Help ID this Snake
 

This lil guy (about 8 inches long) was on my neighbors step - our son almost stepped on it! She was hoping it wasn't a baby Copper Head. I'm no snake expert but it didn't present like one to me - my best guess was it be a baby water snake. Pretty benign. Aggressive lil rascal though!

What do you guys think?


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1269883858.jpg

Not a Copperhead.
Blurry picture though...

Texas rat snake?

ya, soory about the resolution being crappy - I took it with my Blackberry froma a distance and zoomed in on MS Paint to make it bigger.

I was really against killing it but her husband (who has anger issues and is experiencing about 4 million in business debt) decided to cut its head off with a shovel.

Thats his karma he will have to deal with not mine. Unless a living creature poses a threat to life or limb, or used for food or warmth - don't kill it period. But thats just me I guess.

Harmless rat snake but don't let it go to waste, maybe a watch band ?
Here's how

Looks like a Northern Brown Snake...
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/reptiles/snakes/northern-brownsnake/Northern%20Brown%20Snake-Ron-Machmer.jpg
We used to catch those all the time... pretty docile. Looks like it might be a little thick, though... maybe its just had a lot of success in the food department lately.

At 8 inches, it could also be a young Garter Snake... any of a number of varieties...
http://k43.pbase.com/g5/94/339594/2/68409915.037a4AZ4.jpg

See how the young Garter's head is fairly large in relation to its body... and the Northern Brown's isn't? That could tell you more if you still have the snake... hard to tell from your photo.

Unfortunately, in this instance the poor thing's head is fairly gone in relation to its body, so I suspect there won't be any more photos.

yup, gone...but at least he did throw it into the pond for the catfish to eat. I really wish he didn't kill it. Ol Nut Sniffer!

I wish I had more garter snakes on my property...they eat slugs!

Not sure what it is.. but I can tell you this... any snake on the porch at my house is a dead snake... Once they invade my space they are done fer....