While in Maryland last week we encountered this snake. Scared the living bejesus out of us. We have no idea if it’s poisonous or not but we carefully separated it into two pieces with an axe just to be on the safe side. It had taken up residence in a garden tool shed.
Anyway, here’s a photo of the head http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/fir_na_tine/snakehead.jpg
and here’s a photo of the body http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/fir_na_tine/snakebody.jpg
Total length about 4 feet.
It’s a black rat snake, Elaphe obsoleta, a harmless but impressive constrictor.
Additional info: it was a day or two away from shedding its skin, based on the milkiness of its eyes, and might have been a bit testy due to that. They usually try to hide while in that condition.
Dang. I felt bad for running over a four-foot rattlesnake a few years ago.
Here’s a nice page on Maryland snakes. There are two that are poisonous, a copperhead and a rattler.
We were reasonably certain it wasn’t a rattlesnake or cottonmouth but we just didn’t want to take a chance. It is **very damn impressive **when it’s coiled up looking at you from just a few feet away. :eek:
Thanks for the quick ID!
Harmless (to humans) and useful snake -
Next time try throwing it back into the woods instead of killing it.
Never mind that. How good are they with crabcakes?
