Most snakes are harmless. My friend Henry is a rat snake. He keeps the rodents under control in my barns and keeps other snakes away. Every year I anxiously await the first Henry sighting. I feel much better once I see him, knowing the rattlers won’t be around.
Actually, it depends, we have Freddie who lives in the barn and keeps the rats at bay. He lives there rent free. It’s the cotton mouth that gets up on the seat of the dozer when it gets stuck in the mud that I want dead.