Sorry, it was too fast to get a picture of the head...it was very pretty...didn't look like it was poisonous, and about two - three feet long...hope it is a Garter Snake..lol but I haven't seen this one before in my garden.
Is this snake a garter snake?
looks more like the common corn snake.Yes, they are friendly, and benificial.Mike
Thanks Mike!
Janet, I'm beginning to think you live in critterville. LOL
That is for sure...I don't even post pictures of the ones I know...lol Just the ones that scare the pjeebies out of me in the garden, but sneeking up or popping up when I least expect them....plus I think the heat has lots of things coming out and about looking for water everywhere!
A few weeks ago I soaked a flower bed and noticed a snake had crawled up the mexican sunflower where I could see it from my sunroom window. Scared the wits out of me too. I'm sure the water ran him out of his hole.
Larry went out there but the snake dropped to the ground like a rock and got away. larry has threatened to bulldoze my beds if I dont weed'em quick. Just too hot though. I'll have to contend with the snakes. I think it was a harmless oak or rat snake though.
Yep, common snake, I have removed 2 of those from my garage in the past month.
chris
Chris, every time I go into the basement, I am afraid I will find them hold up in there...LOL My neighbors had to black rat snakes do that in their garage as well, and it scared the wits out of the wife one morning...I can only imagine..they are so large!
This was my last encounter with the black snake. We both got to a small bridge by my pond at the same time but on opposite ends, he obviously got to cross first.
chris
He is beautiful! I would have given him right of passage as well..lol
Wow chris, what a pic, you must have been right on top of him LOL.At first I thaught it was a black rat, but on second look, I believe its an eastern king.Probally female that has not been long sheading, but color will come in soon.
When I first married, I never told my family in N.C,(reason for that), and I took Barbara up to meet my family, and mom was trying to sweep a black rat off the porch, to get it away from the bird house.I didn't realize how afraid of snakes Barbara was, so I got out of the car, and went up to move the snake, whitch was about 4' long, just as I picked it up to take across the road, my brother arrived, and said, "why don't you put it in the basement", mom imnediately said if you do that big one would eat him. Now getting Barbara out of the car----.Mike
LOL, Oh MIKE, that is a wonderful story!!! I mailed you a package yesterday. If I sent anything you do not want, just share it with someone else...lol
I just can't stop laughing, imagining you trying to pry her out of that car seat!
LOL, I have the same image as Janet, of Mike trying to get Barbara to release the death grip off the steering wheel. LOL
Mike, I actually thought that a black rat snake and black king snake were the same thing. Guess not.
Snakes dont terrify me, but I am cautiously respectful. I was actually thinking of trying to pick it up by the tail, but it was longer than my arm and I figured it could still bite me if it wanted to. I did touch the tail and she curled up like a warning so I just let her keep going.
No Chris, they are not the same. Also, I know that the Rat Snake will bite you, and it is nasty though not poison! They also climb trees with great expertise! Isn't that a wonderful thought..lol I watched one go up my oak tree last year, and now when I am in the woods I also look UP for snakes..lol It seems to me that the Rat Snake is also "fatter" looking than the King Snake, but maybe it just isn't as long, I don't know for sure. I too have lot respect for them...not terrified, but give them the room they desire to get away...lol
Here is a good picture of the Rat Snake...
Well dang. How do you tell the difference in a hurry? I didnt get to see the underside of mine. Is it the same as your rat snake?
Mine had pattern of blotches of brown and black on his back. Does the Rat?
I agree yours looks like a King..here are a couple of pictures of a King Snake...I got all of these from the internet when I was trying to Identify some in my yard as well...I really had to learn quickly when we moved here in 1999, I didn't encounter many in the the area I moved from, and had forgotten everything I ever knew about snakes from my younger days.
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/search.cfm?option=non-posionous
Here is a good snake site too...lol
what a conversation, huh...
LOL, at first I was wondering why his tongue was hanging out. After a second I realized he was just finishing lunch.
That is funny, I did the same thing..I thought, WHAT is that lump in the neck doing there..lol
Hello folks, well I made a big mistake on snake ID.Corn snakes have a pattern not stripes.Garder snakes do, so you were corect Janet, and I was not.Mike
Well, that does it MIKE...three licks with a wet noodle for you! LOL No problem, I have been looking at all the sites I saved when I first got here and I realized it was a garter snake after I did a little research.
You are a sweety! Did you get my package yet?
Janet, yes it came by snail mail.Thank you so very much, you had seeds that I have been wanting, not to mention the recordings.You are certinly one of a kind.Mike
Oh, good, I was hoping you would like it all! LOL
I agree that the first pic posted by JanetS is a dead ringer for a Garter Snake. I must admit, however, that I've never seen one as big as 3 or 4 feet. All I've seen have been about 2 feet or less. The rest of the images in this thread are all Black Rat Snakes. These are first cousins to Corn Snakes, which are beautiful brightly colored in reddish/orange/ brown chain-like patterns. The Black Rat Snake has essentially the same pattern, just muted and basically all black with a white chin. The Eastern King Snake has well defined, narrow, transverse stripes in pale yellow on a deep blue/black background.
Your comments about the climbing skills of the BRatS are consistent with my experience this summer when I found one curled up inside one of my Purple Martin gourds, 15 feet above ground supported only by a 1 inch iron pipe! He was apparently digesting the contents of that gourd.
EWWW! That would have weirded me out for sure...lol I won't say the Garter snake was four feet, but I am certain it was over two feet....I think it was between two and three feet...I don't know what the average is..but she/he was very healthy looking..lol
I was looking at the snakes above and thought it looked a lot like the snake I came across in the yard. He was at least 4ft. I was not too afraid of him since he was not poisonous, but I had heard that the black snakes can be a little temperamental.
That is true of theones we have had...if you try to corner them or grab at them they don't seem to like it very much! Nice picture!
What a beauty!!I wish people would try to educate themselves on snakes.If we all did we would have less voles, and other pest, instead of killing every snake we see, they could do a good work for us.More important, we would have less poisest snakes, witch we seldom see, except for the water moccaisin, because common snakes don't realise danger in people.(Until its too late.) Mike
I definitely will not kill the non-poisonous snakes. I have been wondering what the knots were in him and then I realized that it looked like a snake inside of him. If it was a snake that he ate, it looks pretty large. I have lived in Peachtree City for 18 years and found my first copperhead last year. This snake is very welcome to my area. I only hope that he does not come inside the fence because my dog Fonz would kill him.
Cynthia, Thats a long time to live here before seeing a copperhead, good for you.
We saw our first one the same summer we moved here 8 years ago.
The second week of August is when the babies hatch and we always see a couple of those around.
I am very glad to hear that you didnt kill it, very few people around here feel the way we do about the good snakes.
chris
I thought copperheads were extremely poisonous. Aren't they?
Yes, Deb...I think she was talking about NOT killing the Black Snake. That they are natural enemies of the Copper Heads etc.
I have seen a couple here too..but by the time I got something to kill the Copper Head with...it was long gone. I just don't generally carry a shovel with me, except for a little one...lol
Chris, I think the reason for me not seeing a copperhead until now is due to the fact that there was a rather large King snake in my yard when I move here. I have not seen it for about 4 years now. The massive construction in the city has pushed more snakes my way. I thought about buying a King snake to put in the yard. I guess I don't need one now.
The story about the big black snake is pretty funny. Like I said, I have lived here for 18 years and I had never seen anything in my yard, except garter snakes and the King snake. Neither of these were no where as large as the black snake. A couple of young ladies had move next door to me. I heard one of them scream to the other about the huge snake in the yard. I heard her describe it as being at least 4 feet long. My first thought was "Ya, these city girls, they can't even get the size correct. There are no 4 or 5 foot snakes around here". A couple of days later I was getting stuff from the back of the pickup and it stopped me in my track. I almost peed in my pants. I thought "Oh My God! I guess those city girls were correct". Needless to say they moved the next month. The next time I spotted it I said "Bad snake, Bad snake! you ran the neighbors away". Hee Hee!
My shovel would have to have a 100' handle.
I have a funny adventure to share! A couple of weeks ago, we had a bunch of people bring potluck to the house after a kayaking trip (which was awesome, BTW!), and a bonfire at the "beach" of the river that runs through the farm we live on. After going to the bathroom, as I was coming back down the hall, I saw a little ( maybe 6" long!) snake trying to go under the door into my daughter's bedroom! Fortunately, she was away at college! (LOL!!) I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't tell whether it was a Coral Snake OR a Scarlet King!!!! So, I yelled to my husband to get the broom & a bucket - I wasn't going to grab a Coral snake! Finally figured out it was a Scarlet King, but spent the next few days wondering where Mama & siblings were! Guess it must have 'hitched a ride' in w/ all the stuff from the beach! Sure glad it wasn't a baby mocassin or rattler - we had a bunch of little kids around! Put him in the front flower bed - hope I see him from time to time!
I would have thought the very same thing you did, GG! LOL Escpecially so, If I had just come from the edge of a river! My first thought, where's the rest of them and second, are there anymore in my clothes!
ROFLMBO at the thought and vision of Deb running in circles trying to find out if there are more in her clothes.
Cynthia, I still have a neighbor that lets out a scream when she sees a snake, then runs over to get me to find out what kind it is. I keep telling her to pretend she never saw it, but that never works. Lol, city girls.
Janet, I do kill the copperheads, actually when I first moved here I called animal control when I saw the first one and they said it was endangered and I cant kill it, but they wont come catch it either. I explained to the man on the phone that...in my yard he certainly is endangered and I wouldnt be calling them for the snakes anymore. I have learned since then, that they are not endangered (except in my yard) and the man didnt know what he was talking about.
graceful, sounds like a great adventure, maybe without the stow-away souvener next time.
chris
LOL Chris! That is funny! Endangered in a lot of yards I would think. I would have said the same thing.
I did kill a small (not poisionous) snake one afternoon, while digging in the garden. I was actually sitting down doing some weeding, and it popped out right by my hand and trowel and I just cut that little thing in two before I realized it...then I felt badly...but it was pure reflex action..it was coming toward me and I didn't think first..I worried about that all afternoon. My DD laughed at me about it too! I really hate to KILL anything!
Had to have been a Gov't. employee, with that "endangered" bit, copper heads are reall dangerious, and very quite, not to mention camo treaded.I wish they were "endangered". Mike
Actually, I think copperheads are the most mellow of the pit vipers... they're the only venomous snake that I'll handle... they just don't seem to get all snappish or aggressive. I moved a couple of them out of my landlady's kitchen when I lived on St. Simon's Island, but I didn't tell her what they were, just to come get me if she spotted another one LOL. Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone go around grabbing venomous snakes... just saying that I'd rather deal with a copperhead than a water moccasin.
I do understand not wanting venomous snakes in your yard, especially with kids or pets, and I wish animal control folks were better about being willing to capture and relocate them. On the other hand, snakes don't generally just hang around in a corner of the garden until the animal control officer arrives, and they'd probably spend a lot of time searching for snakes that people had spotted or even for sticks that might have looked like snakes. 14 inch garter snakes have a way of turning into 6 foot timber rattlers in some people's imaginations, so you can imagine some of the calls that animal control would be responding to.
You can often persuade a snake to retreat into a box or garbage can (turned onto its side) to "hide," and then you can close the lid and take him for a ride in the country.
I'm just glad to see more people espousing a "live and let live" attitude about snakes, especially the "harmless" ones. :-)