Look What Followed Me Home

[old Pilot]

O-P, yer belief is correct, that's a black rat snake.He's kinda skinny though.....you need to feed him better!

Hmm, I kinda thought he looked plenty big enough.

Had one just like him in my yard a couple weeks ago.Believe he's a nice big King snake. definetely not a cottonmouth.

He will take care of the rodents running around your house, I wouldn't harm him.

Definitely not planning any harm. The thing startled me more than anything, damn near stepped on it. I live in the woods. It's like a jungle within a few feet of either side of my house. Been here 2 years and I have not had any problems with mice or rats, haven't even seen any. Maybe there's a good explanation for that

 

[happyPuppy]

It looks like one of the Blacks Snakes and not poisonous. When I as a kid, the triangle heads were all the bad ones

 

[Ford68xl]

When I lived in Florida we called them Black Racers. Don't know the real name though. They would put on quite a show when you got near them, but they were harmless to humans. Used to find them sunbathing on my pool deck. Greater than 6 feet was common.

 

[Braenen]

Since no one else mentioned it, it is a really bad idea to pick up snakes that you do not know are non-venomous. Had it been dangerous you would have been in serious trouble if not dead. I used to live on a lake surrounded by swampland. I would see rattlesnakes and cottonmouths daily. Then again, I would see aligators every time i looked outside the house. If you leave them alone they will leave you alone.

I'm just sayin'...

 

[TestPilot]

Short, on-thread hijack. 18 months ago we found this guy under our piano after our dog got all excited. That's my son holding the snake and his wife on teh left, his Mum (my wife ) freaking on the right:

Harmless (except to rats, etc) yellow-bellied 'something' snake (I've forgotten the detail). About 4ft long, released to do what he does best.

 

[carlson_mn]

Nice pics and great looking snake. I've been keeping snakes for 12 years. That is 100% black rat snake. Cousin to the corn snakes you see in pet shops. Make a good pet too just not as commonly kept. 6' is a good sized one and some get to be over 7'. There's no better rodent control than that snake. They spend most of their time in trees. Thanks for not killing it.

Here's a pic of my Eastern Chained Kingsnake that is native to the Carolinas.... kingsnakes are in the Ozarks too but are speckled rather than banded.

And here's my young bullsnake / or related to pinesnake in your region.

Other than rattle snakes, the only poisonous snakes in that region are cottonmouth or copperhead. Neither of them look anything like a black rat snake. All poisonous snakes in the US have cat eyes and big heads, other than the Coral snake in florida which pretty much lives underground.

Copperhead:

Cottonmouth or Water Moccasin... same thing

 

[CAJW]

My son and I almost stepped on this guy while detouring around a downed tree across the trail we were hiking. Never heard a rattle or saw one, but pretty sure he was a rattler. Guess it was too cold for him to be interested in us, but if he was more lively, things could've been interesting. What say snake ranglers, this a rattler?