i spent 5 hours on this thing. this is my first successful attemp. so what do you think? am i on the right track? thank youu.

The lighting doesn't match at all... that's why it still looks like they're pasted on.  Also, there are no interactive shadows- each snake will cast a shadow on something.

The skin is also blurred way way too much, making the sharp snakes look even more like they were pasted on.  For everything to look even remotely realistic, each element has to have a similar character as far as sharpness/noise/etc.