# whoa! I just saw a snake! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376 "2007-04-23T22:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gatorman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@gatorman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorman)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/1 "2007-04-23T22:41:59Z")
When I got home today I saw this long black creature dash past my front door into the woods. It was a snake but it went by so fast I couldn’t positively I.D. it, any ideas? I live in central florida. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/2 "2007-04-23T22:49:39Z")
My guess is that it was a black racer, a snake that is aptly named: they go by mighty fast. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/3 "2007-04-23T22:50:20Z")
You live in Gainesville and this is your first snake? Didja just move there? 😉 I’d guess you saw a [blacksnake](http://www.floridaconservation.org/viewing/species/snakesn.html) , evidently properly called a “Southern black racer”. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/4 "2007-04-23T22:51:50Z")
Not much to go on, but if it truly was speedy, perhaps it was a [Southern Black Racer](http://myfwc.com/viewing/species/snakesn.html). ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/5 "2007-04-23T22:58:01Z")
Interesting simulpost. Here’s another [link](http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/snakechart.htm) from a snake trapper, which says: > [@](#): > > The Black Racer is probably the most common snake that I deal with in the Orlando area. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/6 "2007-04-23T23:01:44Z")
Definitely a baby black anaconda or perhaps the rare Black Florida Cobra. More mundane possibilities include a lost Water Moccasin (Cottonmouth), the only aggressive and confrontational poisonous snake in North America. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/7 "2007-04-23T23:13:36Z")
It was probably a Northern White Crawler. Well, maybe not. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/8 "2007-04-23T23:31:11Z")
Gosh, why are the answers coming so slow around here lately? Between this and the Judaism thread… Anyway, as unbelievable as it is that no one has mentioned it, I would guess it may have been a black racer. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/9 "2007-04-24T00:13:30Z")
I don’t have any idea what kind of snake it was (although I’m gonna take a WAG and say it might have been a black racer). But what really caught my eye on this post was the “See ‘Black Snake Moan’” ad from [reelzchannel.com](http://reelzchannel.com) that Google provided. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/10 "2007-04-24T01:00:29Z")
Definitely wasn’t a slow white northern racer. 😃 I have never been to Florida. My father was born there though. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/11 "2007-04-24T01:23:40Z")
Based on the description of the snake’s speed and color, it could not possibly have been a Southern Black Racer. It might have been a cross between a black racer and a black cobra; they often speed ahead of their intended victim and establish an ambush. Be very careful when you next venture outside. I recommend you wear steel leggings and walk on stilts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/12 "2007-04-24T02:42:53Z")
> [@](#): > > My guess is that it was a black racer, > [@](#): > > I’d guess you saw a blacksnake , evidently properly called a “Southern black racer”. > [@](#): > > perhaps it was a Southern Black Racer. > [@](#): > > I would guess it may have been a black racer. > [@](#): > > (although I’m gonna take a WAG and say it might have been a black racer) Nah, couldn’t have been. He said he’s in Florida, not the Marianas Trench. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/13 "2007-04-24T04:47:49Z")
Odd that someone with the username **gatorman** can’t identify a native snake. It wasn’t you, was it **gatorman** , that effed up a couple of years ago and put the picture of a _CROCODILE_ on the cover of the Florida Gator’s magazine? 😃 ---
**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:** [April 24, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/14 "2007-04-24T11:23:17Z")
While a black racer is the most likely candidate for what you saw, it is also possible that you saw an [eastern indigo snake](http://www.uga.edu/srel/eastern_indigo_snake.htm) , which is also large, black, diurnal, and found in your area. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/15 "2007-04-24T13:05:15Z")
I was unclear from your OP, which described the animal “dashing.” If it was rolling like a hoop with its tail in its mouth, you may have glimpsed the rare - and dangerous - hoop snake. ---
**Author:** ![gatorman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@gatorman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/16 "2007-04-24T15:19:13Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] Odd that someone with the username **gatorman** can’t identify a native snake. It wasn’t you, was it **gatorman** , that effed up a couple of years ago and put the picture of a _CROCODILE_ on the cover of the Florida Gator’s magazine? 😃 [/QUOTE] Haha, not being able to tell the difference between a croc and a gator is pushing it way too much. I’m an urban gator, but still very much a gator. Speaking of which, there’s nothing like knowing you went to the best university in the universe, the University of Florida. Yep, black runner it is. I was just kind of stunned to see the freakin’ snake race right in front of me as i was going to walk thru my front door, thats all. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/17 "2007-04-24T15:26:59Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I was unclear from your OP, which described the animal “dashing.” If it was rolling like a hoop with its tail in its mouth, you may have glimpsed the rare - and dangerous - hoop snake. [/QUOTE] Hoop snakes are only dangerous on hills where they can gain a big speed advantage over even the fastest humans. There are people in my hometown that wear they have been terrorized by hoop snakes. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/18 "2007-04-24T15:49:59Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Definitely a baby black anaconda or perhaps the rare Black Florida Cobra. [/QUOTE] The Black Florida Cobra isn’t _that_ rare. Maybe the OP has heard of it by its more common local name, the taintbiter. So named for its habit of nesting in toilet bowls and, well, biting your taint. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/19 "2007-04-24T16:18:53Z")
[QUOTE=gatorman] Yep, black runner it is. I was just kind of stunned to see the freakin’ snake race right in front of me as i was going to walk thru my front door, thats all. [/QUOTE] Which way does your house face? If it’s south then you’ll probably only see the northern black runner out your back door. If it’s north, then you’ll likely be witnessing the southern black runner, unless of course you’ve walked around the house or are drinking iced tea. Either way though, a black runner. Are you moving to Mississippi anytime soon? I just wanted to warn you about the plaid loper. Alabamans have named it the snake most likely to freak people out. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376/20 "2007-04-25T14:07:04Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Hoop snakes are only dangerous on hills where they can gain a big speed advantage over even the fastest humans. There are people in my hometown that wear they have been terrorized by hoop snakes. [/QUOTE] I’ve always wondered how they get back up the hill after rolling down it. Maybe one of your terror stricken neighbors can tell us. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoa-i-just-saw-a-snake/401376.md?page=2)