Small snake- need ID

Gary Fowler · Oct 2, 2016

RobertBrown said:
I'm quite sure you are correct. That is a rat snake.....hard to say what type as colorations vary with age, location, and breeding.
Ironic that it was caught in a rat trap.....it's a very efficient predator and should be released as it will be much more effective than any trap. I have pictures of one over 4 feet killing an eating a squirrel. Looks much like that one only bigger.

The wife keeps glue traps in the garage at all corners to catch any mouse that wanders in and we usually have to dispose of at least one per week. They also have caught spiders, assorted bugs, lizards and several little brown snakes that I think are copperheads or perhaps what we call ground rattlers. I never see one more than about a foot long. What ever they are, the head shape is like a venomous snake so they go in the trashcan. Once they touch those glue traps, they don't leave. I have used vegetable oil to remove several lizards that likely are after the bugs on the glue trap. We also caught 3 sparrows on them, also likely after the bugs.
We have the bug glue traps hanging from the ceiling fan chains on our back patio and I have seen birds picking the bugs off them but never getting stuck.

RobertBrown · Oct 2, 2016

Gary Fowler said:
Man that is one big RAT SNAKE. The coloration on my rat snake made me think it was a small Anaconda

That is no rat snake. That is a Burmese Python.
Those are an invasive species here in Florida. Every year they have a hunt for them in a futile attempt to reduce the numbers.
People come here from all over the world...everybody's welcome, so come on down and bring your gun.

216 Python Challenge™ |

More than 1,000 people from 29 states registered to take part in the month-long competition to remove Burmese pythons from the Everglades ecosystem.

Grand Prize winners led by team captain Bill Booth captured a 15-foot-long python and received a $3,000 cash prize. Team members include Duane Clark, Dusty Crum and Craig Nicks.

Threepoint · Oct 2, 2016

RobertBrown said:
That is no rat snake. That is a Burmese Python.
Those are an invasive species here in Florida. Every year they have a hunt for them in a futile attempt to reduce the numbers.
People come here from all over the world...everybody's welcome, so come on down and bring your gun.

216 Python Challenge |

I think Gary was joking about Repowell's pic being a rat snake.

Biggest eastern black rat snake I've ever seen was seven feet, but no thicker than your forearm. And they are quite black by the time they get to be that size! Another large black snake we have in the Mid-Atlantic is the black racer (also called the northern black racer). Quick as the dickens, and more "aggressive" than the fairly docile black rat snake. I've seen them actually dart toward you from even a few yards away as a feint, before veering off and racing to safety. Still harmless to people, as they won't bite unless cornered. Or you inadvertently reach your arm into a log with them. :laughing: