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Snake Skin found in a garage in VA

fwong Jun 07, 2008 10:51 AM

Can anybody help me to identify what type of snake this is? The snake skin was found in my neighbor's garage in a Virginia suburb of Washington DC.
Link to Images of the Snake
Link to Images of the Snake

Replies (4)

Greg Longhurst Jun 07, 2008 04:59 PM

I can't tell for sure. Can't quite see if it has keeled scales or not. That would help a little. This much I can tell you: It is a cast skin from a non-venomous snake. Rattlesnakes have small scales on the top of the head, and there are no facial pits on your skin, ruling out copperheads & cottonmouths. The snake does does not appear to be banded, ruling out corals. If black rat snakes are common in the area, that could well be what it is. If the scales are not keeled, it is most likely a racer. Remember that the skin is shed inside out. Keels will look like indentations in the center of each scale. Rat snakes are more heavily keeled on the top third of the body, less so toward the belly.

~~Greg~~

Wyvern Jun 07, 2008 05:02 PM

scales look keeled to me. Most likely black rat snake.

Steve_Craig Jun 07, 2008 05:05 PM

Looks to be either a black ratsnake or black racer.
Steve

fwong Jun 07, 2008 09:45 PM

At least we know what we're most likely dealing with. Thanks Steve (and Greg and Wyvern) for the quick response!

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