In western NY State we have seen Northern Red Belly Snakes for 50 years. They hang out on our south facing back door stoop which is basically a very large flat stone which backs up to the concrete foundation. There are some other joining stones which provide hiding spaces for the snakes. The snakes are attracted to this area because the rocks hold heat. The warm rocks warm the cold blooded snakes. We used to call these snakes “Red Bellied Racers”. This door stoop area is also attractive to garter snakes. They both seem to be comfortable sharing the same space. Both types of snakes are relatively harmless small to mediums size snakes. We could classify the Red Belly Snake as a small snake. It only gets to be about a foot long (12 inches). The Red Belly Snake is a very friendly, easy to handle snake.
Northern Red Belly Snake
The Red Belly Snake gives birth to live young. They are nonvenomous snakes. They eat slugs, earthworms and insects. There have always been a lot of ants around our back stoop. I suspect they eat eat ants. We like having the snakes around and we do not chase them away or try to harm them.