# EEK! A Snake! (Help ID it) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349 "2004-05-03T21:42:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349/1 "2004-05-03T21:42:57Z")
So, I was hiking through Bentsen State Park (in Texas on Rio Grande) this weekend and ran across what I first thought was a branch lying across the path. It was silvery grey with a slight green tint. To my surprise as I came closer it slid off of the path–it was a snake, but WHAT a snake! The snake had no discernible pattern and I never saw its head. Since I never saw its front part, all I can tell you was it was 4 feet or over, but the shocker was it was big around–about as big as my forearm. It didn’t really taper at the end. Although this park is on the Rio Grande, I was not that close to the river–about .5 miles. I’ve seen Cotton Mouths (water moccasins) and this really did not look like one as it didn’t have even a faint pattern and just seemed too long and away from the river. Help me out fellow dopers, please! ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349/2 "2004-05-03T21:48:20Z")
Texas Indigo Snake - \*[Drymarchon couperi\*](http://www.cnah.org/detail.asp?id=116) ---
**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349/3 "2004-05-03T21:52:53Z")
Nope, too dark, this was a silvery-grey green. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349/4 "2004-05-03T22:03:16Z")
Woops, that’d be _Drymarchon corais_. Well, that’s the only Texan snake I can think of that would get that big. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349/5 "2004-05-03T22:08:06Z")
[_Elaphe bairdi_](http://www.cnah.org/detail.asp?id=122) Baird’s Rat Snake? Usually patterned, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eek-a-snake-help-id-it/243349/6 "2004-05-03T22:15:55Z")
> [@BottledBlondJeanie](#): > > It was silvery grey with a slight green tint. > > The snake had no discernible pattern and I never saw its head. Since I never saw its front part, all I can tell you was it was 4 feet or over, but the shocker was it was big around–about as big as my forearm. It didn’t really taper at the end. No pattern at all? That’s unusual. Nerodia erythrogaster gets kinda grey-green and the bands are sometimes faint: [http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/snakes/nerodia.erythrogaster.html](http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/snakes/nerodia.erythrogaster.html) They have a moderately heavy body and a female might not taper much towards the end. Still that’s pretty thick. I’d guess a rattlesnake would be more likely, but I would assume you would have noticed a rattle and most of those are patterned as well, though you do get oddballs occasionally ( and rattles can be lost ). You might check out the full list, taken from the one above and see if you can narrow it down: [http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/snakes/](http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/snakes/) - Tamerlane