Black Rat Snake?
The kids found a pretty large black snake by the back of the house today and called me to come see. Then they saw another peeking out from under the back porch. Then they saw two more hiding behind an old non-working gas heater that's under the eaves of the house and against the wall while we figure out how to get rid of it. I had to explain that bit about the heater in the yard, lest anyone think we are trashy junky people. We just don't want to have to drive over an hour to the nearest dump. Anyway, we saw four snakes and they were all pretty big. All the images can be clicked on for a larger view.
Above is a closeup of his body. He's not solid black but has some yellowish speckling on him. It looked random, not strongly patterned.
This shows a teeny bit of his belly near his head. It looks like it is yellowish.
This shot shows the shape of his head better. He doesn't have the wide "jowls" that many venomous snakes have.I think, after Googling some images, that these guys are black rat snakes. I'd welcome confirmation or correction. I told the kids he's probably perfectly safe to pick up but I'd prefer they leave the snakes alone until we get a positive ID. If he *is* a rat snake, I'm glad to have him and his pals around.
Labels: nature
posted by Leslie @ 12:28 PM
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We like snakes, and that one is beautiful! Yes, definitely a black rat snake. They get quite large. Better keep your little chickies away from them! They kill by constricting their prey, but may also bite when being handled so warn the kids. If you have any mice or rats around, the rat snakes should help keep the population manageable and that's always a good thing but they might also go after the chicken eggs - not so good. So far all we've seen around here are garter snakes. One lives under our propane tank. They don't seem to mind our presence; at least they're never in a hurry to get out of our way. I've been bitten before but it was painless. Worse than the bite is that stinky goo they emit when frightened. P.U.!
Great pictures, Leslie, and how great that your kids were excited about it.
The only other possibility I could think of was one of the darker variants of king snake. But this one shows the white between the scales that is similar to the dark form of the rat snake, so I'd go with that too. Emily is right though - they do go after both birds and eggs. However in other respects they are very useful and marvelous animals to have around. They are strong climbers.
As for docility, I've never had any problem with rat snakes, but a bite is always possible. (King snakes have always been completely docile with me.)
We don't seem to have black rat snakes around here, but that is a very rat snakey head so I go with Emily and Wayne. Wonderful clan the ratsnakes...how big are your bunnies?
One of my park service friends found a large indigo snake curled up in his young daughter's guinea pig cage with no sign of said guinea pig...he let the snake go and left the cage door open. They looked and looked, but never found that guinea pig.
Hey there, I was going to post a warning about chicks, eggs and snakes, but that's been done!
In constructing your coop and yard, try to build to keep snakes out. Put hardware fabric partially underground and a foot and a half up the fence to prevent snake ingress. Also, make sure the coop is of course vented well but without areas for snakes to slither in. They love eggs and chickies.
I don't have large snakes, just garter snakes. We do have coyote, raccoon, bobcats, oh, and worst of all my own dog Boogie who cannot be trusted with anything small and fuzzy. Thus I have to plan with things that dig rather than slither.
We have lots of black snakes here; they have yet to bother bunnies or the chicks or eggs when I had hens. I'd rather have them than not; a rat in the bunny house caused a LOT of trouble a couple of years ago!
Eww! Can't say I like snakes too much.
Not too long ago, DH, Marc, was getting a shirt out of his closet for work & screamed like a girl. Found a 2 foot lizard hanging on his shirt. I tried to capture it, but it got away when I started screaming "eww!". Later, we had a contractor in the house calling to ask whether we had a pet iguana. The contractor captured it in a towel & released it outside, where it ran away on its hind legs. I did some research & found that it was a basilisk lizard. AKA a Jesus Christ lizard. Probably named for when Marc screamed "Jesus Christ!" upon seeing it attached to his shirt.
We definitely have mice, so we're happy to have these guys hanging around. I'm watching my baby chicks extra closely and counting them more often than I had been.
The day after I took these photos, Wayne, we saw one of them climb straight up a maple tree in our back yard. Didn't even slow down or stop to contemplate. They are amazing climbers!
Our bunnies are a little larger than guinea-pig size. My husband said a snake might get a bunny but if he managed it he'd be too fat to leave. The rabbits are in a dog crate in the mud room right now, waiting for us to put the gate on their colony and do the last bit of the fencing (electric scare wire).
Leslie I feel kind of guilty raising meat rabbits when your bunnies have such a luxurious life. The luck of the draw, huh?
Lee Ann, your story of Marc screaming because of the lizard cracked me up. He's a mighty hunter, that one :)
Oh, Kim - good idea on the hardware fabric. I've got chicken wire but snakes can easily slither through that. The hardware cloth is grand idea. Thanks.
I saw a huge fat black rat snake last Saturday in Fluvanna Co, Va. It was maybe 5 feet long and had just eaten. Then the next day I almost stepped on a little 4-footer while taking the dog for a walk in the woods in suburban Chesterfield Co, Va. The little one had frozen halfway across the trail. They sometimes do that when startled. I have read that they can be aggressive, but I wouldn't guess that from my experience. The fat one was easily carried around without even a hand on its head,. and the small one only departed when it was nudged with my shoe. Our little guy shook his tail in dry leaves to mimic a rattlesnake when we got too close.
That's real interesting about the little one shaking his tail in leaves. The only time I've ever seen a black snake be aggressive is when our German Shepherd Dog was lunging, barking, and nipping at one. It coiled and struck at the dog but as far as I could tell never actually bit the dog. I called the dog off and we went to another part of the yard. When we got back, the black snake was gone.
Usually if they're in an inconvenient place (like the bathroom!) I just pick them up and put them outside. They're quite docile and a great asset around the home as they eat rodents.
does anybody know how far a black rat snake digs i live in south michigan and everytime i dig in a snake hole it has nothing in it but the reason i dig is to find a pet snake i have wanted one for many years and iv read and it says a wild snake is nicer than a captive one so please tell me my info a.s.a.p.
i love snakes
tame pet snake would be much happier as your friend than a wild one. Check out local pet stores to find one you like. Animals raised wild are often too frightened to be caught and kept. Be kind, let them live wild if they were born wild.
We rescued one of these last weekend which had gotten totally tangled in some plastic mesh I had carelessly left lying around. Won't leave plastic msh around again! It was exhausted, poor thing. We cut it loose with small bandage scissors, using leather gloves in case the stress had made it prone to bite, but it was quite docile/exhausted. We turned it loose as soon as we had cut all the mesh away.
Sanguine, thanks for the comments! We don't make pets of any of the wildlife around here. We just watch it and occasionally relocate it - like from the bathroom to the yard.
Good job on finding and freeing that snake in time!
Emily,
I liked your commeny thank you.I have severai rat black snakes around.I heard that they will keep Copperheads am Rattlers off 1/4 acre of land.Te onley thing they eat my chicken eggs lolIhave tryed replent dosent work lol.Can anyone tell me what to do?
Thank you Jeff
Looks like a black rat to me. The smaller they are the more aggressive they get. Once they reach a certain length they usually docile down and are great mousers. Interesting story: My mother in KY had a mouse problem, pretty bad. The cats tried but to no avail there wasn't any let up. One week the mice just about completely disappeared from inside. We thought nothing of it except that the cats were picking up pace.
We were in the basement doing laundry and picked up a basket we recently loaded from the hot dryer and there was a 6 foot black rat snake curled up underneath it. It was fat and happy as could be. No wonder we didn't have any mice! We left him down there and when he made his way up now and again, which startled us at first, but we'd simply pick him back up and put him in the basement.
I have a juvenile as a pet right now. Eats like none other and is still on the nippy side, but the older he gets the more he tames down. Their bites are not venomous. I'd keep an eye on your chickens and rabbits though. They do like anything warm that fits in their mouths.
Really they're lovely snakes to have about and I love to see them climbing up things such as brick walls and vinyl siding. Good luck!
These are healthy good looking snakes. I am suprised of how many there are! I love reptiles, these are black rat snakes i just caugt one today! Black rat snakes a very active but not agresive they are not venomous. They will put off an oder if they feel you are theating them, if predaters still wont go away they will rattle their tale in leaves to sound like a rattle sanke, if this does not work they will go away or very rarely strike but if you get bit it is less painful then a paper cut. Hope that helped you!!
In Lovingston Nelson County VA.
Pretty rural little town.
I saw one in the back yard today. I must have disturbed it while getting the garden tuned up.
Then a few hours later I saw the same one or another just like it near our house, about 50 feet from the first siting. I squirted it with a hose and it slipped under the shed. Wish I had taken a photo.
Glad they're not dangerous. Hope it was two different ones and they stick around since we have mice. Enjoyed blog and found it googling Black Snake
i hope it's okay that i used the picture of your black rat snake on my blog. i saw one while i was running on a trail near my house in western pa.
let me know if this bothers you and i'll remove it - i'll also try to get it to link back to your blog.
-ricardo
slowmanrunning.blogspot.com
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