A couple days ago as Dan and I were assessing the property boundaries while scouting out potential net locations for the owl monitoring project, I happened across a small brown snake that appeared to be sunning itself at the side of the road. Thinking it was a Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) at first, I gingerly picked it up by the tail to move it off the road. The snake looked remarkably intact, and its eyes clear, but unfortunately, it turned out I was too late. It had been hit already, perhaps by a flying piece of gravel. It had a small patch of dried blood at the side of its head, crusted with tiny gravel bits, and it hung limp from my fingers.
As it hung from my hand, however, I was able to view its underside, which was a bright orange-red. Though it wasn’t visible while the snake was sitting on the ground, this clinched its ID as a Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata). Some sources call this the Redbelly Snake, and I’ve also seen “Northern” tagged on in front of both versions; unlike birds, where the American Ornithologists’ Union has set official names for all the species, most other groups of organisms don’t have formally chosen English names, so finding information using the scientific name is more reliable. At least the red belly isn’t disputed. Whatever its name, it’s the first I’ve ever seen of the species.
These little snakes, about the same size as the Brown Snake, and together the smallest Canadian snake species, are the same size as an adult as the baby rat snake was that I found earlier in the week, only 8 to 16 inches (20-40 cm). As a youngster they start out at just 3 inches (7.5 cm). The females do not lay eggs, but rather give birth to live young. They eat small invertebrates such as worms and slugs, and can often be found hunkered under logs or wooden boards, or other surface debris. Red-bellies tend to inhabit more natural woodlands and wet meadows, while Brown Snakes share similar habitat but aren’t opposed to living in suburban parks or vacant lots as well. They spend the winter snuggled away in abandoned rodent burrows or other natural crevices, including sometimes anthills.
seabrookeleckie.com 
Our Cardi has a gift for finding dead ones (for rolling on) on roadsides. We couldn’t figure out why so many of them had head injuries — sometimes it was missing altogether — but the rest of the body was intact. Why wasn’t it eaten by the animal that had bitten it? We never thought of flying gravel. Mystery solved!
Well, I can’t say for certain that that’s the reason for the snake’s death, Lavenderbay, but it sure seems likely given the circumstances. What is it about dogs and smelly things?
i found this snake in my house…. i wasn’t sure what it was until i Googled it…..
I’m not sure flying gravel is the answer. I have found one small redbellied snake in my yard missing its head, found a second one in a neighbor’s yard, also missing it’s head. Body of both were intact. no road or flying gravel!
well me and my sisters boyfrjend found one right in my driveway the head completly gone later we heard a gun shot across the road and they shot a 6 foot timber rattle snake they split open with an knife and found the snakes head
I caught a live red bellied snake back in 2006. I put it inside of a box and called a local humane society. When I came back I noticed the head completely detached from the body and my cat was sitting not far away from the snake… I immediately thought that my cat was jealous of the snake because I thought I had found a new species of snake. But maybe they are poisonous snakes and maybe that is why so many are found without heads. Maybe the other animals know something that we don’t and maybe they are trying to protect us.