[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Any herpetologists care to chime in?

[Louis Foxwell]

Yep, latin Natrix s. sipedon, common water snake, common to the entire eastern seaboard of the US. Nasty, agressive, not poisonous but has a dirty bite. Chase him back into the ditch. He is a fish eater.

[FLAMING DEATH]

Clearly a Copper-Headed Rattle Moccasin.

[ImNotLying]

Looks like a Congressman to me. They’re all ugly, corrupt snakes.

[bert]

I’d say eastern king snake

[Cicero]

My wife is pretty brave, but she’s afraid of snakes. Indeed, most of the women I know are. As a child, I was told this was inherited from Eve.

[Osage Orange]

Looks like a member of Congress, or maybe the Senate.

[UB355]

Toss some moth balls it’s way. 99.9 % it will head on to another location.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

This is HUGH!

[goat granny]

You could google ....snakes, hugh and series. If it rattles its a rattlesnake, that's about all the help I am...as my daddy always said, as useful as a one legged man in an a$$ kicking contest...Oh yea, if the inside of its mouth is white its a cottonmouth...Coral snake, red to black friend to Jack, red to yellow kill the fellow. (color of the stripes) Watermocasons /sp, don't know anything about...those are the only 4 poison snakes in the states I think.... Down south you get into pythons and boa's....

[hattend]

If a Northern water Snake as others have posted:

===

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.

[ThomasThomas]

I would call it Mr Hissy.

[bigbob]

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

[bunkerhill7]

Don`t Tread On Me

[Signalman]

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

[NCC-1701]

Ceaser.

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

[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.

[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

[bobby.223]

That is the very rare muslimous baracazoid hussieiuos obamainous black snake. No one knows the history of this snake, it’s past and where it came from are a mystery that continues to this day....