Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work for an Electric Company and someone here showed me these photos of a field worker that came across two snakes inside a utility box. Does anyone know what they are? I will post another picture also.

They are black rat snakes.
Pantherophis obsoleta
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

a
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Yep, those are 2 nice looking black rat snakes. What did they do with them? I hope they didn't kill. Personally I think that only idiots who have no education at all kill snakes because they think it is a "good deed" and they feel like a hero. I think people that kill snakes for no reason other than the fact that they are scared should be tied up and shot in the face or better yet I would like to see them get their head chopped off just like they do to snakes. That would make my day

I also really, really hope those Black rats were not killed. It irritates me so much how snakes are viewed by the general public, and how people are so ignorant about them.
-Mike

And where were they found? The truck is Oklahoma Gas & Electric, so this apparently is somewhere in Oklahoma?
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MichaelB

I work for a power company too, and someone sent me the series of pic's also. The last couple of pic's show the snakes being squeezed around the neck by what looked to be some kind of oversized fuse puller. Some guy was holding the dead snakes contorted body up as if he was handling a black mamba or something. I guess he was the "brave hero" of the crew.

Dumb [bleep]ing assholes.

Hey it

Great photos, well at least the one of the two snakes in the box is. That’s the kind of thing that ends up being posted on company bulletin boards with a caption of “Look what I ran into that no one told me was part of my job description.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the snakes made it out okay.

If it’s THAT easy for two big snakes to get into those utility boxes, I’m guessing this might not be a one time occurrence. Someone could do a good (and educational) deed by circulating the information that these were totally harmless creatures who are big time rodent eaters (don’t mention how much they also like cute little birds, however), and that a manual removal painless for all concerned could have been effected by a guy wearing standard work gloves. Or by a girlie girl with no gloves. But you could leave off that last part, even if it is true.

-Joan

Hopefully, the guy that killed the snakes will get shocked on his next attempt to fix something and die. I'm not joking I wish he would die a horrible death

That is just sad. Why would you wish that? I mean...I love snakes, but I wouldnt kill someone over it or wish they would die. Education is the answer...not retaliation or ill will. People like you even give PETA a bad name...Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

Thanks.....your opinion is greatly appreciated by all.