SouthCountryGuy - I see your point and I don't disagree with you about terminology. You probably have seen a lot more snakes than I have since I live in New York City. I don't know why you think i'm out to kill snakes. They are not even part of my world. I'm just looking at it in the narrow focus of this thread and the person who posted this thread in the first place is a lay person asking about a snake. We are talking about snakes here as per the headline topic "Snake ID". Not Dart Frogs or Coyotes. Stay on topic. "Can please explain again how you cannot always tell the difference between a venomous (nice to see you changed from the improper poisonous) and non-venomous snake." Sure I thought I covered that but here again. There are those that are poisonous, and nonvenomous copycats, such as the scarlet king snake.. It's not easy to tell the difference for the lay person. Like if my grandmother took the dog out for a walk into the woods and the dog found a snake? Of course a zoologist would know the difference, but I'm talking about the lay person. Like if me and my college buddies went camping to the Adirondacks and a random snake crossed our path unexpectedly - a common scenario over here. They will even slither into your sleeping bag during the night. Who knows if it's poisonous or a copycat? A poisonous snake has venom, a non-poisonous snake does not. A big difference. That's the first question the doctor will ask you when you go to the hospital for a snake bite. It was very pompous and arrogant of you to mock my references. Are you the know-it-all? The reason I cited "Animal Planet" and "National Geographic" is for you to check it out for yourself. Just go to the freakin website and do some research. You just might learn something from the experts. I'm done here.

It's an Eastern Milk Snake. They are harmless and non-venomous.

King Snake. Lampropeltis triangulum, commonly known as a milk snake or milksnake, French: Couleuvre tachet�e; is a species of king snake. There are 24 subspecies of milk snakes. They are not dangerous to humans. Some milk snakes have a striking resemblance to coral snakes and this mimicry (known as Batesian mimicry) likely scares away potential predators. While both milk snakes and coral snakes possess transverse bands of red, black and yellow, a common mnemonic can be used to properly distinguish between the deadly coral snake and the harmless milk snake: "Red on yellow will kill a fellow, but red on black is a friend of Jack." "Red on yellow, deadly fellow; Red on black, venom lack." "Red and yellow will kill you fellow; Red and black is friend Jack." "Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, you're alright Jack." "Red next to black is a friend of Jack; red next to yellow will kill a fellow." "Red to yellow, kill a fellow. Red to black, venom lack." "If red touches black, you're okay Jack; if red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow." "Red next to black, you can pat him on the back; red next to yellow, he can kill a fellow." "Red next to black, venom I lack; red next to yellow, run away fellow." "Red and black, friend of Jack; red and yellow kill a fellow." "Red touches yellow, Not a nice fellow; if red touches black, good friend of Jack." "Red touch yellow, kill a fellow; red touch black, you're okay Jack." "Red touch black, good for Jack; red touch yellow, kill a fellow." "Yellow and red, you are dead; black and white you're alright." However, the Eastern milk snake (L. t. triangulum) does not resemble a coral snake; instead it tends to have similar markings to that of several other snakes, particularly the fox snake, scarlet snake and most importantly, the Massassauga rattlesnake. Milk, fox, and scarlet snakes are killed because of a resemblance to the venomous rattlesnake. Juvenile milk snakes, which are more reddish than adults, are often killed because they are mistaken for copperheads. There is enough distinction among the five to make the Eastern milk snake fairly easy to identify. Eastern milk snakes also have a light colored v-shaped or y-shaped patch on their neck. Milk snake activity is mostly nocturnal. They are primarily terrestrial and attempt to blend in with ground litter. Juvenile rat snakes are strongly patterned with brown blotches on a gray background (like miniature fox snakes). Darkening occurs rapidly as they grow. Adults are glossy black above with white lips, chin, and throat. When startled, rat snakes may freeze and wrinkle themselves into a series of kinks. If they feel further threatened, they may flee quickly or vibrate their tails in dead leaves (a form of mimicry, which makes them sound like rattlesnakes). They are also capable of producing a foul-smelling musk, which they will release onto predators if picked up. They spread the musk with their tails in hopes of deterring the threat. When cornered or provoked, Black Snakes are known to stand their ground and can become aggressive. In some instances involving larger specimens, they will often launch a counter-offensive and attempt to chase the antagonizer away. Unlike other Elaphe obsoleta whose conspicuous juvenile pattern fades into adulthood, gray rat snakes do not undergo drastic ontogenetic changes in color, or markings. These snakes retain the juvenile pattern of dark elongate dorsal blotches separated by four, or more, pale gray body scales, a light gray crown with dark striping that forms an anteriorly facing spearpoint, and a solid band which covers the eyes and extends rearward to the posterior upper labial scales. The venter is usually off-white or pale gray with darker irregular blotches, and a double row of black spots behind the divided anal plate of the vent. The dorsal scale rows around midbody are usually weakly keeled. Because the gray rat snake shares its range with other members of its species, intergrades of black/gray and yellow/gray rat snakes are not uncommon. Check the snake's scales. Rat snakes have weakly keeled scales with ridges. King snakes have smooth scales. Then there are the pupils ... Despite the snakes common name of the snake, non venomous snakes have round pupils. Poisonous snakes often have a triangular head tapering towards the mouth, with the nonpoisonous species often possessing smoothly curved, U-shaped heads. However, some nonvenomous snakes may narrow their heads to warn off predators, while some may have a naturally pointed head. A striking example of the latter is the wine snake, which has a very pronounced 'tip' to its head. In most cases, though, it is wise not to approach a snake if it has a tapering head. -Soleil H. Here is a link that might be useful: Identifying your snake.

I'd go with that. Beautiful.