I recently went to clean my Bluebird house from the nest of Wrens that produced 7 healthy fledglings.
But it wasn't empty.
A new tenant had taken up residence.
So I grabbed an arrow and knocked the nest to the ground.
The snake quickly slithered away into the nearby woods.
Later I looked him up by comparing the pictures I took to snakes native to the area. Turns out he is a juvenile Eastern Rat Snake (Scotophis Alleghaniensis).
It will mature into a large constricting snake that will be 6 feet in length or greater and be shiny black in color. Eastern Rat Snakes are not venomous, but may bite if handled carelessly. Rat snakes are relatively slow moving and will most often freeze when first encountering danger. This is why so many are killed on our roadways. They are excellent climbers and do get quite long. I've caught and handled these snakes in the past and just thought of them as Black snakes. Learn something new every day...
