Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in South Central Indiana, right on the ohio River. This little guy, or girl was watching me cook dinner. just wanted to find out what kind of snake. I'm fairly new to this area so I am trying to get myself familiar with wildlife and such in this area. No more city girl for me...
Btw , everyone else around here is freaked out. Jeez i know its not poisonous. I think he'll be a good thing to keep around...
Is it true, or are these guys around here just paranoid that this snake may crawl in bed with us? I personally find this hard to believe and plus it won't eat much, as far as humans go , right?
For some reason I have a soft spot, or maybe a respect for snakes or nature in general...

Most likely a juvenile black ratsnake, but hard to tell from that angle. We can see neither the back nor the belly in that shot. From the range maps, I'd say that's the only snake that looks like that which is in your area.

~~Greg~~
Florida's Venomous Snakes

Good attitude on your part . . . and no, he won't eat anything you want to eat unless you are partial to raw mice, swallowed whole. You're right -- these are good snakes to have around. Chances are you may never see him again, or he pay pop up once or twice a year around the house and yard, doing what he does best, which is control your rodent population. And no, thye won't get in bed with you, although if they did, they'd do no harm at all.

Yes,...Like Greg stated, That's a totally harmless young Black Ratsnake. It will just mind it's own buisiness, and help keep the unwanted rodent population down in the area.

I'm glad your first response, was NOT to "flip out" and kill it, as many people would do!. Since the beginning of time, snakes have had a very undeserved stigma placed on them by people that no absolutely nothing about them.

The general public is "taught" to be afraid of them from others who have heard rediculous, unfounded stories that have been handed down from family members, and other folklore.

The truth is, people seem to be extremely fearful of the unknown. It's strange for me to understand how it can still be this way today, as just a little basic knowledge would help people understand the vast majority of snakes are totally harmless, and nothing to be feared at all.

We as a society have excelled in technology, and other areas of life in huge strides, but when it comes to a very simple animal like snakes,......we still seem to be in the "stone-age"!.

best regards, ~Doug

-----
"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"