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.

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

Well stated Sharon ! I agree 100%

I kill every snake that gets into my house. Not at all the same as a dog in back yard.

Why do you kill every snake that gets into your house?

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.

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!

Unfortunately there are a lot of people who cannot be educated, Box Turtle.

I'm afraid your right! They reject knowledge...like a little kid spitting out his cough medicine.

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.

The neighbor killed the snake, I say kill the neighbor.

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.

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?

I'd say any animal that comes into my house uninvited is fair game to be killed. But I'm an uneducated dolt.