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Baby black racer?

Miami phase cornsnake?

you've got yourself a nice little corn snake.

totally harmless and a great pet. no need to restrain it behind the head... even if it does bite, you won't even notice.

The photo is from the neighbor of a co-worker. I'm also wondering why the head is being restrained...

My first thought was corn snake, but the spots looked too round and regular and the background color too ashy. I've seen several local corn snakes and they didn't look quite like this one. It looked more like an eastern milk snake... so that's why I thought I'd check with the experts.

First off, did the neighbor capture it or acquire/buy it somewhere?

As the others mentioned, the harmless little tike needs no restraining. And it's definitely a "Miami" phase cornsnake, either locality-specific or captive-bred. It's a beauty either way!..

I've seen juveniles that look exactly like that one that were found down in southern Miami/Dade County as well as the next county north in Broward County, Florida. Those are some of the prettiest corns there are in my opinion...

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

.......after opening the post, I should have paid closer attention to the title of the post..LOL!

I guess that means it is indeed a "Miami phase" corn captured in central Florida, and not a locality Miami corn.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I'm told it was caught in central Florida. I've never seen a wild-type corn snake that looks so much like an Eastern Milk. It is a beauty. Thanks for the info!

Hard to tell from that photo, but are the saddle borders actually a creamy-brown coloration, or are they black?

If they are a creamy-brown, then it's a hypomelanistic(reduced melanin pigment)mutant. This would also explain the high contrasting lighter background.

This is a hypomelanistic corn as well. Typical normal hatchling corns generally have darker brownish-red saddle blotches than this because of the normal melanin pigmentation, and gradually acquire more reds and oranges in them as they mature. But when their melanin is reduced because of the mutant hypo gene, it allows the other colors to be much cleaner and vivid in the saddles as well as background coloration. Like I said, it's really tough to tell from that one darkish pic alone, but this is another very strong possibility, and hypos can also vary dramatically in their coloration and intensity.

Hypo Miami corns are known as "Crimson" corns, and there is no telling if it is actually a wild corn or an escapee. It could even be a hatchling produced from a gravid escapee adult female too now days, as LOTS of people let their captive snakes loose or they escape, etc...

~Doug

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com