# Id this snake? (Coastal South Carolina--had baby snakes inside) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548 "2018-07-09T04:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/1 "2018-07-09T04:01:55Z")
[Pic](https://imgur.com/a/YzNNhtP). Forwarded to me from a friend. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/2 "2018-07-09T04:06:32Z")
Pine snake maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/3 "2018-07-09T04:14:30Z")
Chicken snake around here (arkansas) might be called a yellow rat snake. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/4 "2018-07-09T04:33:46Z")
I’m inclined towards a checkered version of the Eastern Garter Snake. A la [this guy](https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/thasir3.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/5 "2018-07-09T11:01:38Z")
The one of [these](http://www.whatsnakeisthat.com/category/region/southeast/south-carolina/) that looks the most like the photo is the cottonmouth. All I know is that it has your hips. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/6 "2018-07-09T12:33:36Z")
I agree with Tamerlane, although if it was fifteen inches in length or less it could have been [a northern brown snake](https://www.google.com/search?q=northern+brown+snake&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid0Z6sgpLcAhWhVN8KHb2JADoQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=861). A garter snake would be over two feet long at sexual maturity. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/7 "2018-07-09T13:10:38Z")
I’ll agree with the others and say it looks awful garter snakey to me. Ours usually aren’t quite as brown as that one, but it’s pretty close to the checkered version of our garter snakes up in WV. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/8 "2018-07-09T13:17:19Z")
Thanks, all. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/9 "2018-07-09T17:04:22Z")
Is that a rattle? (Scrolling down). Nope, head’s wrong. Not a copperhead; same reason. One company cookout the boss, as one should, gingerly opened the rental grill with his machete, as one should, yelled, “Copperhead!” and chopped it to pieces, as one should. Why bring a machete to a cookout in St Charles, IL? We had trucks coming in from our plant in Florida all the time, and he was a country boy. I bet he used a long stick to knock logs off his woodpile, too. And wore heavy leather boots when he did yard work (dad was fond of Army surplus paratrooper boots). Y’all need to be prudent. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/10 "2018-07-09T17:35:40Z")
One caveat – almost all the checkered garter snakes I [googled](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1920&bih=1089&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=-ZtDW_fiK6Ol_QbW8ZXwAw&btnG=Search&q=checkered+garter++snake) have a prominent white or pale dorsal stripe. The OP’s snake doe not appear to have one (at least, not a prominent one). ---
**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:** [July 9, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/11 "2018-07-09T21:00:20Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > One caveat – almost all the checkered garter snakes I [googled](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1920&bih=1089&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=-ZtDW_fiK6Ol_QbW8ZXwAw&btnG=Search&q=checkered+garter++snake) have a prominent white or pale dorsal stripe. The OP’s snake doe not appear to have one (at least, not a prominent one). Not a [checkered garter snake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkered_garter_snake)( which don’t occur in the Carolinas ), but rather a _checkered pattern_ [eastern garter snake](https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/thasir.htm). Completely different species. Eastern garter snakes( and most garter snakes generally )usually have that pale dorsal strip as well, but like a number of snake species than can get pretty variable. In this case this looks like one with the two side stripes, but lacking a dorsal stripe. A tricksy critter ;). A brown snake is a pretty good guess as well as they also have a variable but similar pattern, but as **Crotalus** noted they’re usually pretty small. Most of them( but not all, I’m sure )also seem to have some darker coloration towards the back of the head. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/12 "2018-07-09T22:21:28Z")
I think brown snake is the closest but there are some problems with the pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake-coastal-south-carolina-had-baby-snakes-inside/817548/13 "2018-07-10T16:39:28Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Not a [checkered garter snake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkered_garter_snake)( which don’t occur in the Carolinas ), but rather a _checkered pattern_ [eastern garter snake](https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/thasir.htm). Completely different species. Eastern garter snakes( and most garter snakes generally )usually have that pale dorsal strip as well, but like a number of snake species than can get pretty variable. In this case this looks like one with the two side stripes, but lacking a dorsal stripe. A tricksy critter ;). Ok, I’ll concur with that. One pic from your cite looks _very_ close.