Help we have Snakes ??? Can you identify this critter?

[nonesuche]

We've moved to this new neighborhood and yes we love it looks out over a large undeveloped area. We're within one mile of a very large lake and significant river as well.

WELL we are outside on our deck on Saturday, hear our dog start barking like crazy, look over and sure enough SNAKE !!!!!!! He didn't run off either, just sat there on the pine straw beneath the screened porch with his head perked upward? 

Finally when we got an extension pole out to poke him, he took off fast as lightning into the tall grass in the empty lot next to us?

So from what I can see online and I do not know much about snakes, all I can think is it's a 'black racer'. Those are thinner and although it was over 3' in length, it was thin.

Any snake experts out there??? Additionally, any advice on how to ensure critters like this don't visit my yard? I have no rock walls, don't have any water features, we are putting up a fence next week and hopefully (I pray) it will deter the snakes? With puppy running free in the backyard I can tell you this, based on his bark attack when he smelled this one, he surely will if nothing else - bark a snake into a migraine 

[yapperz1]

None.. Looks like a black rat snake to me:

http://rol.freenet.columbus.oh.us/Reptiles_BRSnake.gif

If you look over of head & see eyes standing up it is poisonous. I think from the angle I see it is not.

[pdh3]

I absolutely hate snakes, and I don't care if they are venemous or not. They terrify me, and make my skin crawl. As far as I'm concerned, the only good snake is one that is nowhere near me or any of my loved ones!
My Dad was almost bitten by a rattlesnake when I was about 5, but my Uncle killed the snake just before it struck. It was HUGE! I still get the chills just thinking about snakes......

[nonesuche]

Yap  - thanks for the advice. I posted the photos on a gardening forum in our state and sure enough, they said either a black racer or a black rat snake. He is the boldest thing I've ever seen though, he came riding over a hill into my yard yesterday big and bold, little none ran out there to take it's photo and I had my extension pole ready too ! Red the puppy must be able to smell it (we've now nicknamed him Blackie and yes I pray it's a male) - for Red was barking and barking before the snake crested the hill next to our yard !

I called the fence guy, now I'm going to have him bury wire mesh beneath the fencing. I don't think it's poisonous either but it's also coming to the screened porch because it smells our cats out there !!! 

Pdh - I hate them like you do, even growing up with a huge garden in a pretty rural area until I was 7, I never saw a snake up close. Nor do I ever want to see one up close again, I've seen them in zoos and even in the science classroom at school. But watching this one slither and whip it's tail, well it just puts the fear in me like no other.

If I were a good shot I'd try to shoot it, I know that's irrational but it's how I feel !

photos from yesterday

[ala_gunslinger]

He's a good snake.

[Kimmy53]

Yep - Gunslinger is right....These kind of snakes keeps the poisonous snakes away.

I am not sure, but isn't there a product you can "sprinkle" around that is supposed to keep snakes away? 

I see alot of snakes around my house - we are out in the woods... I have come to accept them - I guess a sort of de-sensitising thing.  I just always watch where I step and reach..

If nothing else, maybe someone around could catch it and move it away for you. 

[nonesuche]

Welcome back Gunslinger - we have missed you.

Would you like Blackie? He's up for adoption, please take him.

Kimmy - well he must like us, he was pounding the screen door with his head by nightfall yesterday, the dog nearly had a heart attack and chewed a hole in my antique wicker chair. My fence guy called today and said it's a black racer, I sent him the photos and he said although they are good at eating rodents that they don't really eat poisonous snakes. He said they are notoriously aggressive and have a nasty bite too, so he's going to call a snake handler he knows to come and remove the snakes from the culvert next door.

I wish I could live and let live, I had a black king snake live in my ivy for over 10 years in GA and we both peacefully co-existed. He had manners though, he wasn't aggressive and never frightened my children or pets.

Thanks for the advice though, I do appreciate it.

[klaasend]

[nonesuche]

 

our Klaas is back 

WAY too funny, you need to put son's name in there instead of mine. He arrived home late today, thought he would just handle this snake for mom - well Blackie charged him.

They cannot say white men can't jump for son jumped so high in the air and the snake slid under and out 

San is making me laugh now telling her the story but at the time, it wasn't funny !

[crazybabyborg]

 

Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh.......................Nonesuchie! I'm doing a jig here just looking at it!!

  AHHHHHH!!! Get somebody to kill it, or take it far away. I hates 'em, I hates 'em! I'm sorry, but if I knew it visited my yard, I'd have to get rid of it. It's an unnatural, unfounded, irrational fear, but I am TERRIFIED of snakes...................I don't even like worms!

20 years ago when I first bought this house, the back yard backed up to an undeveloped portion of the neighborhood which is at the base of a mountain park anyway. That first summer, I saw in my yard and had removed or killed, 19 snakes. One was in my den! I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown! Many of the larger ones were black snakes, and nonesuchie, I hate to say this, but they can CLIMB! Corner one and they have remarkable jumping abilities! I finally talked with a park ranger who told me that most snakes never travel far over the course of their lives and that black snakes were harmless, good to get rid of mice, etc. etc etc. I could care less about their attributes, I just knew that I kept running up on one when I least expected it, and I jumped out of my skin! True story: I literally came out of a normal fitting bracelet when I stepped on one in the back yard. You know those cartoons where a character zooms away in a puff of smoke and his clothes stay suspended in air a second before they fall to the ground? That was me! 

The only thing I knew to do was to kill 'em all one by one hoping to make the radius around me snake free! Actually, it worked. The next summer there were a couple, and then for many years, none at all. Even I began to feel sorry for them toward the end of that first summer, and I solicited help to catch and remove a couple. Nonesuchie, on TV it looks easy, but we found it almost impossible! They can JUMP! Honest! We had a really big one cornered in the garage and wanted to get it in a trash can so we could transport it elsewhere and that sucker suddenly FLUNG itself in the air at us! I learned when I heard birds "fussing" to look out my window, and sure enough there would be one in a tree.

I hope you're more rational than me when it comes to snakes, but if you suffer even a fraction of the trauma I do around them, remove that snake in any way you can and any others you see! They sell "snake repellent" that basically smells like moth balls and the box claims it "irritates" their eyes, but I can't vouch for the effectiveness. I CAN vouch for the effectiveness of consistently getting rid of them!    HUGS!!!

[Bearlyhere]

Nonesy, you are right, it's a snake!
 

Sorry, I just could not resist.

If it was me, I would move.  I'm with CBB, only I think she is much braver than me. 

 

[Peaches]

Looks like a snake to me too.

Time to sharpen up the hoe and the shovel.  Always important to have sharp tools in the shed.

Hate 'em.

[Bearlyhere]

Looks like a snake to me too.

Time to sharpen up the hoe and the shovel.  Always important to have sharp tools in the shed.

Hate 'em.

Great idea, Peaches.  If it was me, I'd be sleeping with the hoe and shovel, one in each hand.   

(Note to Monkeys:  a hoe, not a ho' in my bed)   

I was reading this thread in the dark of the night and the cats next door must have decided right at that moment to chase each other around the house.  I nearly upended myself, my laptop, and my mattress trying to get out of Dodge!

Nonesy, you take those tools and put them right under your pillow, after listening to CBB telling how they jump and climb and fly and all kinds of nasty things.  On second thought, you pack your stuff up and come here and sleep in the cage.  I'll call the National Guard and we'll have that critter out of there in no time.

[nonesuche]

oh CBB, Bearly, and Peaches you understand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate snakes too, don't care if it's an irrational fear either - this snake jumps and wants to eat my cats, I have no doubt of that ! Yes I have also now heard black racers like to climb SHIVERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem with this one is it's clever, it ducks too, I'll see it in the border of the grass - it pokes it's head up, then sees me running and it ducks making it hard to see it !! Son is here until Sunday and now he's determined to get it. I don't even open my garage door now without total fear either, so I am parking my car outside the garage???

I feel sure that new rock culvert they put in is likely full of snakes and this one maybe has babies too. It's raining this morning as well, when it rains the frogs in that pond fill the street, so I told son maybe we just lay in wait and then take the hoe and shovel and pray we can run fast enough to get it!!!!

I have nightmares about them now, honestly I do and I know it's only a matter of time before they find a way into our home? They do have nasty bites and I can tell you watching the event between Blackie and son yesterday, he would have bitten son if given half an opportunity. I know once we have our fence up that Red our pup could likely kill it, but then I worry he might be bitten in that process?

I may be a city slicker in the last decade but I lived near woods and with a father in the boating business the first half of my life, well I saw a few water moccasins but even they would swim away from boats and people.

I just think like we've seen deer become more aggressive and some birds, that snakes are following suit - at least Blackie is !!! Pray we can catch and destroy it, actually black racers do not kill other poisonous snakes so I do not feel guilty if we do !

[klaasend]

Looks like a snake to me too.

Time to sharpen up the hoe and the shovel.  Always important to have sharp tools in the shed.

Hate 'em.

I don't mind snakes that mind their own business and stay out of sight.  This one practically knocking on None's door would scare the crap out of me and I'm affraid I'd have to kill it.  I'd find a way, trust me.   

[Kimmy53]

Ugh!  Sounds like you have a mean one on your hands!!  Bold too.  He needs to be beheaded then.  I am sure between you and your son that ya'll can outsmart him.

Funny story -  8 years ago, when my youngest was 2 1/2, we came home to find our Lab Suzi barking furiously at something behind a pc. of wood.  I thought right away it must be a snake....I told the kids to stay in the car..I would investigate.  I backed the car out (the kids thought I was the bravest mom-lol) got out and moved the wood.  Sure enough it was a copperhead. I thought  - oh gosh- what do I do?  Hubby wasn't home, 2 young kids in the car, no hoe, no shovel closeby. I just knew Suzi or I would be bitten!  The kids jump out of the car hollaring Copperhead! Copperhead!  Before I could even turn to tell them to get back in the car, Suzi grabbed it in her mouth, jerked her head quickly and snapped it's head off of it's body!!!  The head came sliding up to my feet!  Ugh!  I kid you not!  My littlest comes up, stares down at the snake head and says "I tink I'm gonna fro up!"  Good Ole Suzi!  I guess when she saw the kids, she decided enough of this, I'm taking care of business!   

Of course we had to save the snake (and head) to show daddy - And Suzi got extra special luvins that night.   My knees were so weak - The kids just thought the whole episode was the greatest.

I do hope you can get rid of that thing.  I am all for keeping around the beneficial snakes, but when they are overly agressive, it is time to get rid of them.

[Jerry from Ohio]

   Well Ladies it isn't just women that do not care for snakes  we always had them on the farm but the corn crib is the only place that the were welcome to live Killed Rats .
  But then I would see them I'd run like a thin man until I was a safe distance away .
   Just a small side note  I'd be willing to pay a Hundred Dollars to see CBB run right out of her clothes . LOL  can see me sittin there with a glass of Iced Tea  waiten for the show to start .
   sorry Ladies it is just one of those days  hehehe  Naughty Laugh .

[Jerry from Ohio]

 Hi Kimmy  great story and when the kids yelled,  the snake took his eye off the ball so to speak for a split second and that was what Suzy  was looking for  GREAT DOGGIE  LOL  Ol Jer loves it when animals really show us their smarts <g>

 

Ugh!  Sounds like you have a mean one on your hands!!  Bold too.  He needs to be beheaded then.  I am sure between you and your son that ya'll can outsmart him.

Funny story -  8 years ago, when my youngest was 2 1/2, we came home to find our Lab Suzi barking furiously at something behind a pc. of wood.  I thought right away it must be a snake....I told the kids to stay in the car..I would investigate.  I backed the car out (the kids thought I was the bravest mom-lol) got out and moved the wood.  Sure enough it was a copperhead. I thought  - oh gosh- what do I do?  Hubby wasn't home, 2 young kids in the car, no hoe, no shovel closeby. I just knew Suzi or I would be bitten!  The kids jump out of the car hollaring Copperhead! Copperhead!  Before I could even turn to tell them to get back in the car, Suzi grabbed it in her mouth, jerked her head quickly and snapped it's head off of it's body!!!  The head came sliding up to my feet!  Ugh!  I kid you not!  My littlest comes up, stares down at the snake head and says "I tink I'm gonna fro up!"  Good Ole Suzi!  I guess when she saw the kids, she decided enough of this, I'm taking care of business!   

Of course we had to save the snake (and head) to show daddy - And Suzi got extra special luvins that night.   My knees were so weak - The kids just thought the whole episode was the greatest.

I do hope you can get rid of that thing.  I am all for keeping around the beneficial snakes, but when they are overly agressive, it is time to get rid of them.

[crazybabyborg]

Nonesy, your dog is a real key here. Dogs are great at hemming a snake in and you're probably right; when the fence goes up, it's going to slow escape routes. My dog alerted me to most of the 19 I got rid of and paying attention to bird noise was also helpful. This time of year, birds are very protective of their eggs and create quite a chatter when a snake is around.

Some snakes just do not like being around places humans are, and others could care less. My park ranger assured me that we only have 2 types of poisonous snakes in my area: copperheads and timber rattlers. The rattlers will do everything they can to avoid you, and the copperheads will move right in with you like an unwanted relative. I've never seen a rattler, but I was repositioning a large landscaping rock near the front door, and picked up a copperhead as I slid my hand under the rock to lift it. I just felt something and looked down to see the brown diamond like pattern moving in my fingers. AAARGH!!!! Anyone watching would have seen the Roadrunner's cloud and that's all!

 I DID learn one thing that I never waivered from: as scared as I was, I was MOST afraid of letting one get away. I would never have made it without KNOWING that the snake I had encountered was G-O-N-E! I simply had to know I would never be surprised by that snake again. My ex-husband worked at the local hospital, and I swear the switchboard operators  came to know it was me despite unintelligible screaming and just get through to him with the message to go home and kill another snake.  I danced and screamed on top of the bathroom vanity with the portable phone and leaned out in the hall so I could see the open doorway to the den. I knew that if that little snake got out of that room, I had to know where it was so that I wouldn't be left WONDERING where it went! I never took my eyes off that opening and squealed like a stuck pig everytime I saw it slither by! BUT, when it was dead, I knew it was gone!

Just be diligent, Nonesuche! That little rascal's days are numbered and just make up your mind that he's not going to interfere with your home! I'm praying for your happy hunting! 

[BTgirl]

I live in the middle of the woods, and we have a lot of black rat snakes around our house. Most of them scurry away when they see us or the doggies, but we had one that was determined to live inside our house. It kept getting into either the basement or the garage. It was about 5 feet long (as long as I'm tall - eek!), and it really kept the dogs upset. The dogs are both small terriers, and one day they had it trapped against the foundation of the house, and it was striking at them. Well, hubby decided it was time to get out the shotgun and end the drama. The problem was that it was coiled up right against the foundation. Sooooo....he made me get one of those long poles with the curved metal end on it and pull the thing away from the house so that he could aim at it. I wish I had a video of 5 ft tall me pulling a 5 ft long snake TOWARD me. OMG! Looking back now I don't know how I managed it. It worked, though, and Mr. Snake is long gone.