Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:58:53 GMT
From: Jackie Strouble
Subject: Baby snakes
NA Booko
Thanks for the update and the great picture of the baby snake! She is so beautiful! You are so lucky!
Your snakes are definitely NOT copperheads. Copperheads don’t lay eggs, they give birth to live young. I had a similar experience years ago, digging up a nest of tiny oblong eggs and wondering if they were copperhead eggs. Turns out there is no such thing, so rest assured everyone… if you find a nest of snake eggs, they will be non-poisonous!!! Also, juvenile copperheads sport a distinctive neon yellow tail — that’s a dead giveaway.
What you have there is probably a nest of baby black snakes? The juvenile black snake has very different coloring than the adult — gray background with dark blotches down the length of its back. This pattern grows less distinct with age until it is all but indiscernible in adults.
Here is a link to a blog about black snake nests, complete with pix (not as good as the one you took though, IMO). http://natureremains.blogspot.