Your snake is non-venomous. I'm not sure on the ID though--maybe a dark colored corn snake or a rat snake?

Somebody on this forum should be able to pinpoint the ID.

It's nonvenomous. It's either a Corn Snake or a Gray Rat Snake. Both are in the rat snake family and they like barns and similar structures because of their abundance of prey items (especially mice and rats).

To me it looks like a black rat snake x grey rat snake integrade. Some black rat snakes have a lot of red on the skin between the scales. Black rats and grey rats also eat birds and bird eggs, including an occasional chicken egg. Rat snakes do a very good job of controlling the rodent population, and the loss of an occassional chicken egg or two is well worth the rodent control value a rat snake provides.

I was just looking at Petersons, and according to their distribution maps, Grey Rats dont make it into the western highland rim of TN, so it might be Black Rat x Corn Snake integrade, but only if you live within 30+- miles of the AL/TN border, otherwise, that rules out the corn snake possibility.

That's a very unusual looking Rat Snake. Definatley a unique specimen to have around. If you don't want it in the chicken coop, just pick it up with some leather gloves on (or pick it up with a stick and place it in a bucket) a put it in or near another outbuilding away from the chickens, specifically a place that has a lot of rodents, maybe in the feed barn.

Thanks for info. I'm asking for a friend. The snakes location is northeast Texas if that will help further identify.

Ah Northeast Texas. That makes sense. It is a Texas Rat Snake or possibly a Texas/Black Rat Intergrade. Like others on here I was assuming Tennessee based on your "my page" user info and I failed to consider Texas Rat Snake as a possibility.

It is only a black rat. They sometimes occur like that and have the red from the skin showing through the scales. I have seen them like that in Oklahoma where only black rats occur. It kinda looks like a lindheimeri.
chad

I'm sure its a rat snake, but not a black rat. i've seen light patterns in them before but never color like that.

Judging by East Texas range maps it is either a Black Rat or Black/Texas intergrade, but probably not a pure Lindheimeri.

Elaphe Obsoleta Obsoleta or Elaphe Obsoleta Obsolete/Lindheimeri intergrade.

Looks like some Lindheimeri influence to me, but Chad is a herpetologist and I am not, so it may be an aberrant phase of a pure Black Rat.

Yes, I believe it is primarily a Black Ratsnake. It may have lindheimeri influence, as Keith said. I have seen true obsoleta with heavy pattern like that before, maily in northeast Oklahoma, but also in Kansas and one in Iowa. I reviewed some pics of mine and noticed that all of the lindheimeri intergrades have a high amount of yellow instead of red. I have also seen an axanthic obsoleta that had a pattern just like that, only the red was replaced by purple. Also remember that these snakes are highly variable. Also, since subspecies dont really exist, we can just call it a Western Ratsnake.
chad

Thanks again for the info everyone.

That's a Texas Ratsnake, which does have a red or orange color phase as well as the duller brown. I've seen a few like this for sale at reptile shows, along with the captive-produced solid white ones(leucistics)with blue eyes.

Sharon McKenzie

I agree with Chad. Ive seen black rats like that one from Oklahoma as well.