Snake identification requested

[moshow9]

Found this little one in the front yard today. Can anyone tell me what kind of a snake this is?

Apologies if this is not the correct place to post this.

 

[Sosa]

Looks like a gopher snake.

 

[moshow9]

Thank you Sosa. :thumbup:

 

[cj65]

Garter snakes have lots of variations in the markings and have those longitudinal stripes, where gophers don't. Pick it up, does it smell bad? If so, it is a garter snake.

 

[cj65]

Here is a garter from Salton sea. They are water snakes, or more accurately found near water. Notice the longitudinal stripe in the center.

 

[cj65]

It smelled like rotting flesh.

 

[cj65]

Here are some gopher snake pics. Similar, but no longitudinal stripes.

 

[cj65]

Also, no stink.

 

[cj65]

Look at Texas checkered garter snake via Google.
http://www.herpsoftexas.org/view/snakes

 

[moshow9]

You are right Chris, the longitudinal striping does set it apart and was not something I was seeing with the photos I was pulling up on the gopher snakes. Thanks for all the phooks too! I wasn't able to smell it, looked for it this morning but it wasn't there. I'll check again later this evening.

Thank you,
Mike

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Getting specific, it's a Thamnophis marcianus, the Checkered Garter Snake. Ranges from Texas to California and northern Mexico to Kansas.

http://www.herpsoftexas.org/content/checkered-gartersnake

http://www.herpsoftexas.org will obviously take you to the home page, where you can look at all the herptiles NATIVE to Texas. Obviously, there is the occasional non-native that some idiots have released or allowed to escape. Those will not be found on this website.

Yes, I got a degree in Wildlife/Fisheries Sciences from TAMU and got to spend a lot of time in the wilds looking for non-human creatures, and being required to identify things on the fly. Beat the hell out of Chemistry, which was my FIRST choice of Major. That "D" in "Freshman Chemistry for Chemistry Majors", which assumed I already knew everything taught in Chem 101 and 102, both opened my eyes, required a quick change of Majors, and killed any chance at Vet School.

 

[Sosa]

Dang. We ain't got those in these parts haha. Good thing it wasn't a mushroom.

 

[Jamesh Bond]

Getting specific, it's a Thamnophis marcianus, the Checkered Garter Snake. Ranges from Texas to California and northern Mexico to Kansas.

http://www.herpsoftexas.org/content/checkered-gartersnake

http://www.herpsoftexas.org will obviously take you to the home page, where you can look at all the herptiles NATIVE to Texas. Obviously, there is the occasional non-native that some idiots have released or allowed to escape. Those will not be found on this website.

Yes, I got a degree in Wildlife/Fisheries Sciences from TAMU and got to spend a lot of time in the wilds looking for non-human creatures, and being required to identify things on the fly. Beat the hell out of Chemistry, which was my FIRST choice of Major. That "D" in "Freshman Chemistry for Chemistry Majors", which assumed I already knew everything taught in Chem 101 and 102, both opened my eyes, required a quick change of Majors, and killed any chance at Vet School.

This.

The stink, and the small dots on his head, are the giveaway.

 

[UffDa]

 

[cj65]

That's what I said.

 

[MikeH]

"That "D" in "Freshman Chemistry for Chemistry Majors", which assumed I already knew everything taught in Chem 101 and 102, both opened my eyes, required a quick change of Majors, and killed any chance at Vet School."

Interesting. I made a C in the same class at Auburn, but it had the same effect on me, I hated the lab, and I ended up an electrical engineer instead of a forestry major on a coin toss. Ah, youth!

 

[rcwells]

I have been catching snakes in the wild since I was about 5 years old I guess (47 now), and it's very common for most any species to "poop" on you when picked up and handled, and the smell is terrible and very hard to wash off. I have caught both countless non-poisonous as well as poisonous and almost every snake I've ever caught has done this.
I picked up a rat snake in the middle of the road a few days back, and used forefinger and thumb holding him so as not to get pooped on, but even after I had cleared him from the road and got back into my car, I could faintly smell the musk.

The first pics are the one I caught a few days ago, the others of the larger one were a few months back.

 

[moshow9]

Lots of great info here guys! My concern is the snake's location, specifically concern for the snake's safety. I can usually find it out in the same spot early in the evening. There is a drainage ditch behind the house but the front is nothing but houses and streets. I'd hate for it to get run over at some point, but wonder if moving it out to the desert at this time would be a good move or not given it's young age. Have any advice or recommendations regarding this?

 

[cj65]

Lots of great info here guys! My concern is the snake's location, specifically concern for the snake's safety. I can usually find it out in the same spot early in the evening. There is a drainage ditch behind the house but the front is nothing but houses and streets. I'd hate for it to get run over at some point, but wonder if moving it out to the desert at this time would be a good move or not given it's young age. Have any advice or recommendations regarding this?

If you can find a rural area that is riparian, move it there before it gets into fall. Otherwise, it will find its way. Snakes are more numerous than people imagine, they are just more subterranean and reclusive than other creatures. Plus, they get a bad rap. People kill them just because it is a snake. :thumbdn:

 

[zzyzzogeton]

"That "D" in "Freshman Chemistry for Chemistry Majors", which assumed I already knew everything taught in Chem 101 and 102, both opened my eyes, required a quick change of Majors, and killed any chance at Vet School."

Interesting. I made a C in the same class at Auburn, but it had the same effect on me, I hated the lab, and I ended up an electrical engineer instead of a forestry major on a coin toss. Ah, youth!

I loved lab. Made an "A" in lab. Just really sucked at the classwork part.

Lots of great info here guys! My concern is the snake's location, specifically concern for the snake's safety. I can usually find it out in the same spot early in the evening. There is a drainage ditch behind the house but the front is nothing but houses and streets. I'd hate for it to get run over at some point, but wonder if moving it out to the desert at this time would be a good move or not given it's young age. Have any advice or recommendations regarding this?

It will find its own way home. Most likely it was hunkered down between the brick and the wall waiting for the big bad human to go away so it could go about its business of looking for bugs and mice.

If you can find a rural area that is riparian, move it there before it gets into fall. Otherwise, it will find its way. Snakes are more numerous than people imagine, they are just more subterranean and reclusive than other creatures. Plus, they get a bad rap. People kill them just because it is a snake. :thumbdn:

Ophidiophobia is rampant among the females of my family. Some primal instinct thing as well as negative experiences encountering rattlers in the house at night. Around here, the only snakes to get killed on sight are rattlers and copperheads. All other snakes just get screamed by females until I show up to remove them.

I have been struck at and missed dozens of times, and struck at and hit 8 times by rattlers. Fortunately, 7x I've been struck in the barrels of my boots walking in the pastures. The one puncture I have had was a single fang near-dry strike in the arm that I took in the hayloft while moving hay bales. That one was an $800 emergency room visit. Spent over $900 when one of my dogs took an envenomated hit to the face and spent a week at the vet.