Can someone ID this snake

gjamison

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A friend toke these pictures last summer, they where
taken in upstate ny near the finger lakes. just trying
to figure out what it is. thanks
 

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Eastern Garter Snake. That thing is really big. He looks like he's eaten some new york city subway rats.
 
I caught many Eastern Garter Snakes as a boy but never one that big. Impressive!

Maybe that's a good thing. On one of my snake hunting forays I scored big, netting a number of different types of snakes. I took them home and put them in a big aquarium in our "Utility Room" which was off of the Kitchen.

While sleeping that night I heard my Mother scream so I ran to see what was going on.
This saved her from making the full trip to my room, because that's where she was headed.

She takes me to the Kitchen and points to the throw rug in front of the sink and said "That rug's moving!"
Something she discovered while standing on it getting a glass of water. :eek:

I didn't even have to flip it back to see that it was indeed moving and when I did there must have been at least 5 of "my snakes" under there. It turns out that the lid somehow came off my aquarium. :o

I don't know how long I worked at it that night, but I think I got most of the snakes back into their temporary home. I usually only kept them for a little while then let 'em go back near where I found them.

Needless to say snakes were no longer allowed in the house.
Can't say as I blamed her when she enacted that new rule....:cool:
 
I used to catch lots of them when I was 6-7 years old to the consternation of my parents. I haven't seen one in a while though. I keep them around because they keep the mice and big bugs out of the garden.
 
absolutely not...snakes are very important if you don't want a lot of rats and mice around.

SOME snakes are very important...garters, bulls, and king snakes are great but if I see anything poisonous you better believe it will not have a head very long.

Speaking of the head, I guess the first picture might be misleading cuz the angle but that triangle looking shape is usually a could clue that you want to be careful until the snake is identified...
 
Yep, appears to be an unusually large and colorful specimen of a Garter Snake.... Probably just molted..

I don't hate snakes, but I don't like em too much either.. especially if they startle me! BANG! Bye-bye snake!
 
That is the biggest freakin' garter snake i've ever seen! :eek:

The first photo had me puzzled because the head looks heart shaped. That usually means poisonous.
 
Garters were all along our 4 acres with the creek flowing through. Thats a Grandaddy specimen!
 
Any snake on my property with a triangular head will likely soon be introduced to a Remington 870.
 
An example of a good size garter snake that startled me was last summer while trimming with a weed whacker... Trimming the edge of my cedar hedge.. (HEY, that's a rhyme!:D) The trimmer string caught about a 14 inch snake and flung it out of the weeds.. Well, I must admit I jumped a little. But without getting into the details, I'll just say weedwhacker vs 14" snake was kinda like watching a weird UFC fight! Bruce Buffer take it away... "And the winner is..... the 28cc Craftsman!!!"

I know snakes eat bugs and stuff... But they also eat my frogs and toads that I LIKE having in my yard... And they do a good enough job eating bugs and other creepy-crawlies.. The don't need any help from any stinkin, sneaky, side-windin, jumpin-out-and-scarin-the-beans-outta-me snakes! :D
 
I hope no one killed it....

...to me, it's adorable.

(No, not scared of ANY snake...the only animal that I have any phobias on are scorpions...and this is from a guy who "named" a black widow spider once!)
 
Could introduce it too a Python, Anaconda, Cobra, king cobra or Diamondback?
 
...to me, it's adorable.

(No, not scared of ANY snake...the only animal that I have any phobias on are scorpions...and this is from a guy who "named" a black widow spider once!)

Timothy Treadwell wasn't afraid of Brown Bears or Grizzlies...that sure worked out well for him :p
 
Timothy Treadwell wasn't afraid of Brown Bears or Grizzlies...that sure worked out well for him :p

If you call being turned into a pile of bear poo working out well... :D

But to the OP: I just made the connection... Why on earth would someone handle a snake they did not know if venomous or not??!! I realize that venomous snakes are very few and far between in NY.. But when in doubt, don't touch!
 
Down here in the south we have an abundance of snakes, some good some bad. Good ones are better if I see them early on and not when they scurry across my feet. Saw one garter that was about 8' in one of the mgt areas I bow hunt. Have seen rattlers streached all the way across one lane of the road and cottonmouths the size of my arm.
The rat, chicken, garter, black racers,etc. I let go on their way. Posionious snakes I try to kill since I don't want them anywhere near my grand kids.
Was coming out of the woods one afternoon and as my son was about to start up the bank to the road I saw a snake head come out of a hole in the bank. Got him away and just stuck the shotgun toward the hole and pulled the trigger. After digging pieces out of the hole with a stick I was surprized to find parts of four copperheads that had been in the hole.
Larry
 
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