Black Racer Snake

I was a bit surprised when my DH came in the house and told me that a snake had gotten one of the Robin babies! ~ http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL25/910942/2240570/28181947.jpg
It had spit it back out and tried to take off pretty quick when it seen us, It ended up crawling to the top of one of our large spirea bushes and we lost it from there. There were quite a few Robins around making quite a ruckus, The baby was still alive and opening it's mouth to be fed, We put it back in it's nest , But it came back out, So we put it close to the shrubs were it's parents were, Don't know if it will make it or not, As the snake had definately bitten it. Got a shot of the size, It was at least 4 ft. long! It 'did' rattle it's tail in the leaves and we did chase it for a ways, But other then the tail rattle on the leaves, Showed no signs of aggression.
I had seen the tail end of this snake in our garage the other day, It was 'Quite a Sight' to see the full size of it today!
http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL25/910942/2240570/28181264.jpg

Oh Iris, it makes me want to grab a hoe and join in hunting this snake down. I know that snakes are beneficial, but if they chose to be CLOSE and beneficial - - - they gotta go. Nat

Nat, Whenever I do landscaping here, I do it with 'wildlife' in mind and the more I do, It seems the more different kinds of wildlife ( Including snakes) I get. I don't like to see it when the preditors get the prey, But, I guess it's part of nature. I don't like the idea of having it so close to the house and in the garage either, But at least it seems non-aggressive and would definately try to skip off instead of standing it's ground and fighting. I put a Great
Horned Owl decoy on the ground close to where the Robin has nested ( I read that this can keep a snake away from a certain area, Don't know if it's true or not, but, I'm trying it, Will also be on the look-out for it now! ) The Racer, I can kinda deal with, But, If I ever see a Timber Ratteler around, It would be a whole different story!!! LOL!!

We have lived here since 1987 and had never seen a snake in the garden until December 2000. I was just leaving home after lunch to go back to work and I found a Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatis), moving along in front of the house. My wife came out to look at it, but it vanished into some bushes against the house. Fay rang me later that day, to say the snake was back and on the patio and it had climbed onto the back of the bench and attempted to get up onto the bird table above it. She took the attached photo, which shows the snake draped along the back board of the seat.
Last summer we had two more visits from snakes. We were gardening last December and Fay called to me to come and see and another Tiger Snake had been raiding a blackbird's nest and was taking one of the baby blackbirds and disappearing into the rhododendron bush.
Soon after that Fay again saw a snake in the back garden and assuming it to be the tiger snake again decided it had better be removed, so she tracked down the local snake catcher, who came promptly and found and caught the snake, which was not a Tiger this time, but our Copperhead, Austrelaps superbus.
The snake catcher took it away and released it somewhere in the bush.
We like the snakes, but it is a bit disturbing having them in the garden. both species are poisonous, especially the Tiger Snake, which is one of Australia's most dangerous snakes!

This message was edited Tuesday, Jul 1st 7:50 PM

Kenedyh, Oh my God! Thank's for the story and the photo! Yes, It is a bit much having them in the garden! Especially when it comes to the kind you have!! If I could have caught the racer, I 'would ' have relocated it, But it got away! I'm just so thankfull that it was not a poisonus snake! Is it just me, Or do the snakes in your area seem unafraid to be out in the open?? I would really be afraid to venture out in your garden, The worst snake out my way would be the Timber Rattler, And I hope I never see one here!!

Oh I love to see black racers around but I too hate the predator/prey interactions. I can't watch alot of the National Geographics because of that. Great shots Iris!
Ken, great to see you here in the wildlife forum! Scary about poisonous snakes in the yard. We have a few around our area but they are mostly in wooded areas. We had a big brush pile and often saw a black racer on it sunning and we find molts in the stiff grass around the pool. MIL pitched a fit about the poor snake so DH cleared the brush and we haven't seen him since :(

Iris this is my experience last year with one. http://davesgarden.com/t/65332/

Had a black racer in the yard Saturday...don't mind having THEM around but the coral snake that got into my screen room is now in a jar of alcohol.

Great pics you all. I love snakes and have some too...BUT hate running into them in the wild. They always scare me half to death. Never sure which of us runs in the opposite direction fastest. LOL I'm lucky here in my area, because we only have garner snakes, no poisonous snakes. The ones we have are black with a red or yellow topside stripe and a white stripe on each side. They are great at hiding under the brush. . I’ve stepped in my share of nest. Gosh, I hate that..lol My outdoor cat is always bringing the smaller ones to us…alive…not to happy about that either.

If there is not a lot of vibration from human activity or predators around, many snakes don’t know they are invading our territory. They will wander out to get to a warm spot to sun themselves (they adore the heat ) or to look for prey.

Can the Black Racer or Tiger snakes be aggressive? I hope not for you safety. Kennedyh, when you mention the local snake catcher, is this a persons trade/job? Sounds interesting….something I’d like to read up on.

Tiger Snakes are said to be aggressive at times, but like most snakes, they are usually more interested in getting away than in attacking. They say that most snake bites occur when someone is trying to kill the snake and bites from chance encounters are quite rare.
I was walking alone along the South Coast Track in Tasmania when I found a large Tiger Snake coiled in the middle of the track in dense bush which gave me no chance of bypassing it. I had to search for sticks to throw at it and it took quite a while to persuade it (from afar) to get off the track and let me pass.
Another time in Tasmania, my son and I were returning from a long hike and after toiling up the last hill, had gained a bit of momentum on the last downhill to the camp site. Keith was 5 yards ahead of me, when a Tiger Snake chose to cross the path immediately in front of me. Keith heard me and turned and says that he saw me go vertically upwards, although already barely touching the ground as the snake passed harmlessly immediately beneath me. Doesn't your heart rate accelerate fast in that situation.
Here is a picture of a Tiger Snake that I took in Morwell National Park. Notice that it is showing its awareness of me, because it has flattened itself just behind its head, making it look somewhat like a cobra.
Snake Catcher is not a full time position, but I believe individuals with a knowledge of snakes can be licensed to catch them and remove them from private property. They are not allowed to kill them and the snake is usually released in the bush well away from houses. Snakes certainly turn up fairly often in suburban gardens and all the snakes in this area are poisonous to sime degree.

Jim, Such a funny story about the snake ( Waldo) LOL!! Have you seen him around at all lately???
This must be the week for snakes, I saw the black racer again today, I was going to the edge of the property to dump some brush and there he was, On the edge, Laying on some rocks ~ Of course he took off like a dart! Scarred the heck out of me though, He raced up hill by were I was, Instead of downhill! LOL! Also saw a huge garder snake today, He was so fat, He must be eating good!
Ginger H, I don't really mind much having the racer around either, I just hate to see it eating the baby birds, And I will chase it off if I see it by one of the nests. Im not all that familiar with the different species of snakes, Is the coral snake poisonous? It must have been pretty scarry having it in your srceen room!
~WaWild1, I read that the black racer can be aggressive, Especially if cornered, But, The one we encountered just wanted to get away.
~Kennedyh, Another great story and picture!

The grandkids were out looking under rocks and etc. looking for worms and uncovered one about a foot long. It scared them to no end.

Thanks you all for the info. Whew...guess I'm really lucky just to have the old garner snakes. I really enjoyed the stories. Sorry, KennedyH...I was cracking up picturing you in the air. I'd have died of a heart attack..lol

Jim, I bet it did! It's scarry enough for the adults, And a horror show for the children! ( Though, When I was knee high to a bullfrog, I used to love putting the little 'brown snakes' in my sneakers!! ~ God only knows why! LOL!!)
~WaWild1 ~ Here's a link to some inf on the 'Black Racer Snake' ~ At the bottom of the page, You will find a link to 'common snakes' and 'poisonous snakes'. ~ http://www.umass.edu/umext/nrec/snake_pit/pages/bracer.html

Iris..thanks for the link. Wow, I had no idea they got so big!! Sure would not want to corner one after reading how aggressive they are then. I'd love to see one (from afar)It look like a beautiful glossy black in the pic. May you stay safe in your garden as you enjoy your snake sightings.

IRIS...yes coral snakes are poisonous,but they must chew on you rather then striking. I was walking out back a few weeks ago and almost stepped on another one. They are very pretty. No more walks for me without a "snake charmer".

What a great thread, great stories and great pictures.

I have never seen your Black Racer, but during the year I spent in Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada, I had a few encounters with the Blue Racer, which is another subspecies of the same species Coluber constrictor. The first one I met dashed off very fast as soon as I saw it, but some time later I was with the local Field Naturalists looking for wildflowers on a hillside, when I found another Blue Racer. It kept moving across the grassy hillside, but had nowhere to disappear into and I managed to get a few photographs. Here is the best one.

Later in my year in Kelowna, I met the warden of a local nature reserve where I was shown two rare species of slipper orchids. We found a Garter Snake on that reserve, and I got talking to the warden about snakes and he told me that he sometimes saw a Rubber Boa basking in his garden. I told him how keen I was to see one and he promised to let me know if it appeared again. He called me soon after this to say thet he thought the rubber boa was coming out from under a rock to bask in the first sunlight at dawn each morning. I went across before dawn and had my camera set up in front of the rock in question and waited. Eventually a Blue Racer crept out from under the rock. I was disappointed that it wasn't the Rubber Boa, but I took its photograph and went to talk to the warden, who said, first that he hadn't believed I would have any success getting a photograph and secondly that although he had seen Garter Snakes and Rubber Boas in his garden, he had never seen a Racer. We went together to look at the Blue Racer, which was still basking by its rock and he was pleased to add another species to his garden records. A week or two later I went back and got to photograph the Rubber Boa in his garden.

WaWild1, Your quite welcome!
He was a 'beautifull glossy snake', He 'did' watch us for a short while with hs head lifted high before racing off, Gave me kind of an eery feeling because I've never seen a snake do that before, I've read that these snakes have actually followed people before ( They say they do that out of curiosity) ~ I have seen him a total of three times now, And when I'm out and about the yard ( Or in the garage) I try to keep an eye for him!
~ GingerH, OMG! I usually always walk around my yard barefoot or with sandles, After reading your post, I think I'll wear at least sneakers from now on!! LOL! I think I'd prefere the 'chew-on' kind of snake, opposed to the 'striking one's', I feel you'd have a better chance of getting it away from you! Be carefull over there!
Floridian, Thank's! KennedyH added some really nice photo's with his interesting stories! And could definately have a 'find the snake' contest with Jims photo! LOL!
~ Kennedyh, Thank you for adding two more great stories and photo's! ( Your really good at it!)
~I was moving some small landscape stones in the backyard and came across a couple of 'Ring neck' snakes, As far as I know, They are pretty much harmless and not usually seen as they don't venture out in the open much at all, Tomorrow, (If I have time to get another tape for my camcorder) I'll see if I can find them again and take a photo.

Just love the fantastic photos you posted of the Blue racer and Rubber Boa. I've only seen the Rubber Boa in the pet trade, captive breeding. How wonderful you were able to see one in the wild. Thank you again for all the great stories and photos.

The pictures I posted were both of the Blue Racer. I have not yet posted a Rubber Boa picture, but here it is. The warden of the nature reserve telephoned early one morning to say that he had found a Rubber Boa and had put it in a bucket to hold it so that I could get a photograph. Unfortunately he called 5 minutes after I had left to go off for the whole day searching for wild flowers and my wife took the call. He said he would hold onto it in case I got back in time. I got home late in the afternoon and got the message, rang him and confirmed that he still had the snake and leaped back in my car and rushed the 50 kilometres to his house, getting there with just enough light to still be able to photograph the snake. The photo is deceptive and it is a tiny little snake. It could coil up easily in the palm of your hand, in fact I have a photo that proves exactly that. The Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) is a true Boa, belonging to the same family as the Boa Constrictor, its somewhat larger cousin and the Anaconda and Pythons. Here is the best of my pictures, taken in British Columbia, Canada in June 1998.

And here is a close-up of the front end of the Rubber Boa.

Some of you have mentioned the Garter Snake as one you see in your gardens. I never saw one in a garden, when I was in Canada, but I did see several of them, in fact I saw two different species. One day, a group of Field Naturalists had taken me to a special reserve to see two species of slipper orchids. While in the reserve, I spotted a Common Garter Snake, making its way across the swamp. I started following it to try and get a photograph and suddenly realised that I had finished my film, photographing the wildflowers. So I caught the snake, rejoined the rest of the group and asked if someone would mind holding this snake for me for a moment while I change the film in my camera.
Most were horrified at the thought, but the woman leading the group had no hesitation in taking the snake and I was able to change my film.
The attached photograph was taken while I held the snake in one hand and the camera in the other!

Kennedyh, You sure do get to see a lot of snakes while in search of plants LOL, Another good story and photo! Good thing you had someone to hold the snake for you and that you had some extra film! ~ I wish I could say the same, I could have gotten an excellent shot of a gardner snake yesterday, But, "No Tape!" ~ Dang it!! ~
I was draining one of my small water ponds and noticed the gardner snake coming my way, He was trying to stretch down into the pond to get a drink ( He must drink here often because it was as if he expected the water to be by the top and plus I always see him in this same area) He had to try a few times and he finally streched far enough ( Almost half his body length) and reached the water, It was really interesting to see him drinking ( He was pretty thirsty!) I could see his neck muscles workng to push the water back up his neck as he drank ~ He was only about 2 feet away from me ~ When he was done drinkng, He slithered into one of my 'toad-houses' ~ I thought 'What the heck', At least it's getting some use (As I rarely find toads in it) So I proceeded to clean the pond, In the next instant, A toad shot out of that house like a dart right at me!!! ( Almost gave me a heart attack!! LOL!)
I picked the toad up and noticed that he was bit on the back quarter of his leg, So the gardner snake 'did' try to get him! A few seconds later the snake came out of the house heading straight for me! (Looking for the toad I'm sure) Took just a few movements of my hands for him to make a quick turn around and slither off ~ I put the toad in another 'toad-house' that I had, But, Moved him again seeing how the snake found him in the last one, Don't know if he made it or not, Though I think he would as the leg wasn't too bad. I would have loved to have gotten all this on tape ( It was a treat, Especially seeing him drink) ~ But, I had no tape left for the cam-corder, ( Always something good to see when I
don't have a tape on hand! LOL) I made sure I got some new tapes today and will hopefully have a good photo of him to show tomorrow!!

What a lovely snake encounter. It reminds me strongly of D.H. Lawrence's beautiful poem "The Snake"
http://www.snakesofarkansas.com/snake_poem.php

Iris, how exciting to see that! Too bad about not having your camera. My sister once asked me if I ever thought that gardening with my camera was a bit obsessive. LOL I told her yes but come look at this bug, if I didn't have it with me I wouldn't get the picture. It's awesome to get close and watch nature, even better to capture it on film for others to see too.
Ken as always your stories and pictures are marvelous. You have such a wonderful gift of words. Clear, cancise and wonderfully entertaining. I loved the poem,

"But I must confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth?

Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him?
Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him?
Was it humility, to feel so honoured?
I felt so honoured."

Yesterday my MIL was here. She hates snakes for some reason. We had to clear some brush near where she parks her camper when she's here because there was a Black Racer that would come out and sun there. We were walking in the garden on the opposite side of the house and she was fretting about 'Mr Blackie' being out there. I assured her I'd not seen a snake out there at all. We turned to continue our walk and sure enough there was a snake. Could I help but laugh? No way! I must give her credit though, as soon as I lifted my camera she stayed still and let me get a couple of quick shots.
Here is my MIL's nightmare! LOL

More great stories and pics KennedyH I just loved "The Snake" I'm going to print out a copy and matte it with the snake sheds I collect and then frame it for my animal room. What a fantastic addition to the now growing collection I'm getting just from you wonderful DG wildlife friends. You enrich my life and I thank you!!!

Here is the last of my snake pictures from America. This is another shot of a Common Garter Snake. As we travelled from British Columbia across the USA, we first headed down to California, where we stayed a few nights with some friends of some friends of our friend in Maine. They lived just north of San Francisco and we discovered that they shared my love for natural history and we stayed a night longer than originally planned so that they could take us for a walk in the hills nearby.
We had a delightful walk and I photographed a number of lovely wildflowers and a few lizards and then spotted this garter snake sunning itself on the bank at the side of the track. It was so beautifully coloured and beautifully posed on the bank.

We have a Black racer that lives in our yard. Actually, truth be told, I think we have two or three. This one is the biggest one that I know of at about 3-4 feet long. He loves to sun himself in the palmetto up by the pond and on the rocks around the waterfall of my pond. These fellows have scared the daylights out of me more than once! I was nose-to-nose with one when I was trying to put a tarp over my chimney when it sprung a leak during a tropical depression. I almost fell off the ladder! I know they aren't poisonous, but I just wish they would stay a little further away than 12 inches.