What kind of snake?

Jagmandave · Apr 3, 2006

Sorry I didn't get a pic, it was moving too quickly. I was cleaning up some brush and it just came across the area I was working in.......about 4 to 5 feet long, about 1-1/2 " around, very small head, and looked light to medium grey in color. I don't think it was a "black" snake, I have seen those on my property before and this didn't look the same.
Any thoughts?

BamaRob · Apr 3, 2006

Was it solid colored or did it have banding? If it were solid, it could have been a racer or a black rat snake (either would look more grey then black if they were getting ready to shed their skin). If it had bands (black bands on grey), it was most likely a grey rat snake. Here's some photos:

Grey Rat Snake:

Black Rat Snake:

Northern Black Racer:

MrSteve · Apr 3, 2006

I am going to go with Rob on #3, sounds to be a "Black Racer".

I have so many Racers around here I am going to start giving them names. By the way, if it is a Racer, it wont hurt you. LOL but when you don't see them and they see you and they take off I guess they could give you a heart attack, they are FAST.

Jagmandave · Apr 3, 2006

No bands that I could see, didn't think about it might be getting ready to shed.......

It was definitely light grey in color - solid. It wasn't in that big of a hurry, but my cell cam wasn't close. And, it was gone before I could get back to it.

I've seen a few black snakes on my property, they're usually quite a bit bigger around than this one was......and of course - black!

This one could have gone 6 feet or more in length, now that I think about it, but wasn't as fat as the black snakes I've seen before.........

Think my 2 14lb poodles are in trouble with these guys?

Edit: Now that I look at the pic, the head looked different than the black racer, more like the black rat snake, but it seemed like the head was smaller............

wushaw · Apr 3, 2006

I don't know if y'all have blue racers in your area but that is what your describing.

SPIKER · Apr 4, 2006

I'm with wusue on this one sound like a blue racer to me, we have lots in ohio. seen 6'+ ones and are very fast movers, smaller dia for the lenght like swampy areas that have high ground, prowel along rail roads a lot here, sun on the rocks & hunt the ditch lines.

mark M

BamaRob · Apr 4, 2006

I agree that it sounds like he's describing a blue racer (a subspecies of the (black) racer). But, according to this web site, Kansas is out of the blue racer's range. ( The racer is wide-ranging in North America, but the Blue Racer subspecies has a distribution limited to south of the Great Lakes from Iowa east to Ohio and north to extreme southwestern Ontario.) And, from this web page,( A bit of southwestern Ontario, Michigan and northwestern Ohio west to southeastern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.)

Of course, that doesn't mean that a blue racer didn't find it's way to Kansas. I suspect that it was a black racer (much more common. The blue racer is listed as endangered) getting ready to shed. Disclaimer: I have been wrong before. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

If it was a blue racer, be glad you didn't kill it or you could be facing federal charges! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

BR

deerefan · Apr 4, 2006

It sounds like a snake similar to a popular one in my area...just a common grey water snake. They are pretty abundant all over the US but are harmless.

Jagmandave · Apr 4, 2006

I do have a pond...............need to go look up what a grey watersnake looks like............

Hmmm, don't remember the blotches, but it could have been - I didn't get real close to it.

deerefan · Apr 4, 2006

I had several around my pond when I first moved in...some have faint patterns, some solid grey. I don't see them too much now b/c of all the activity. They are non-poisonous but will become (like any other snake) aggressive if cornered.