodplains, moist hardwood forests, and wetland edges. In mountainous regions ringnecks are often found in more open habitats where they frequently take refuge under rocks.

Habits: Like other small woodland snakes in the Southeast, ringneck snakes spend most of their time underground or hidden under logs, rocks, leaf litter, or debris. Because of their abundance, ringnecks probably play an important ecological role as intermediate predators in community food webs, functioning as both predator and prey. Although they are completely harmless to humans, ringnecks have weak venom in their saliva which they use to subdue their prey, which include a variety of invertebrates, amphibians, lizards, and other small snakes. In many regions, salamanders and earthworms are particularly important prey. Ringneck snakes probably mate in the fall in our region, and females lay 2-7 eggs in the early summer. The young resemble adults.