Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi folks, we found this snake yesterday on a golf course in Auburn, Alabama. I think I messed up the posting yesterday that I tried to put on this site, so here it is again. Can anyone tell me what kind of snake it is? It was about 5.5 feet long and we found it near a pond. Thanks!

pic isn't loading.

can you describe the snake?
there's only a few snakes in the area that will be that large.

did the snake have a pattern? What colors made up the pattern? What color was the belly?
Was the head triangular or was it more of a coffin shape?
How thick was the snake?

My first guesses would be either a very large watersnake (Diamond back or Yellowbelly, but not sure if those are in your area)
Also, ratsnakes can easily reach 5.5 feet. Texas Rat, Gray Rat, Yellow Rat, Black Rat, etc.

Try reposting the pic or if you have it uploaded to photobucket.com, you can embed it or just give us the link.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

there's also a chance it could have been a really large water moccasin. If that's the case, it would be best to notify animal control or the department of wildlife and fisheries and ask them to check it out and remove it, as the bite can cause massive tissue damage and totally ruin your weekend. And in rare cases, end your life altogether.

but again, a detailed description or a photo would be needed for us to identify the snake.

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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

Trolligans, thanks so much for your reply. I have tried to embed the link to the photo again and I think I have it this time. The snake was long and slender with a light brown/black mottled pattern. Towards his head (which was fairly narrow) the pattern became black/brown stripes with flat brown ovals within the wider black strips. He was quite docile and allowed me to lift him with a ball retriever and remove him from the path (other people around here take a dim view of snakes and seem to kill them at every opportunity). I looked on tons of web sites and just could not find a picture that matched that patterning near his head...

Thanks for trying again with that photo AND for taking the time to move the snake out of harms way.

The picture is of a Ratsnake. I'd say it's a Gray Ratsnake but since I'm from an area that only has one subspecies of ratsnake I can't rule out for certain that it is not a juvenile or sub-adult Black Ratsnake. The young black and gray ratsnakes start off as hatchlings looking very similar but as the black ratsnake ages it loses its pattern and eventually turns solid black. Ratsnakes are completely harmless and as you can probably tell from the name, feed primarily on rodents (but also young birds).

check this page out:
Link

It's size would make it an adult thus it is a Gray Ratsnake. *D'oh*

Rats occasionally get up to 7-feet in length.

Thanks for clearing this up for us! It was a really striking looking creature and my kids and I were quite curious about what it might be. Thanks again...

take a little time to study the snakes features, like the slender body, the coffin-shaped head, the blotched pattern on its back and the striping near it's neck. You're likely to see quite a few snakes with these characteristics. Ratsnakes are quite common.

Good thinking with the ball retriever. You just made an improvised snake hook. Thanks for getting the snake out of harm's way. Most people just club them to death and identify them later.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

Thanks for the info. We see snakes crushed on the golf courses sometimes and I just don't get what the point is. Either ignorance or simple-mindedness, I guess. We're new to the south and finding critters like this has been great fun for my kids and I. Glad we found this site!

what you should do is learn to identify the venomous snakes in your area. I think it's the copperhead, water moccasin, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, timber (or canebrake) rattlesnake, and eastern coral snake. It's easier to learn to identify the 5 harmful ones than it is to identify about 30 non-venomous.

do a google search for "venomous snakes of alabama" and you should get some pics of these specimens.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

We actually did that very soon after we moved here last year and discovered a freshly killed snake in the construction site behind our house. Someone had chopped its head and tail, but from what we could find on the internet, it was clearly a fairly long (over 5 feet)and very thick timber rattler. Talk about an eye opener! We've seen no copperheads or cottonmouths but we know they are at our golf course, and we've seen lots of black racers and one green tree snake that my daughter literally bumped noses with one evening in the scrub forest at the back of our yard. This is definitely a 'snakey' place...