We were greeted at the front door by a snake when we were returning from a teaching assignment. It was rather small, black and had an orange ring around it's neck. If snakes have necks. This is a Black Ring Neck and will only grow to be 12 inches long. They eat slugs, earth worms and small snakes. They like to hide under rocks, so we hope it finds a nice rock and stays there. But the fact that it found it's way to our front door, makes us nervous. Spud has named him "Petey", but I hope that doesn't make him feel at home and want to stay around. Two people have been bitten by water moccasins in the Pembroke Pines area. That is 12 miles away, but too close for comfort. I think the fact that the everglades is so low, is causing these creatures to follow the water source. If any of you have had any encounters with this type of the snake, let me know.