Snake Identification Help? It was in our house!

11 years ago

Can anyone help us identify this snake? It was inside the house today - so thankful I found it and my 2 year old didn't!! Alarming and unsettling. So thankful my neighbor came to the rescue!

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Sharon McKenzie

11 years ago

Christine the "logic" of killing a snake just because it's a snake is just as irrational, if not more so, than killing any dog you see just because some dogs are dangerous. If a strange dog randomly roams through your yard, where your hypothetical two-year-old is playing, would you automatically reach for a rifle or other weapon and just kill the dog, because it's a dog? And afterwards, what would be the point in determining what breed it was, since it is now dead? Most places in the US have only a small number of venomous snake species, and it's not hard to learn how to ID them. It would make sense for people to make that effort, regardless of whether they're fond of snakes or not, and it does NOT make sense to kill every snake you see under that faulty assumption that all of them are dangerous, anymore than it makes sense to assume that all dogs are dangerous and to kill every dog you see. The fact is, dogs actually DO kill a lot more people than snakes do, and unlike a snake, you cannot look at a dog and determine if it's vicious or not just its type, and yet if someone actually did shoot a dog in their yard for simply existing, and posted pics of it on Houzz, asking what breed it was, can you imagine the uproar that would cause? People are irrational when it comes to reptiles, especially snakes, and that needs to change. I can't help but wonder if the original poster raised all kinds of fits over a dentist paying to shoot a lion in Africa, yet had no qualms about calling over a neighbor to chop off the head of a harmless and beneficial animal here on home soil simply because it had scales instead of fur.

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Comments (18)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 years ago
Beautiful snake.....so sorry to see it dead, but they can be difficult for a novice to capture.

For a speedy and accurate ID, it's always helpful for us to know your general location.

I'm not the snake expert of this group; I'm sure they will be along shortly. But I want to guess that it's one of the corn snakes. Or a king snake.
Sharon McKenzie
11 years ago
Such a beautiful animal, so sad and disgusting to see it killed for no good reason. This poor animal WAS a large Prairie King Snake(Lampropeltis calligaster), a harmless and very beneficial species. Your neighbor didn't "rescue" anyone or anything, sadly. Your two-year-old was never in any danger. It's very easy to learn how to distinguish your native venomous snakes from non-venomous ones, and very much worth the effort.
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You correctly ID'd the one at the top of the photo as an Eastern Garter(Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). The dark one at the bottom of the photo is a young Black Rat Snake(Pantherophis obsoletta). Black Rats don't hatch out black; they enter the world as a silvery-gray snake with a bold pattern of black blotches and lines, and gradually turn darker with each skin shed. This snake is still fairly young, as you can still see its blotched pattern visible, like the spots on a black leopard. Where you live, adult Black Rats usually are jet black with white undersides and throats, although in many places throughout their range, they will keep at least some visible dorsal pattern throughout their lives. I'm guessing that with different species coming into the basement, species with very different feeding habits, they are preparing to hibernate there. Both of these snakes are harmless, and will leave come spring. The presence of the Black Rats could be a deterrent for rodents to enter your home during winter.
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 years ago
Geistert, snakes such as these are very beneficial....they are primary rodent eaters and their presence can also keep venomous snakes away.

But they don't belong in the house, where they can become hurt or killed. You've got some work ahead of you, finding out where this snake found entrance into the house and making sure that it can't happen again.

If a snake of this size can get in, so can rats and mice, and more snakes.
christine 5b
11 years ago
Some of you are pretty harsh with your comments, what if it had been your 2 years old child?? You could of just answered the question and not bashed the poster,now I'm sure he will never return to the forums!!!
Box Turtle
11 years ago
christine: "pretty harsh with your comments" Harsher than killing something for no reason? I think what may have irked some people here is that geistert came across as a little bit hysterical and didn't seem to have any concern or sympathy for the snake.
Box Turtle
11 years ago
Well stated Sharon ! I agree 100%
charles kidder
11 years ago
I kill every snake that gets into my house. Not at all the same as a dog in back yard.
Box Turtle
11 years ago
Why do you kill every snake that gets into your house?
Sharon McKenzie
11 years ago
Yeah, kidhorn2, WHY? Is it THAT difficult to simply learn something about snakes, and how to ID them? Seriously, I've taught second graders to do that, and we have quite a few venomous species in the Southeast where I live. You aren't exactly making yourself out to seem very intelligent by that statement. Explain to me this logic: if you know for a fact that dogs kill an average of 30 people per year in the US and send another 3 MILLION to the hospital, whereas snakes kill less than 5 people on average per year, why does it make more sense to hate snakes and not dogs? I can look at a snake and tell right away if it's venomous, and therefore potentially dangerous, but even a lifetime growing up around dogs and breeding dogs has not allowed me to be able to glance at a random dog and determine if that dog will bite or attack. I have far more reason to be concerned about a dog, than a snake. Even with a venomous snake, I have tools that allow me to safely pick it up and relocate it. It's easier, believe me, to pick up a large rattler than an angry 30-pound dog, and I've done both.
Box Turtle
11 years ago
You know Sharon , the irony of this is that I visit sites like this to get away from nitwits who post things like, "I kill every snake that gets into my house." I really never thought I'd run into that kind of mindset here! I must be more naïve than I thought!
Sharon McKenzie
11 years ago
Unfortunately there are a lot of people who cannot be educated, Box Turtle.
Box Turtle
11 years ago
I'm afraid your right! They reject knowledge...like a little kid spitting out his cough medicine.
User
11 years ago
Back to the issue at hand....where did you kill it? I don't think that's a prairie king. That's a big eastern Milksnake.
gregbradley
11 years ago
The neighbor killed the snake, I say kill the neighbor.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 years ago
fhfchrish, I'm glad that you jumped in.....I was hoping that you would. I wasn't comfortable with the ID offered by Sharon. Beautiful snake, isn't it?

I'd like to comment on the tone that this thread adopted. It's not that difficult to be informative without being mean, strident, and harsh. Is it?

The fear of snakes is universal. The only way to overcome such a fear is by education. You accomplish nothing by brow beating and ridiculing the person who is frightened by the mere sight of a snake.

Who among us wouldn't reject knowledge when offered in the way seen in this thread? I've been cringing at some of the comments and ashamed of myself for not saying something sooner.
Box Turtle
11 years ago
rhizo_1 You would agree though that with the exception of kidhorn2 & gregbradley most of the comments have been polite and informative, right? Photos like the one shared by geistert will typically solicit indignant replies on this type of forum. You can be indignant though and civil...they are not mutually exclusive, right?
michaelreading
11 years ago
I'd say any animal that comes into my house uninvited is fair game to be killed. But I'm an uneducated dolt.

Snake Identification Help? It was in our house!

Sharon McKenzie

Comments (18)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

Sharon McKenzie

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