What is it?

[hillbilly beef man]

Any snake experts know what this is? This fellow was hiding out in a dog house. He is about 12 inches long.

 

[dun]

Looks like a young black rat snake to me. But I;m sure no expert.

 

[A.J.]

Looks a lot like the water snakes we have around. Since you found it in a dog house, I'd say that's not what it is tho. They don't usually get too far away from their water source.

 

[cowboy43]

Looks like a copper head to me, a rat snake looks very similar, but this looks more like a copper head.

 

[Son of Butch]

Might be a common rat snake, but I think black rat snakes are suppose to be a lot blacker than the snake pictured
and the head seems a little too wide to be a rat snake, but maybe not....my best guess....I don't know. :???:

 

[SJB]

Easiest way to Id copperheads in pics is the black saddles are wider on the sides of the snake and narrower on the spine.

 

[JSCATTLE]

Looks like a copper head to me too .. look at his eye ball if it's pupil is slanted like a cat it's venomous.. meaning it's a copper head

 

[True Grit Farms]

The snake looks dull to me so it must be a poisonous.

 

[Jogeephus]

My guess is a brown corn snake. If the sides are dotted I would be more certain but I can't see the sides well enough. Not a cottonmouth or a brown water snake.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Not a copperhead. Wrong markings and rounded head. Its a rat/corn snake. Common name could vary by region.

 

[Craig Miller]

Chicken snake

 

[dun]

Chicken snake

Does that mean it tastes like chicken?

 

[Ryder]

If it was me I would identify it as a dead snake.

 

[dun]

Might be a common rat snake, but I think black rat snakes are suppose to be a lot blacker than the snake pictured
and the head seems a little too wide to be a rat snake, but maybe not....my best guess....I don't know. :???:

When they get older(bigger) they get a lot blacker and you can just barely make out the pattern. At only a foot, that's a pretty young snake. Even when they are only about 2 foot long they still are more grey than black. By the time time the start to get much over 3 foot they start getting darker. An easy way to tell is to look at it's belly. If the belly is light cream colored or real light yellow with that black pattern I would be pretty sure it's a black rat snake. Around here we see them about 6 inches long then a couple of feet long up to around 6 foot. It's the most common snake in this area. As an aside, when you hit one of those 6 footers with a brush hog it sure throws the chunks a long ways.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

Thanks guys. The guy that gave the house to my father-In law had a Walker hound mysteriously die in the house. He was fine one night, and the next he was dead and swelled up so much he had to cut the entrance hole larger to get him out. Found this stowaway snake when we unloaded the house, so I thought that might explain what happened to the dog, but apparently not.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Baby Copperheads, generally, have yellow on the tips of their tails. Baby Black/Rat snakes look like this one. The head is rounder and not arrowhead/triangular like a Copperhead.

I did notice, though, as TrueGrit pointed out that the snake is dull and not shiny.

 

[peg4x4]

The dog man have had bloat,that is the stomach turns .. It is a quick and terrible way to die.

 

[ga.prime]

Could've been worse.

 

[greybeard]

Mighta scared the dog to death............

 

[Workinonit Farm]

The dog man have had bloat,that is the stomach turns .. It is a quick and terrible way to die.

And it can happen rather quickly. It is a terrible thing. :frowns: