It looks to be a fascinating animal that I first saw on Seabrook Island, outside of Charleston.....an Eastern Glass Lizard. Not a snake at all, but a legless lizard. It looked just like a reinforced hose half hidden in some pinestraw....what a shocker when I picked it up!

Oh my gosh hissing at you well at least you didn't step on it so the hissing was probably a good thing. That alone would have made me cringe lol.

Yes, it's a juvenile Black Rat Snake(Pantherophis obsoletta), a totally harmless and very beneficial snake to have around. He'll be your first line of defense at keeping rodents out of the basement.

You should have started a new post rather than adding to the other snake post. The is a Gray Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis although sometimes still known as P. obsoletus in older references). You didn't say where you where, but this looks very much like the gray rats we used to get in South Carolina near the Georgia border.