Black Snake?

During the warmer months, snakes are busy slithering around, hunting for food and just doing their thing. Of course sometimes this occurs in our backyards. I for one have experienced this and I imagine many of you readers have as well. Often times, it turns out to be a "black snake." This term is commonly used to describe the "black snakes" that people often find in their yards. Have you ever wondered what this "black snake" that is in your or your neighbor's yard is? Well, let us take a look at that!

Pictured above is the Black Rat Snake which is one of the most commonly snakes that people encounter. It is one of the snakes often called the 'black snake." Sometimes referred to as the "chicken snake" because they like to hang around chicken coups and eat the eggs. Black Rat Snakes are excellent climbers and will often climb into trees and go for other kinds of bird eggs and even birds if they can get them. Of course, they will forage for food on the ground, looking for rodents, and other small critters. They kill their prey by
constriction.



Another commonly seen snake that
often gets called "black snake" is the Black Racer ( pictured on the left).

They are rather fast moving snakes that spend most of their time on the ground looking for lizards, small rodents, and other small critters.

They do not constrict their prey, rather they chase it down and swallow it. Not really tree climbers like the Rat Snakes, they really only go up into small trees if they are threatened. 

Then there is the Eastern Kingsnake. Known for eating other snakes, including venomous ones! They are immune to the venom. Kingsnakes will also prey on other reptile eggs, rodents, and other small critters. They kill their prey by constriction.



So the next question is, what is the difference? Well, lets dive into that a little bit and find out!


Sometimes you can identify a Black Rat Snake by the dull, white coloration that is very apparent on the one pictured on the left. However, many rat snakes do not have the coloration so that may or may not be helpful to you. If you look closely, you may notice that this snake has rough scales; the fancy term is keeled scales.

The thing about the scales is that you may have to get closer that you want and /or ought to, so another clue that may help you is that Black Rat Snakes are bigger and longer than racers and kingsnakes. According to the book Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia by Jeffrey C. Beane, Alvin L. Braswell, Joseph C. Mitchell, etc. They can get to 85 inches long! 

 In the meantime, the authors also say that Black Racers (pictured below) get up to 66 inches long. Racer's and, if you look closely, have smooth scales. Again, I would not recommend getting close enough to look if you are unsure about if it is venomous or not and if your not comfortable

 As for the Eastern Kingsnake, they either have white or yellow lines/bars. The authors of Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia write that these snakes can get up 69 inches long.

So, I will say that even with these clues, it can certainly be tricky to identify the "black snake" and does take some practice and memorization. A good field guide like the one I used as a source for this blog would a good place to go to learn to identify these snakes. I would also recommend  herpsofnc.org. It has great info and pictures of all of NC's reptiles and amphibians as well as a section that you can use to help you identify a snake you come across.