This is most likely a big black snake. Excellent to have around as they kill many rats and mice.
I welcome them on the farm and would never kill or harm one.
Hard to tell from the picture how big it is as the reference objects for size are not good.
Looks to be a bigger diameter than a black snake, but empty skin flattens out.
All we have around here are Garter Snakes. One time I was cutting my lawn and needed to dispose of some small pieces of brush, so I went over to the upper terraced road that ran through the mobile home park my parents owned and I ran. Someone had emptied a grass catcher from a lawn mower over the small hill by the road so I went over there to get rid of the branches. As I looked down, I saw a two foot Garter Snake sunning itself in the de-composing grass clippings. I’m not afraid of snakes and catch and observe them whenever I can. So I reached down and captured the snake in my dominant right hand and looked at it. It was about 2 ft. long, and as I looked at it, I noticed another snake almost in the same spot as the first one. Cool! I thought to myself as I bent down and captured it with my left hand. Even cooler now! As I looked at both snakes in my hands I started to play with them before I let them go safely. I started to butt their heads together playfully while I enjoyed the moment for myself. As I butted their heads together one last time, the snake in my right hand bit my left thumb, while my left hand snake bit my right thumb. Suddenly, I had 4 feet of snakes clamped down on my thumbs while I tried to shake them loose. Finally, one released it’s grip, and the other dropped out of my grasp. I truly wish someone would’ve been there to record my snake-man moment.
Ten foot long black snake? I think something like seven feet may be the limit unless you are thinking of a different snake than the ones I know.
People don’t realize that a shed skin is about 1/3 longer than the actual snake.
Either you’re right about the rat snake or it’s somebody’s former pet, who does not have long to live.
Cold will kill it.