This is Kirtland's Snkake (Clonophis kirtlandi). It is a really neat snake that is only found in small areas of the US in IN, IL, OH, and a few spots in nearby states. It is an endangered species over most of its range. You are lucky to have such a unique and rare critter in your yard. I hope you will protect them. Although....if you didn't know what it was, why were you handling it? This post was edited by FHFchrish on Fri, Sep 5, 14 at 9:25

The only poisonous snakes in Wisconsin will have a rattle at the end of their tails. Also, those are very very rare here. Also, snakes are your friends. They will keep rodent populations under control. They are generally very shy and won't bother you unless messed with, or stepped on (do not try to pick up).

^ Not just feared...but absolute FACT! "The most severe declines in native species have occurred in the remote southernmost regions of Everglades National Park, where pythons have been established the longest. In a 2012 study, populations of raccoons had dropped 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared." "Bill Booth struggles to recall the last time he saw a raccoon, a fox or a rabbit on one of his frequent hunting excursions deep into the swamps of the Florida Everglades. An outdoorsman all his life, he knows as well as anyone how the native wildlife once abundant across the vast wilderness has been all but wiped out by an invasion of a deadly species he is trying his hardest to remove: the Burmese python." This invasive snake has ALREADY absolutely decimated the Florida ecosystem, consuming many native creatures there to extinction since just the 1980s!!!

It is not a copperhead. Baby copperheads looks just like adult copperheads (and nothing like this). This is a harmless baby Racer (Coluber constrictor). It probably wandered in through some small opening somewhere. Sweep it up with a broom and release it outside and neither of you will be the worse for the experience.