EEPS!! What kind of snake is this?

Michelle · #1 07-01-2009, 09:29 AM

Here are four pictures my Mom took of the third identical snake she has found in the backyard of her house in the past week. They have all been just over two feet long. She lives in Maryland, just north of Baltimore. (All three have been killed...so it's not a repeat visitor.)

I'm curious if anyone here can identify it for her.

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jaba · #2 07-01-2009, 11:06 AM

this is the first thing that came to mind when I saw your post

YouTube - Badgers

cmyX6go · #3 07-01-2009, 11:13 AM

I don't know what kind of snake it is but I do have shoes that look like they were made from a couple of those bad boys

Thunder22 · #4 07-01-2009, 11:24 AM

Young northern copperhead that hasn't developed it's color yet?

Venomous Snakes in Maryland - Maryland's Wildlife Species - Natural Heritage Program - Wildlife and Heritage Service

Lambeau · #5 07-01-2009, 01:18 PM

Looks like the same ones we have in Central Wisconsin where I grew up. We called them pine snakes or fox snakes but not sure on the formal name. They will curl up like a rattle snake, wiggle their tail & strike at you just like a rattler but are harmless. May be a different species but without seeing it in action I'm not sure. I wish you wouldn't kill them as they are very beneficial for mouse control. Just catch them and take them further into the country.

Weasel · #6 07-01-2009, 01:26 PM

Doesn't look like the copperhead, wrong head shape. Judging by the looks of it I would be 97% sure it is non poisonous so no worrys there. I would say it looks like a common rat snake. They are even sold as pet snakes in some pet stores.

Common great plains ratsnake

rayxi · #7 07-01-2009, 04:14 PM

If you kill them then you should eat them. Otherwise, there's no need to kill them.

motordavid · #8 07-01-2009, 04:37 PM

Pretty certain it is a gray rat snake, not a baby, but immature adult,
probably a batch from this spring...
I realize Mom doesn't want them in her house, but they are very good
varmint getters. I would have put them outside away from her home.

They feed on mice, rats, other snakes, etc. Harmless to us, though
they can act semi-aggressive when larger. Mich, I thought you lived
on a farm? Let the creatures go and they will find a good place to
coop up and catch critters.
My 50Cts from the Creatures ID HQ, here in the mtns.

noncom23 · #9 07-01-2009, 07:15 PM

Who cares? RUN!

Weasel · #10 07-01-2009, 07:50 PM

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.

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