Originally Posted by Weasel

I see no need to kill the rat snakes either. They are very beneficial to a farm as motordavid noted, and these are one of the most harmless varieties of snake out there.

I personally over the years have had numerous reptiles as pets including milk snakes (close cousins to the rat snake), red tailed boas, ball pythons, a 12' reticulated python, saanvna monitor (the only mean one of the group) a 5 foot Asain water monitor (which was my all time fav, and I miss very much) etc. etc. etc. and the list goes on.

I actually removed rat snakes from the last shop I worked in regularly as they were on the edge of a wooded area. The only time I killed a rat snake I was on a camping trip... cooked the whole of the meat over a campfire (yummy), and salted the skin which became a great hat strap for my uncle.