Snake Identification needed

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  • Rambler

    Doing the best with the worst.
    Oct 22, 2011
    2,162
    Can anyone id this snake that was relaxing outside my front door?
    2342c3d81d0a44138c110e9d4012e709.jpg


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    Rambler

    Doing the best with the worst.
    Oct 22, 2011
    2,162
    I thought garter snakes were more striped than spotted. Also, when I tried to nudge this guy on his way, it was very aggressive and stuck repeatedly. Also, it shook its tail.

    Looking at pictures online, I see a bunch of candidates. But, like you said, variations in color make it difficult. So far, things that look similar are:
    rat snake, pine snake, milk snake, Northern water snake, and, of course, baby rattlesnake!

    According to good old wiki-p, the tail shake is a characteristic of fox snakes that sounds like a ratter when in leaves.
     
    Last edited:

    Rambler

    Doing the best with the worst.
    Oct 22, 2011
    2,162
    The picture DonH posted of the corn snake has the distinctive diamond. It is had to see in my OP pic, but in person, the head had more of an irregular inverted chevron. In other words, the "diamond" was not present in the nose-ward direction.
     

    Rambler

    Doing the best with the worst.
    Oct 22, 2011
    2,162
    My best guess is juvenile black rat snake.

    I just looked at pictures of juvenile black rat snakes and I think that is correct. When I first started looking I did not realize they looked so different as adults and that was all I initially saw pictures of.
     

    IronEye

    Active Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 10, 2018
    790
    Howard County
    Juvenile Black Rat snakes are very different in appearance of the adults. Young snakes are gray & black; adults are, um, black. Most young black rat snakes that I've handled were pretty docile. I've never seen a milk snake that small so I'm not very familiar with what a youngster would look like. Garter snakes would typically have three prominent body length stripes; one running down the center of the back . I vote for black rat snake.

    That's an easier vote than to decide who to vote for governor.
     

    Rambler

    Doing the best with the worst.
    Oct 22, 2011
    2,162
    Juvenile Black Rat snakes are very different in appearance of the adults. Young snakes are gray & black; adults are, um, black. Most young black rat snakes that I've handled were pretty docile. I've never seen a milk snake that small so I'm not very familiar with what a youngster would look like. Garter snakes would typically have three prominent body length stripes; one running down the center of the back . I vote for black rat snake.

    That's an easier vote than to decide who to vote for governor.

    The picture may not show the color very well. But it was quite grey like the juvie black rat snake pictures I have seen online. I have seen only adult corn snakes in person around here, they seem to be a bit more brownish than light grey.
    Either way, there are a couple of semi-feral local cats that he might need to look out for.
     

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