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I'm wondering if someone can tell me what it is. I live outside Austin, TX, fairly rural location. Neighbors over the years have seen snakes around. I have lattice work on all my windows and today on the lattice work outside my bathroom window I saw a snake winding its way through the lattice. I couldn't see the head, but the body was a beautiful creamy white color, around 2 inches in diameter with some beautiful blue colors on the side or back. There was a pattern to the blue colors - it wasn't a solid pattern, it was interspersed with the white of the body. The tail was about 2 inches long, very thin and brown or tan. Since I saw only part of it, the part I saw was about 2 feet long.
I live in a duplex. A few years back, a tenant on the other side claimed he broke the bathroom window when he encountered a snake in the bathroom. We all laughed since this guy had a BIG drinking problem, but I'm not laughing today. I'm hoping this was not a dangerous snake.
Thanks in advance for all your help.

I'll be interested what others have to say. The color blue is seen on few snakes in North America, none that I can think of with a 2" diameter. It is possible that it is an escaped exotic. A further description might be of some help.

~~Greg~~

Thanks for responding. I spent some time last night looking at pictures on this site and the one that came closest to it is a female gray wandering garter - except that the proportions of color and pattern are way off. That's the closest I've ever been to a snake but I did have ample time to observe it. When I think of snakes I don't think of white and blue, however, that's what it was. Wish I'd had time to grab a camera.
Thanks again.

It just so happens that the genus Thamnophis..the garters..is one that has been known to have blue coloration, so that is a good bet to be your snake.

~~Greg~~

Thanks Greg. Before I even found this forum I tried looking at pictures of snakes onthe internet and I had no idea there were so many! Then I found this website, later on common sense told me it could have been a garter snake so I looked at the ones posted on this site and came up with the wandering female. We do have a few rattlesnakes around here from time to time (it is Texas, after all) but I've yet to encounter one.
This one I saw was a beautiful snake. I hope it comes back some day so I can get a better look. In the meantime I've been scoping out all the different forums on this website and will hone in on some I know best, like dogs.
Thanks again.
Virginia

I'm in Austin.
(Check out our local herp group site: www.austinherpsociety.org
There is a local snake ID guide.
As far as your sighting, I'd say it was a TX rat.
The facts: Climbing, creamy white belly, dark spots on sides.
Through a window, the snake could easily have had a bluish cast.
The only garters we have in Austin are definiltely not blue, though the Eastern blackneck has blacks so dark, it COULD be taken as a blue.
Hope you can ID it.
-Jack
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V.P.
Austin Herp. Soc.

Hi Jack,
Thanks for responding. I'm really getting an education about snakes since Saturday! I think you're right, that this is a Texas rat snake. The picture on the Austin website of the 4th from the right is most like what I saw but the picture shows a much bigger snake. The one I saw must have been a very young one since it wasn't that big around.
Thanks again,
Virginia

Ah, now we might be getting somewhere. You really threw me when you said that it was 2 inches in diameter. That would be HUGE for a rat snake...

Also, if you haven't run across this information yet, note that a snake that is preparing to shed its skin will have a blueish gray cast compared to it's normal color. It will look similar to the bluish areas on the photo you picked (although it looks more like a lighting issue in that photo).
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

hey guys what about a nice colored yellow bellied racer or blue racer?? id think about a 2 footer would look about like that

Blue racers can be light blue, white or yellow on the belly. I've seen all three on 2 adjacent farms in southeastern Iowa and their range probably extends down into Missouri. I doubt blues occur in Texas, however. Besides, it sounds like this snake was climbing. I've seen a baby black racer in a bush about a foot or 2 above the ground but never an adult racer. Garter snakes don't seem to climb much either. Ratsnakes, on the other hand, are well known for their climbing ability.

Bigfoot