Was his belly a pinkish tan? He looks like a wormsnake to me, but it's a little hard to tell from that shot. They do look like oversized earthworms and tend to be fairly calm snakes, rather shy, actually. They are an indication you have great soil (lots of humus & worms), and are completely harmless. Do tell your wife.

Marcia, Please help me find out what kind of snake I came across today. While I was at the local dog park (near Orlando) I came across a yellow with black stripes snake. It looked to be between 3.5-4 feet long and did not appear at first glance (that was all I gave it out of fear) to be shiny. I was about 3 feet from it and didn't know it until my dog almost stepped on it. She obviously didn't see it either. The snake seemed a pit peeved about the whole thing but it decided not to attack and to slowly slither towards ME to get away from my dog. Needless to say, I took off in a different direction real quick and hollered for my dog to follow. I am not like you or others on this site. I am not a fan of snakes and am extremely afraid of them. Although, I don't mind the black racers that seem to have taken up permanent residence in MY back yard and they love to procreate often (or so it seems). I have seen a lot less field rats since the racers moved in and that makes me very happy. Anyway, can you help me figure out what this snake was? I have spent hours and hours online tonight trying to find it and just can't seem to find anything that looks like it. I am guessing that it is not dangerous to me or my dogs??? I am scared to take my dogs back through those woods that they so dearly love. As soon as I told them, "No more woods until the snakes are gone again," they "told" me to find it if it was dangerous or not and if it isn't that they want to go back again. So that is mostly why I am asking you for your help. We all love the walks but I am afraid of the snakes. Please help me feel safer about going back. Thanks in advance for your help.

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

It isn't an ideal field guide specimen, but it is a Florida Banded Water Snake nonetheless. The stripe behind the eye is not very clear, but the markings on the chin are classic water snake too. Frogpatch is right about some of the upper body bands being broken (or at least they look to be in the picture from what I can tell). The partially broken bands might in fact be very mildly aberrant for a Florida Banded Water Snake. These are the kinds of real world snakes that make identifying snakes fun. I'm certain it is indeed a Florida Banded Water Snake, however.