# Id this snake?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 5, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754 "2012-10-05T00:08:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**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:** [October 5, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754/21 "2012-10-05T19:16:18Z")

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> [@lieu](#):
>
> Duly noted, **Crotalus** and thanks for the links. Ooof, those hognose freak me out. There’s just something about thick snakes that doesn’t sit well with me.

Then I hope you never meet one, because they hiss and puff up and spread their necks like a cobra. If that doesn’t scare you off, they will play dead.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754/22 "2012-10-06T01:09:13Z")

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While we are identifying snakes, we came upon this snake shedding in Laurel Hill Plantation in Mt. Pleasant, SC: [https://picasaweb.google.com/114630942014799287291/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeo\_YmZ6ujKSA#5795996361598993826](https://picasaweb.google.com/114630942014799287291/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeo_YmZ6ujKSA#5795996361598993826)

We believe that it is a yellow rat snake. It is about 4.5 inches long. Is that correct?

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**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:** [October 6, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754/23 "2012-10-06T01:16:24Z")

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Surely you don’t mean 4.5 inches long? 45 inches or 4.5 feet, maybe?

It’s tough to ID a snake skin from a photo, but if there is a little line or crease along the middle of each dorsal scale, indicating a keeled scale, and if you can make out faint indications of four stripes on the skin, then I think yellow rat snake is a good possibility.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754/24 "2012-10-06T01:22:54Z")

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Oops! 4.5 ft, as indicated by the photo. I don’t have the skin any more. We found it in a natural habitat and left it there. But yes, I believe there was a crease in each dorsal scale, but I cannot recall if it had 4 stripes on the skin. The skin gave a mottled impression.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-snake/636754/25 "2012-10-10T20:39:14Z")

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[https://picasaweb.google.com/114630942014799287291/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeo\_YmZ6ujKSA#5797782697108311490](https://picasaweb.google.com/114630942014799287291/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeo_YmZ6ujKSA#5797782697108311490) And this is a shedding we saw today. We believe this is of a black racer.

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