Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this snake, I have a terrible phobia of snakes so needless to say-a camera was not on my mind. I do not believe in the senseless killing of anything, but this snake is living in some plants on my front porch. It is about 18 inches to 24 inches long, it is dark gray or black and it has reddish diamond shapes on its back. Not all the way to its tail, which is narrow and skinny with no rattler, just the same color as its body. It is about an inch around at the largest part of it. and the head looks to be a narrow triangular shape, but I could be wrong because I really do not want to get that close. I will try to get a pic, but I can't promise. It's enough for me just to walk out the door to my car. I need to know if this is a poisonous snake or not. Either way he needs to be relocated-SOON. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Unable to identify FL snake
Replies (4)
....here's an excellent pic of a young black racer (Taken by Bill Love..Blue Chameleon Ventures)
If so... it is harmless and most likely feeding on the brown anoles (lizards) in your hedges.
Depending on its age it may be darker or lighter at this time.
It will eventually lose all the "markings" and become solid gray/black.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!
No, nothing like that--solid dark gray/black with reddish diamond shapes--definitely not a rattler--I do know that much. My boyfrined fessed up and said he had run it off a few days ago, but obviously it's back. He said that it was not aggressive at all, he seems to think that it might be some type of Rat Snake. My boyfriend has lived on this lake for many years--he knows his snakes well, but even he has never seen one like this. We even have an Indigo Snake that lives in the undeveloped lot next to us-he crosses the yard in the a.m. and comes back through in the p.m. The snake is eating the frogs and salamanders on the front porch according to my boyfriend. We live on a coastal dune lake in the panhandle of Florida, so needless to say we do see a lot of snakes. That comes with living there--that's ok--I just don't want them living on my front porch. My boyfriend thought about relocating it, but we are afraid someone will kill it just because it's a snake. I have tried everything to overcome this phobia, even touching them-but to no avail--it took me almost 30 minutes to get the courage up to open the front door and run to my car. I don't want to hurt them, I just freak out at the thought of them so close to me.
n/m
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld
If it is eating what you said it is, it is probably a Florida water snake. Corns eat anoles as youngsters, & while they may eat frogs, that is more the preferred diet of the young yellow ratsnake.
~~Greg~~
