Herpetology Question: Name that Snake

Nature's Bounty ^ | Vanity

[hattend]

If a Northern water Snake as others have posted:

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Non-Poisonous Snakes of North America

Active day and night. Frequently encountered basking on rocks or stumps, hunting frogs in shoreline vegetation during the day, or gorging itself on minnows and small fish caught sleeping in the shallows at night. Also eats salamanders, juvenile turtles, crustaceans, even small mammals. Will flee if given the chance, but flattens body and strikes repeatedly if cornered.

description 22-53" (55.9-134.6 cm). Reddish, brown, or gray to brownish-black, with dark crossbands on neck region, and alternating dark blotches on back and sides at midbody. Pattern darkens with age, becoming black. Belly white, yellow, or gray, with reddish-brown or black crescent-shaped spots. No dark line from eye to corner of mouth. Juveniles more vivid. Scales keeled, in 21-25 rows. Anal plate divided.

[goat granny]

Had geese on the farm, they crap as big as a dog and several times a day...sometimes they would deposit on my side door steps..There is an old saying about food poisoning......it’ll go through you like shit through a Christmas goose....

[ThomasThomas]

I would call it Mr Hissy.

[goat granny]

that covers them all LOL

[goat granny]

I am female and love snakes...had one in my front flower garden for years, than one day found it without head attached to body. One of the dogs probably didn’t like it...snakes in your garden are good luck....

[bigbob]

Do you not own a shovel? Why is is still there?

[bunkerhill7]

Don`t Tread On Me

[BerryDingle]

"Dare I ask how you know this?"

It's hard to explain without comparison pics, but a male snake has a tail that extends gradually to a point (long tail) and a female has a shorter tail which terminates more abrubtly to a point. Watersnake varieties show this difference the best, especially Moccasins.

[oldasrocks]

Had one in the driveway this week. Its a common black snake. nonpoisonous and eat the copperheads and a lotof mice. Leave him alone. I picked ours up to instect him. Nice little fella about 4 ft long.

[Signalman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_atrox

[Brad’s Gramma]

It's hard to explain without comparison pics,

Thanks for the explanation....and one pic is enough for me. I can't even believe I clicked on to this thread. :)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It’s across the road, not on my property. If it is a northern watersnake, which it most likely is, they are aggressive and nasty. It’s on the edge of a large tract of boggy woodland, a couple hundred acres and there’s about a square mile of boggy woodland just east the pond which just east of my property. If I kill him, another one will just show up. (But in over seven years in this place, I’ve never seen one before.) Anyway, my wife has made a solemn vow to run him over to protect her beloved goslings.

[Lees Swrd]

Ya seen em in action I see!!

[NCC-1701]

Ceaser.

Well, you said “name the snake” didn’t you?

[Former Fetus]

No way! If it was a black racer it would be carrying a flat screen TV!

[calex59]

Hard to say for sure from that crummy picture but it might be a king snake.

[Salvavida]

At first glance, I’d say it’s a “shovel ready” project.

[bigheadfred]

Name that Snake

Trouser

Stay out of Harlem

[Young Werther]

I don't have herpes but that looks like GASP!

VOLDEMORT!

[PiperShade]

No expert, but I’d say a common black banded water snake. Too bad your photo didn’t show more of its head......But then, again, a lot of snake species show up far outside their normal range as amateur herpitologists release their “pets” when they become inconvenient..... >PS