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North Florida snake identification

merher Mar 24, 2011 12:01 PM

I was cleaning some horse stalls when I came across this long snake (about 3.5ft) it has multiple black stripes spanning the length of it. the stripes are clearly defined against a tan body. there is a pine tree farm near by, so maybe that's where he canes from. any help would be great.
Image

Replies (11)

Greg Longhurst Mar 24, 2011 05:06 PM

That is a yellow ratsnake, aka chicken snake . They are probably the most beneficial snake we have. They grow to over seven feet in length & feed primarily on rodents, though they will eat the occasional bird or egg if the opportunity presents itself.

The young are blotched, turning to stripes after a year or so. The youngsters feed on treefrogs. A large adult will wreak havoc on a rat's nest, eating the mother & all the young in one meal.

~~Greg~~
Venomous Snakes of Florida

merher Mar 25, 2011 09:14 PM

Thanks! It's great to know that I have a good friend in the war against our rodents around here.

Here are a couple more good shots of this guy.
http://i.imgur.com/CBnFj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4wyPa.jpg

He seems a little hurt but I do hope he sticks around; and I hope he has an apatite, because some of the rats are pretty big!

DMong Mar 24, 2011 05:38 PM

......of course!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Bigtattoo Mar 25, 2011 02:20 AM

Yep and a definite plus to have around a horse stable. Totally harmless, unless you're a rodent.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
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snaketaboo77 Mar 25, 2011 11:42 PM

Nice pic.
What CAMERA did you use, to take that pic. ?
HOW did you get the photo to come up wide like that?

merher Mar 26, 2011 01:37 PM

I used a powershot SD950 IS digital Elph. It takes some nice pictures when the light is really good, like it is in those shots. I did use gimp software to reduce the image size from 4000x3000 to 1024x768 also.

DMong Mar 26, 2011 05:05 PM

Was that snake found in the eastern Georgia/S. Carolina area by any chance?

Thanks, ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

DMong Mar 26, 2011 05:09 PM

I apparently looked at everything but the post title!..LOL!

GEEEZ!.LOL!
Image
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Greg Longhurst Mar 26, 2011 05:23 PM

Doug can read....just real slowly. Heehee ~~Greg~~

DMong Mar 26, 2011 11:13 PM

Yes, talk about feeling completely STUPID!

I noticed the post title just a split second after I clicked the "Post Message" button!..HAHAHAA!!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

LarryF Mar 27, 2011 11:43 AM

>>HOW did you get the photo to come up wide like that?

You have to use another site to host your photos. You can use any size photo in the forums here, but the KS photo gallery limits the size (or resizes) any photos you upload. (Most free sites with a lot of traffic will do this.)
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

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