Snake?

[Griff]

Ok, I"m outta my element here... what is this?

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[AJMD429]

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At first I thought an indigo snake with the overall coloration but they are only Florida or some other southern areas I think. But then when I zoomed in it looks like there's some sort of modeling or coloring, which would not be an indigo snake. Identification clues for snakes include whether the belly is round or flat, and what color the belly is.

One interesting thing about snakes in the United States is that is only one species of venomous snake that has round pupils, and that's the coral snake and there's only one species of non-venomous snake that doesn't have cat type pupils and that's appropriately enough called the cat eyed snake. There is a species of king snake that looks somewhat like the coral snake but I don't believe they share the same geographic areas. The end result is people eager to kill snakes that they think "might be venomous" can pretty much leave round-pupiled snakes alone safely other than coral snakes. I heard people say that they don't want to get close enough to tell the difference, but if you're NOT close enough to tell the difference then you're far enough away that you can just get out of the way of the snake...!

Here's a couple guides/sites -

50 common US snakes - https://birdwatchinghq.com/snakes-in-the-united-states/

Snakes listed by States they live in - https://usasnakes.com/

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Too much color for an Indigo. I ran into one just the other day ... fast and fat they are. That snake seems to be missing a critical part ... the head.

[AJMD429]

That snake seems to be missing a critical part ... the head.

LOL I guess that makes it a Dead Snake or a Headless Snake...

[Pisgah]

Eastern Kingsnake, almost ready to shed.

[GunnyMack]

Without being able to see the head shape it's a tough call.
As Doc said, not many venomous snakes , rattle, cotton mouth, water moccasin and coral. The coral is by far the easiest to identify, the old addage of REDon YELLOW kills a fella. Meaning the red coloration and yellow touching is a coral whereas the king snake that has the same red, yellow colors do not touch.

I would say your headless snake would need a local wildlife person to positively ID it now.

Back in college a few guys were wanting rattlesnake skins. They would shoot them, wrecking the skins. One evening while they were out blasting snakes along the side of the road I drove by, stopped and I got out of my truck, grabbed a breaker bar walked up to a rattler and popped it behind the head. I thought those guys were going to carp their pants! That's how I was showed to kill rattlers by my uncle. As long as the snake isn't being aggressive it works great.

[rock-steady]

Griff, that looks like a Rat Snake (AKA Chicken Snake)

Rat snakes are non-venomous and mostly docile, although they can become defensive when threatened or grabbed.

One that size can climb up a tree unbelievably fast. They can also climb up a brick wall very easily.

[Griff]

Yea, I shoulda taken a pic while he was still intact. Pretty white around the bottom of the head and the underbelly. The crows enjoyed the free feast tho'. But, they haven't carted him off yet.

[bmtshooter]

Looks like a rat snake. We like them around our area to keep the rodent population down.

[Walt]

The only venomous snakes in this part of the country are rattlesnakes and I leave them alone unless they're close to the house which has happened once in the last 30 years.

[Paladin]

I vote Western Rat snake also. More helpful than harmful unless you have small birds or eggs.

This is the first snake of the year here, AZ Black Rattlesnake

[Farmerjohn]

In Arkansas we call them chicken snakes, egg eating machines. Bird nest, chicken house raiders, and other names I would not use in public... John

[Farmerjohn]

Here is a pair of them that were after a Wren nest in the fan housing on one of our tractors. It had been sitting for a few days and a Wren had built a nest in the fan housing and I didn't know it and started the engine, made a mess and scared the dickens out of me, I killed the engine soon as I heard the racket but it didn't really hurt anything but the snakes..

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