Nope nope nope. Not a visitor. An INTRUDER! Eeeeeek!

See those pretty round pupils? Not venomous. The patterning looks like a bull snake or one of the rat snakes. It's beautiful, lucky you.

Snakes are beautiful. And they help us by eating rodents.

There's venomous snakes around here but "here" where I live, I've only seen Black Racers, Corn Snakes, tiny little Ring Necks, Florida Banded Water Snakes, Yellow Rat Snakes, etc., nothing "under foot" that is venomous. (so far)

I don't know what your snake is but probably someone in "Reptiles & Amphibians" could tell you. I'd like to know too.

The snakes I see, I appreciate.

Pretty sure it is a Rat Snake. I am calling her April!

!!!!!!

Nope, Not, no way no how!!! I would be dead of a heart attack. Only good snake is a dead snake or not with eye view of me.

April is a nice looking snake.

Oops.

A juvenile, right? And will turn black as she ages? How nice that she picked your porch, and not the porch of a person who would be more frightened of her :-)

No thanks. Good grief.

I’d jump a mile high if I saw that, although it’s fascinating to see. I even jump at the garter snakes I see once in awhile.

When I first move to Florida I was pulling weeds and got a handful of Glass Lizard. :)

Until I posted the image I thought it was some sort of strange Garter Snake. Might as well have been a snake, my reaction was the same.

In Ohio I would hunt Mushrooms, Ginseng, Yellow Root, and just explore.

I'm 66 now and truthfully, I can't say I've ever encountered a venomous snake. I've always chocked it up to being heavy footed... I stomp.

Of course tomorrow... who knows? :)

I would say rat snake too. There was a big rat snake here, but she got ran over in front of my place. I was thrilled to find a young rat snake in my barn a few days ago. Probably her offspring. Snakes do so much good. It is very easy to recognize a non poisonous snake from a poisonous one. There is no reason to be afraid of them. I never bother any of them.

Unfortunately the round eye is not dispositive of whether or not a snake is poisonous...in fact most of the ID rules are only in some instances. See: https://medium.com/natural-world/how-not-to-id-a-venomous-snake-8c7de2d0ca2e

Looks like a rat snake to me too. It was probably after a bird or other small critter or just looking for a place to shed skin. They can still startle us especially when we don’t expect to see one in certain places.

I concur on the rat snake ...

I was horribly startled by a timber rattler that had decided to hide under one of my dogs water coolers. When I went to tip it over to wash it out and change the water, there it was,huge,ugly,indignant and RUDE, as if it pays the mortgage around here. It had 6 rattles. I HATE THEM. I feed a number of feral kitties around here to keep any rodents away. I would hate if they got bitten and eaten by that rattlesnake. I would hate it even more if it had gotten one of my beloved doggies.

I suppose I have no issue with a rat snake, as long as it moves in, gets the rat or whatever its after, and gets the heck on about its business without me ever seeing it. But the problem is, I ALWAYS SEE IT!!!!

I would have jumped a foot but I like snakes to look at and hold if they're non-venenmous.

She's a beauty. I like the name if indeed she is a she.

I admire all of you who can calmly talk about snakes, their beauty and benefits. I cannot - we have black racers and garter snakes here but our two dogs are outside and active, so I don't see the snakes.

No fear of snakes here either. Good for the environment and keeping rodents down.

And a fine looking visitor it is. Wish I had one! Yes, most snakes are 'good guys' and are great to have around.

I have no fear of snakes so long as I see them first. They scare the daylights out of me if I only see them in a too close encounter...or as in hounds' picture, at eye level. But if I see one at a distance or not under foot, I'm ok with that. Like this cute little guy, and he was little.

My Dad had a jury-rigged floatation platform in his pond, and I was standing on it one time and heard something rubbing up against the bottom...and I spied it going by...it was a copper head...I was not happy.

A rat snake is a good thing to have around, IMO.

Not afraid of snakes here, but not foolish enough to try and mess with them either - or any wild creature for that matter. I'm always pleased to see one in my yard, since they prey on pests and are very beautiful. Fortunately, black racers and garter snakes are the largest I've found here in suburbia.

Glass snakes are really cool and pretty shy. We have skinks too, but they're actually lizards that just look like snakes☺

When I was a kid, I used to wish for a little pet snake I could keep in my pocket, and would make pretend ones out of clay.

FWIW, most venomous snakes have heart shaped heads due to the venom glands located near their jaws, but FL coral snakes don't and they're highly venomous. It's a good idea to familiarize with what each type in your area looks like.

Pit vipers have vertical pupils. Rattle snakes, Copperheads and Cottonmouths. Coral snakes are poisonous, but have round pupils. These are the poisonous snakes in the US. Coral snakes are non aggressive and to be bit by one you would just about have to pick one up. My cats killed one and completely mangled it and they weren't bit. I have seen one Coral snake since moving here. He went on his merry way, and so did I.

We saw this guy crossing the road. He is definitely venomous. I believe he is a Timber Rattlesnake.

I would have to burn my house down.

The best way to get bitten by a snake is to mess with one. Truly pretty much everyone who gets bitten was trying to kill one, or curiosity and the ever incautious religious snake handlers. Snakes that are not poisonous can bite you and you can get a very nasty infection from that. Occasionally it is just an unhappy accident. Highly unlikely to kill you though unless you dont seek medical care.

Interesting point about coral snakes, they cant inject poison like the other snakes when the fangs are hollow, they have to chew the poison into a wound. With their tiny mouths it is very hard for them to bite a human anywhere but the fingers or toes. Possible though especially with children. Still they cant eat you so wouldnt go out of their way.

I once,during work, ran across a man lying flat out on a path taking a picture of a rattle snake that was coiled up about two feet away. I got there just in time to stop him reaching out towards the snake to take away a leaf that was blocking his view. The snake was clearly unhappy and he had collected a crowd of interested bystanders who were also too close for comfort. It took the opportunity to leave while I berated the foolish photographer.

> It's a good idea to familiarize with what each type in your area looks like.

A friend was wearing a brightly colored sweater with red, black and yellow stripes. I remembered the mnemonic I learned back in the scouts:

Red on black, venom lack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow.

I steered clear of her, because she was clearly venomous.

I was bit a few years back by a Eastern Rat Snake in my front garden. They say they are so docile they will probably only bite you if you step on them. So I must have accidentally been stepping on it. I thought I had merely snagged my leg on a thorny vine, and didn't want to jerk my leg loose since that could make some thorns go in deeper. When I reached down to dislodge the "vine" I saw it, mouth agape, teeth sunk into my calf.

I shrieked like a little girl, leaped in the air, and ran into the house. There were 6 curved rows of tiny bleeding pinpricks. I cleaned it with alcohol and antibiotic ointment, and made an appoint to see my doctor. She said she would have treated it the same way I did, and it would've been more likely to be a problem if it were a thorny vine (like a wild rose) than if it were a non-venomous snake

We haven't encountered any venomous snakes on our property, but we have a huge rat snake (about 6 feet long) who hangs out in the backyard. We've also had baby rat snakes find their way into the house and hang on the fireplace mantle or on window sills. We just catch them and put them back outside. Anyone afraid of snakes would NOT like it here. :)

"Red on black, venom lack. Red on yellow, kill a fellow."

I have a different approach:

See a snake? Start to shake.

Don't run and quake? Big mistake.

Long ago we moved into a new house on a large, as yet un-landscaped lot on the fringe of suburbia where there were a lot of undeveloped parcels and overgrown areas. I bought a power mower to cut down the weeds for fire safety. One Saturday, while doing so, two pieces of snake came shooting out the side discharge.

I turned off the mower, wheeled it back into the garage, and called a tractor weed cutting service. I never again tried to cut the weeds (relying on the tractor service) nor did I venture out into uncut underbrush at that house. We moved a few years later.

Elmer, it sounds to me like the snakes should be afraid of YOU!

I'm lucky to live in the land of no poisonous snakes, nor poisonous much of anything. I always was told we had no poisonous spiders either, so never have been afraid of either, but apparently there are some spiders out in the woodpiles that can harm you, but I don't think they are serious problems. I've never seen one, never heard of anyone being bit in the 70+ plus years I've lived here - PNW.

We have garter snakes and I don't like being startled by them, but am not afraid of them. I love when I see them in the yard/garden because they eat slugs...kind of our worst pest here in Western WA, but they move too slowly to bite, lol.

On the east side of the Cascades there are rattlesnakes, but not on the west side.

When I moved down here I was googling and finding stuff like this:

(source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/print/article/247784)

Two sixteen foot pythons in two years, both within a mile of my house.

I forgave my little dog for not wanting to go too far off the back patio at night to do his business.

I've never seen one but... I probably/definitely wouldn't want to swim in the canal at night. (or anytime really) :)

I'm amazed that so many of you are not upset by seeing a snake. We must have them here but I've ever seen two with my own eyes. One was a slim green snake in a nearby meadow. Somehow I didn't freak out. Instead kept walking. The other time was we were sitting in the back yard and something plunked me on the head. I saw the something hit the ground and it was half a snake. We surmised it must have fallen out of a hawk's grip and landed on me. I have a friend who is right now having near daily encounters with copperhead snakes on her property. I told her I'd have to sell the house and move to a high rise.

Did I miss OP's post about how she/he resolved the snake on the porch issue?

Olychick, when I lived up valley we had a garter snake den in our yard-holes in the ground where the snakes would come out en masse in the spring. Lots of little ones. Wads of snakes. Creepy if snakes make you nervous. We are supposed to have Rubber boas as well though I cant say for sure I have ever seen one. Also harmless though some people claim they are venomous. We do have Hobo spiders which do have poison but not much. Like you I have never heard of anyone being bitten.

Patricia, that is so interesting! I've lived in western WA my whole life, with some time up by the Canadian border and now in Olympia and have never even heard of a Rubber Boa! I just looked it up and the Burke has info about them and says they do live all over. Their site says they are nocturnal hunters and don't do well in the heat, so that's probably why we don't see them around our homes.They have a map showing just where they might be found.

Everything I found says they are non-venomous. And this fun factoid:

Being a non-venomous snake, when threatened the rubber boa buries its head and coils its body into a ball, leaving the tail, which resembles a head, exposed. ... Due to the rubber boa amazingly docile behavior, this species often used with children or to help people overcome their fear of snakes.

Snakes don't bother me, they aren't slimy as many people think.

Snake “April” history and update. My Ring Doorbell had recorded her arrival at 2:30 a.m. I wouldn’t have investigated otherwise. I discovered a well concealed bird nest at the back of the basket, behind the Bunny. Snake was curled up in the nest. Later in the day she ventured out for a photo shoot. Gone this morning. Hopefully she didn’t go far. I like having good snakes around!

FWIW, when I was in elementary school, our class had a field trip to a local science center where they introduced us to a corn snake, taught us about its nature and habits and about snakes in general, and invited kids to come up and touch it too. Education is a powerful tool for good, IMO.

Richard, my first meeting with a glass snake was also when I accidentally picked it up. It looked just like the water hose I was using!

Well, hounds, the good news is that the real estate market is hot in many parts of the country. It could be a good time to sell and move somewhere else. If it were me who had such an experience, I'd be packing boxes right now! ;-)

I have just recalled I have a good friend in Kansas who did a doctoral thesis on teaching children to be less fearful of things like snakes, bats, spiders-the usual eek inducers. Interesting.

After living in the land of non dangerous snakes I have to extra vigilant when I visit in the south-remind myself to be cautious with snakes.

I think that it's terrible when parents handicap their children with their own phobias. I resent the years that I spent being fearful and am so glad that I sought professional counseling to help me resolve my issues.

I would not ever get close enough to see their eyes!

rhizo, I agree completely. I didn't want my DD to be irrationally scared of spiders, so soon after she was born, I simply quit being silly about them. Parenthood: a drastic way to get over a phobia, huh? lol.

We've encounter rattlesnakes several times at our place in upstate PA. The first time happened shortly after the house was finished and DH decided to shovel wood chips into a wheelbarrow and uncovered several babies on his pitchfork. We've learned to be very cautious around the woodpile because the copperheads like to lay between the logs. A few summers ago we had a young male rattlesnake decide to take up residence under the steps to the deck. We called the state Game Warden thinking they might relocate it and they told us that they were protected and the only thing we could do was to move it away from the residence.

We were lucky because we had scheduled a forester to walk the property with us the following day and he was licensed to catch rattlesnakes for venom extraction.