Interesting. I don't know anything about snakes, but they are fascinating to me.

From the look of his head I would guess it is poisonous. Gives me the creeps.

Yuk! At least you warned us!
Looks like a big one!

Did you find out what kind it was?

Scary! If I found one in the house, they could have the house! LOL. Unless there is a snake exterminator. (like Orkin)

Yikes!!! I hate snakes, and yep, by the wedge
shape to his head, it sure looks like it is
a poisonous variety. You also mentioned rattle sound?
And, you just carried it to the drive way? Oh my -
you are braver than I.

Bullsnakes can puff up and hiss and they flatten their heads out to look like they're poisonous. They can vibrate their tails to make a buzzing sound and if something is near the tail, it can sound like a rattle.

Just so you know, if it was a bullsnake- they're illegal to kill. I'm just POSITIVE you captured and released this snake. ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: The bullsnake....

OMG, who was the brave one taking the pics? I'd be sitting on the moon if that thing was at my house! LOL

Donna (^_^)

Gee...I'll try this again...I don't know what I do wrong sometimes...tried twice to reply....duh.

anyway...we have bull snakes too..these aren't the same...

And yes we did let it go...I don't like to hurt/kill things like that...I just don't want them in my house...or shed....LOL

patti

Congratulations for not having a heart attack. I've yet to see a snake outside of captivity.

*packs bags, gets one-way ticket to the island*

I don't like snakes. I got in trouble with Woody once for killing a snake that looked like a pygmy rattler. It was a hogsnake. Next time, I captured the snake that was in the driveway, put it in a bucket. It WAS a pygmy rattler. Sheesh. I'm sorry, but I won't allow poisonous snakes around all my pets if I can help it.

Let us know if you ever get a definitive ID, Patti, OK?

LOL..Flamy...do think that island won't have any snakes....?

Yaaaaaay Patti! I'm so glad you let it go!

Thanks for not killing it, Patti. Did you find out what kind it was?

For those of you who don't like mice ... most snakes like to eat them.

Most snakes want to put space between you and them, as well.

ole joyful

Reminds me of when our daughter and her hubby were building their house. They were stoning a big fireplace and when the got in the box there was a "big" black snake. My son-in-law put it in the freezer so he could skin it. I told my son-in-law that if he didn't tell my daughter it was there, I would. She would have died if she had opened the bag and found it.

lol MingO. You'll be safe if you come here but we do have lizards.

sorry for all you snake lovers..but the only good snake is a dead one! i stepped in a nest of 13 rattlers...let me tell you its something i will never forget, i really dont remember how i didnt get bit, i guess i just took off like hell, my cousin whom i was working with said it took 2 hours for me to stop shaking and be coherent enough to talk felt like 5 minutes to me lol its funny now but it wasnt then. lord i hate snakes, the kind that crawl and the kind that walk on 2 legs lol ok im sorry im trying to make a joke or ill have nightmares all night! oh and i can deal with lizards lol isnt that weird?

I'm with you loggerbaby. Ewwwwwwww.

Too bad people are so ignorant about harmless, even beneficial creatures, and proud of it, to boot. :( Thanks for letting it go, Patti. It is not a poisonous snake, but probably a hog nosed snake, which will puff up their heads and they make a rattling sound. It definitely is not poisonous and only a danger to a mouse.)

The old folks called hog nosed snakes..."spreading adders" or "puff adders". You could not convince my father that they weren't poisonous, because some old timer had told him they were. They aren't. Absolutely will not harm you.

Snakes have their agenda in life. I respect them!

marilyn here is a picture of a hognose snake...

{{!gwi}}

Not the same.

To me it doesn't even look like a hog nosed snake .
There are not many types of poisonous snakes in the midwest but I have seen them. I wouldn't be leaving an unidentified snake in my yard. I hope Jeff took it WAY out in the field.

OMG! My heart is pounding! I wouldn't have killed it because if I had seen it, I wouldn't have stuck around to do anything at all to it. lol
Lu

Zeetera, I LOVE lizards, they are so fun. My cats keep the lizard population down here, we used to see a lot of blue-tailed skinks. I like the green lizards or the tan/brown ones like we played with in FL all the time. They aren't big though, just little and fast. There are black snakes there that like to hunt them.

Patti, I want you to know, I had snake dreams last night, 2 different ones. In one, 2 big snakes were trying to squeeze a fawn to death. Woody rescued it and then we had a fawn to care for. lol Great. I'm already tired and now a fawn? Then, a big poisonous snake was in some leaves,I saw it moving, told Woody and then it struck at me but I had jeans on and it glanced off- I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack in my sleep! In my dream, Woody grabbed it behind the head and dispatched it. (Sorry, Marilyn, but it was just a dream!)

See what you started!?

I found a good website for snakes in my state (snakes in Ga and SC), with pictures and descriptions of their habitat. We have 36 non poisonous and 6 poisonous. We do kill poisonous snakes around our house, all have been timber rattlers. Two days after we killed the last timber rattler we saw a Eastern king snake. They kill rattlesnakes. Needless to say it can live under my porch for as long as it wants. Another thing I learned was most poisonous snakes do not climb trees. We have lots of oak (rat) snakes that climb and hang from our trees.

Interesting photos, thanks. I had a small garter snake in my compost pile about 25 years ago, luckily haven't seen a snake since!

Shoot, I added to this this morning- Ron- I found an article about timber rattlers in AR being found 40 feet up in the canopy of deciduous trees- I guess they hunt birds.

Remind me not to go tree-climbing anytime soon. Or ever.

Patti - here is a link to Iowa Reptiles/Snakes at HerpNet.

Do you think it looks like a Prarie Kingsnake maybe? It just doesn't look like a Bullsnake.

DS rescued a bullsnake from someones house - it was 4' long! He used a hog catcher to grab its head to hold so he could unwind it from some pipes - animal lovers rest easy - it was a catch and release!

Here is a link that might be useful: HerpNet

OOOOOOOOH my goodness. When I saw the title of this thread, I said to myself "No way, don't look,,," Of course my curiosity got the better of me.

I would just die if I came across a snake like that. DIE. I don't hate snakes I am just scared to death of coming across one. I can't even walk in long grass or in weedy water .... UG. I've held snakes, touched them, that's okay. But just to see one slither in front of you or step beside one (that has happened to me) or just laying in the shed .... makes my skin crawl.

BJ

It kind of looks like a massasauga rattler markings in the second picture. The head in the first picture sure looks like a venomous snake to me! Yuck, I do not like any snake.

A snake that size would have easy identifiable rattles if it were a rattle snake. Might be a bullsnake but the head does look like a poisonous snake. How did he get it from the shed to the driveway? Did use the pliers in the picture to pick it up?

In the link I posted, they show about 6 different bullsnake varieties- I thought one of them was very similar to this snake. And they have a way of flattening their heads to that triangular shape, too, so that's why I thought it possibly was one. In the striking photo, I don't get the sense that the head is large. And the snake itself is not "girthy", like every poisonous snake I've ever seen is.

Gah. I need to stop thinking about snakes! Last night I dreamt about my XH. lolol PATTI! Knock it off!