Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys, i found a little snake this morning in my front yard, and i've never seen one like it before. it was about a foot long, primary color is black. it has thin bright yellow stripes going across the body. the underside is pale yellow. also his tongue is bright red with a black tip (fork?).. i hate to admit that i killed him.. i had never seen one like it, and have never really had ANY experience with snakes, and i was afraid my dog was gonna get a hold of him and get bit (i don't know if he's poisonous or not, but i don't think so)...i took it to work, and one of the guys said it was a ratsnake, but he's a city boy, so i'm not 100% positive...oh yeah, he had recently eaten a frog too, because when i first saw him, he was buldging, and when i got him to work (in a bucket), there was a huge frog compared to the snake's size... by the way, i live in north/central alabama, and if this makes any difference, it has been raining bad because of hurricane dennis... i don't know if the heavy rain would draw the snakes out into the open or whatever... Thanks guys

Where are you from, its a eastern garter snake i believe but i know 100 % its non-venomous and you shouldnt of killed it, why not look it up on the net? instead of going ahead and killing it..oh well whats done is done,,

i was running late for work, and i didn't have time to get online and all that.. and i didn't know for sure if it was or wasn't venomous, and i didn't want to take the chance of Oreo (my dog) getting bit.. after i had killed it, i wish i hadn't..

Well being in Alabama, snakes are mostly going to be non venomous.. there is only copperhead ( common), timber rattlesnake ( rare), and cottonmouth( concerned) unless in south alabama near all the swamps and all, u can knock the timber rattler off u should know what they look like then the cottonmouth a heavy bodied blackish to light brown snake about 4 feet for adults and look for verticle pupiles and the heat pit. and copperhead a tanish to pale brown with arrow glass pattern and a coperish head but not all have this...

Pigmy Rattlesnakes. Here is a useful link for northern Alabama.
Snakes of Northern Alabama

Ive lived here my whole life in northern alabama and never found a pygmy rattlesnake in my life... and being north alabama that site must be wrong about that...

Well, if that site is wrong about Pigmys being in Alabama then so are all the field guides. More likely, you just haven't been lucky enough to find one.

Nope there just not in my range, i have found every snake in my range thank you.. and there not in dekalb county, and i have everyone of the peterson and audobon field guides and not one say it...

Dekalb county, maybe not. Although if they don't range into Dekalb then they don't miss by much. They do occur over most of northern Alabama. Which is my point; the original poster did not say she was in Dekalb county, but rather in north/central Alabama which is most likely in the pig range, unless it is right on the border. BTW the Audubon guide's range map for Pigmys shows them across all of Alabama, but I would consider the Peterson guide an Alan Tennant's books to be more accurate.

Of Auburn University.

The guide lists the range of Sistrus as running well north of Alabama. It does not confirm that they are specifically in Decalb Co. though it is in the shaded area, but specimens are listed apparently all around it which makes it a safe bet.

I have to agree, like my own experiences with Indigos which I have never caught one in 30 years of hunting, they may well be there.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Indigos in north alabama now that is wrong lol...I know pygmys and eastern kings are common in south Alabama though.. i see alot down through mobile and bulter counties..and lee counties... All we have is the speckled and black kings in my range and around madison and limestone counties dont have any of the two either,

ok U mean in ur range sorry, nope i know for 100 % there not.. not eastern kings or pygmys, we have alot of herpetoligist around here and they have found every snake that we are suppose to have i have caught snakes that wasnt in our range though such as brown water snakes and eastern diamondback rattlers... and a yellow rat one time but probally someone released them cause the only water snakes in my range is midland and redbelly water snake.... if the two snakes you guys are talkin about in my range then there in tennessee lol and i dont think so..well eastern kings are in tennesse but pygmys?

I was fortunate enough to be taught by Dr. Mount at Auburn.

Other venomous snakes of Alabama that somehow weren't mentioned: Crotalus adamanteus, found only in the south part of the state (and vanishing rapidly), and Micrurus fulvius fulvius, which is common in the southern part of the state... and in a couple of small pockets much further north; an interesting distribution to be sure...

Most people who know my posts are aware I live in South Florida so my referance to Indigoes was an example of a snake found here. Sorry if there was a confusion.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

"copperhead a tanish to pale brown with arrow glass pattern and a coperish head but not all have this..."

Copperheads have an hourglass shaped pattern, just didnt want any confusion on anyones part.....
Brian

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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Corn snake (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
0.0.1 Great plains rat snake (TX locale)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

oh alabama im from alabama lol it is a garter snake for sure, eastern garter i should have read all the way through im from dekalb county alabama...

is it 100% definately a garter snake? all the pics i've seen of them have the yellow line(s) going straight back (except for the checkered garter snake)... this one had lines going across... does this change with age or what? also, for future reference, how do they fare as pets? i've always wanted a pet snake... i know the basics of keeping a snake as a pet, both sides of a glass tank having different temperatures, the preference of dead food because of the risk of injury, a hiding spot, like a clay pot with an access hole, or one of those small fake hollow logs... fresh water at all times, etc.. but what else would i need to worry about or be prepared for?

Ok yellow like goin across and complety black now im thinking it is a black king snake! well it doesnt have to be fed dead food, i feed mine alive just watch carefully.. ill give you a link to a black king snake pic ok? i think it might be this.how big was the snake did u put that i cant remember, black kings are rare in alabama though i havent found many here:

http://audubon.wku.edu/daviess/blkingsnake.html

copy and paste that on the address box and take a look...what county in alabama?

I have seen Eastern Kingsnakes AKA Chain kings that have yellow stripes or white or cream. Look those up here along with any other Norhtern Alabama snakes. Good Luck. Derek http://www.knology.net/~korell/nasnakes.htm

Eastern kings in Northern Alabama i dont think so, there are only speckles and black kings in north alabama and easterns in the southern part of the range....