Found this snakeskin by my front door ... any ideas what kind?

[jeffmem]

Found this snake skin by my front door. Glad that I found it before the wife did. Any thoughts on what snakes have a green and yellow belly?

[Patton]

Nothing to worry about.

[Il Duce]

a pest eater.

[vontar]

probably a garter snake.

[Guest Askgeneral]

A naked snake?

[Guest TargetShooter84]

snake posing as nudist?

[Good_Steward]

Found this snake skin by my front door. Glad that I found it before the wife did. Any thoughts on what snakes have a green and yellow belly?

This is a garter snake. They're the good guys.

[jeffmem]

Cool. I will keep the 870 in the closet if he shows up in person.

[Oh Shoot]

Cool. I will keep the 870 in the closet if he shows up in person.

NOT cool.

Not at all.

- OS

[Guest Jamie]

NOT cool.

Not at all.

- OS

I think he means he's NOT going to shoot it... which is a good thing.

But I could be wrong.

BTW, what size was the skin? Garter snakes are usually little fellows... under 3 ft. long and maybe an inch in diameter, at largest. Most are closer to 18 inches to 2 ft. long.

J.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Jamie

[Guest jackdm3]

It was estimated that one snake is responsible for keeping control of over 100,000 mice/rats based on their ability to prevent mice from reproducing.

Certainly seem like the good guys.

[Mike.357]

kill a snake, accept the mice that get in your house

Last weekend Garufa and OS were here at the house for some .22 plinking out on my range.

I heard something fall out of a tree while we were out there. Turned around to see Mr. Black snake. What was he doing up in the tree? He was long but skinny. I am hoping he found some good meals and sticks around.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Mike.357

[Oh Shoot]

I think he means he's NOT going to shoot it... which is a good thing.

But I could be wrong. ..

Duh, on re-reading, you're probably right.

If so, mea culpa, comment retracted, hot coals on my head, I'm sorry.

- OS

[kb4ns]

Duh, on re-reading, you're probably right.

Yeah, I got a little bent outta shape at first, too. Then came to the same conclusion.

[Guest Jamie]

Looking back at the pic, if that's a standard mortar joint between 2 bricks, we're talking about a very small snake here.

So it may be a Garter snake, or a very young Blacksnake.

J.

[jeffmem]

I don't want to kill non poisonous snakes. I just need to be able to identify which are which.

[jeffmem]

I did not measure but I would guess 24" or so and maybe 1" diameter.

[Patton]

My grandfather always told a story about being a teenager and hateing snakes. He found a garter snake and went to retreive a gun or shovel to kill the snake only to return to find it eating a copper head. I don't like coming across any snake but I understand needing them.

[towerclimber37]

If you don't like snakes..get a couple of good Biological Hunter/killers..Cats kill mice, snakes...just about anything except cars.

they don't do so good with cars.

[Guest bkelm18]

I heard something fall out of a tree while we were out there. Turned around to see Mr. Black snake. What was he doing up in the tree? He was long but skinny. I am hoping he found some good meals and sticks around.

They sometimes climb trees looking for bird's nests. They eat the eggs.

[MCSCOTT]

Definately don't want to kill it. I've even grown fond of rattle snakes as far as the poisonous ones go, because they usually always give you a warning to get away from them before they strike. The one I stepped on years ago gave me a new respect for the fact that if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone and keep the pests taken care of. Once I realized I was standing on him, I took a step back and he crawled away without even rattling. He had room to move, so since I took my foot off of him I guess he didn't feel threatened. I was very lucky that day, but it really let me know that they generally wont strike unless they are cornered.

[Guest BEARMAN]

Definately don't want to kill it. I've even grown fond of rattle snakes as far as the poisonous ones go, because they usually always give you a warning to get away from them before they strike. The one I stepped on years ago gave me a new respect for the fact that if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone and keep the pests taken care of. Once I realized I was standing on him, I took a step back and he crawled away without even rattling. He had room to move, so since I took my foot off of him I guess he didn't feel threatened. I was very lucky that day, but it really let me know that they generally wont strike unless they are cornered.

Now that's what I call luck! Most would have been bitten, in that situation.

A passive Rattlesnake...cool.

95% of humans would have killed that Rattler...in that same situation...my hat's off to you MCSCOTT, for letting him walk...erh...I mean, crawl.

[Guest billwilly73]

I've caught and relocated two black snakes in the last two weeks. The dog had them cornered about 5 ft from my front door. Boy do they give off a stink when they are aggitated. One was 3.5 ft long, the other was between 5 and 6 ft. I took them down to the garage which is aprox 50 yards from the house and turned them loose.

Also a couple years ago we found a skin shed in the attic while looking for a roof leak. It was nearly 6 feet long. My younger brother freaked out.

[Ebow1]

If it was a young rattlesnake his rattle might not have been developed to the point of being capable of rattling at all. You were also very lucky to not get bit if it was a young one. Older poisonous snakes will hold back some of their venom when the snake bites, in case they need it again before they've refilled. The younger ones use every drop in one bite.

[MCSCOTT]

If it was a young rattlesnake his rattle might not have been developed to the point of being capable of rattling at all. You were also very lucky to not get bit if it was a young one. Older poisonous snakes will hold back some of their venom when the snake bites, in case they need it again before they've refilled. The younger ones use every drop in one bite.

They were always in the area where I use to live, and this particular one wasn't a young snake. Just by the lenght of the rattles I would say it had somewhere between 7 and 9. From what I always noticed with them though unless they were cornered they would head the other direction if you got close to them, and when I took the step back this particular one did just that.

It's definately not a situation that I want to be in again, but I do have a much better opinion of all snakes ever since that incident. The 12ga was only about 20 yards away just inside the back door as this happened in my barnyard area, but since he spared my life I was definately going to spare his.