Had a surprise in the shop this morning.

[Joe Tilson]

I had been working in the shop this morning fettling an old craftsman #5. Someone had started making it into a scrub plane. After lacquering the tote and knob, I went in to take a break. Upon returning, as I opened the door, there was movement to my right on the counter. I eased my hand over to the light switch, turned it on and, was face to face with a black racer snake. It went one way and I backed off to give it all the room it needed. I do have a mouse in the shop that has proven hard to catch, so I decided to let Blackie Jr. take care of my problem. Can you folks work with a black snake in your shop? I named it Blackie Jr after another black racer we had it other storage building. That snake was killed in the road in front our house. No mice sounds good to me as long as it doesn't fall off a shelf on me.

[Mike Manning]

If you can handle those startling moments like you experienced already today I'd say let it help you keep your shop free of mice. Kudos to you Joe! Too many people just kill any snake no matter how helpful they are.

[Jim Van Verth]

After a copperhead bit both our dogs I've been less tolerant of them. Other snakes are okay, though I've been more careful to clear out the undergrowth since then so our yard is not very snake-friendly.

[Doug Dawson]

If you can handle those startling moments like you experienced already today I'd say let it help you keep your shop free of mice. Kudos to you Joe! Too many people just kill any snake no matter how helpful they are.

We used to have a Texas rat snake living in our garden shed. We named him Aloysius. He liked to eat rats and mice. Every now and then (i.e. on average once a month) we'd get a furious banging on our front door from a passing motorist saying, oh my gawd, you've got a giant ten foot snake headed in your general direction! Always entertaining.

[Mike Manning]

Did it look anything like this one?

407726407727

I saw this big old Coachwhip while hiking in Saguaro National Park back in 2013. I spotted it paralleling the trail about the same time I guess it spotted me because it started moving fast. I chased it about 15 yards while staying on the trail until I saw it go into this scrub bush. There was a hole in that bush by the trail so I bent down to see if I could see the snake and that first pic is exactly what I saw - it's head lifted and looking me straight in the eyes. Wild feeling that was! It was a pretty good size snake. I'd say easily between 5'-6'. After at least 5 minutes standing there taking pics and even showing it off to some passing hikers I decided to see if I could get a pic from the side. When I walked around to the side the snake hadn't moved a muscle. Left it like that. I've seen variations in Southern Arizona of this same Coachwhip that are red, pink and cream colored. They are beautiful!

[Jim Koepke]

So far it seems all we have up here is garter snakes. They are too small to eat mice. We did catch a lizard in one of the pots in the greenhouse a few days ago. My wife grabbed it and let it go under one of the tables to eat bugs.

jtk

[Jacob Reverb]

I had a similar experience in my barn shop. Caught movement one day out of the corner of my eye, so I turned, and there, on the lintel above the door, about 10" above eye level and about 18" away, was about a 5' black rat snake staring me in the face.

I've also found their shed skins in the attic and once saw one disappearing into a hole in the wall in the utility room...pretty hard to keep them out of these old buildings. Hopefully they keep the mouse and roof rat populations under control. (Also found a pretty big snapping turtle crawling out from under the house one year during nesting season...)

[Don Peters]

I live in Tucson, and we have them here. Aptly named - pretty, and amazingly fast. I don't like snakes, but they're the good guys. Leave him alone, and your mouse problem will gradually end.

[Tom M King]

I met a big Rat Snake coming down the stairs, as I was going up, in an old, abandoned at the time, house I had just started working on. We passed each other, and didn't say anything. He didn't care a bit. Rat Snakes are very docile, while Black Racers can be pretty feisty.

[ken hatch]

I live in Tucson, and we have them here. Aptly named - pretty, and amazingly fast. I don't like snakes, but they're the good guys. Leave him alone, and your mouse problem will gradually end.

This time of year it isn't rat or black snakes. it the diamond backs under the benches. So far this year it hasn't been a problem, maybe because we have the pack rats under control.

ken

[Joe Tilson]

This snake is a young racer as it still has it's diamond stripes. Tom, it wasn't to feisty. It just wanted me to leave it alone. It went right to where, I think, the mouse is living.
One good thing about it, my wife and pastor will not go in the shop. Now that's privacy.:D

Mike, It is definitely a black racer, because it has the white under it's head and throat.

It's about three feet long now. I will try to let you know about the growth progress, if it stays around.

[Marshall Harrison]

Kudos to you Joe! Too many people just kill any snake no matter how helpful they are.

If its poisonous it dies. All other snakes I leave alone. We have two dogs in the back yard so I have a zero tolerance for poisonous snakes. But we live on a small lake and in 18 years here I've only seen 2 or 3 snakes that weren't black racers.

[Frederick Skelly]

I'll pass on snakes, thanks. I cant tell the good ones from the bad ones so I avoid all of them.

Had an old friend from out west tell me his small daughter was in the fenced back yard with their beagle one day. Suddenly that beagle started barking like crazy at his daughter, kept looking at her and then back over his shoulder at something. Turned out there was a rattlesnake. That "pup" put himself between the snake and that child, barking and barking, trying to drive her further away from that snake.

Gotta love dogs.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I have a black snake that I have named Roscoe living in my stable. The last shed skin that I found last year was almost 7 ft long. I also have a copperhead living in my tractor shed. I shuffle my feet a lot to let him know when i get my tractor out.
Joe

[Joe Tilson]

I'm with Marshall on the poisonous snakes.
Joe B., I'm wondering how the copperhead has survived with the black snake around.
Copperheads usually avoid any black snake, that is, if they want to remain alive.

[Jim Andrew]

Is this a snake only thread? We had a small cat shop up last winter, and now we have no mice at all. She was wild, and it took a while to tame her down, but we talked nice to her and kept cat food out for her, and now we have baby kittens in the garage.

[Karl Andersson]

We have a 6-foot black rat snake that has lived in the yard the past 5 or so years. It goes in my tool shed or workshop when it is time to shed so nobody bothers it. I will see or hear it moving around the shelves in the open toolboxes, tarps, etc. but only once did I find it sunning itself in the open, in the middle of my workbench. It was clean that time, usually it's too cluttered for a snake to be comfortable. There is a mouse nest in my workshop somewhere too, but that snake is too big to bother with a mouse (it hasn't gotten them yet) but the baby cottontails in the yard tend to not make it to adulthood. Squirrels as well. I would relocate a poisonous snake, but they are just about gone from my area - rat snakes, however, have thrived. The toads have adapted to human invasion as well- plenty of them to patrol the garden.
Karl

[Joe Tilson]

It's amazing what woodworkers will come up with to talk about. It must be spring and life is renewed. We get froggie (pun intended), start making shavings, and talk about animals.
This is the life. Yes, I'm the one who started this mess. It goes to show, animals are part of us and are helpful in many ways. It's the circle of life. As I said, Amazing!

[Adam Grund]

I have a pond, lots of firewood, and overgrown brush. A real Snake/mice/spider heaven. I’ve grown more tolerant of snakes over the years, I just have to keep telling myself they aren’t poisonous and aren’t hurting anything. Most of what I have around here are garters, there is a 3ft black snake that lives in the pine trees across the pond. Only see him in spring and summer after heavy heavy rains.
Did have a milk snake hold up in my garage for a couple years. After half a doz attempts at relocating, I did finally get rid of him for good. Like a damn dog- id take him down the Road 1/4 mile and somehow he’d find his way back.
Probably the most unnerving is reaching for a handful of wood to throw in the boiler, only to uncover a couple garters. So far I’ve been lucky enough to uncover them, not have them fall out of the wood in my hand on me

[Jake Rothermel]

Nope. Nope. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOPE. Lock up the shop. Board the windows. Burn the house down. Only way to be sure.

I quote the famous Henry Jones Jr., "Snakes... Why'd it have to be snakes...."

[lowell holmes]

I would only kill rattle snakes, water moccasins, and copper heads if they are in my yard.

I don't confront any snake if I am out and about.

[Jim Mackell]

Some years back, visiting my sons place in Maryland, a black rat snake dropped down from the rafters in his garden shed. Scared the living crap out of both of us. Being from Maine, the only snakes we are familiar with are the little garden snakes. He went after it with a hoe, I used an axe. We won after a fierce battle! Wife said it was the funniest thing she ever saw.

Now that we know what it is, we leave them alone. There are always one or two around his property.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

I watched a small black snake slither into my shop/garage last year, then lost track of it. Amazing how all those black power cords look like a snake. Have to admit they creep me out.

[James Waldron]

My son's first home was in a community called "Tiger Hole Swamp" that was actually adjacent a decent sized swamp of the same name. Produced that most prolific numbers of water moccasins, an aggressive strain that will charge at a dog, a child and even an adult. Quick buggers, too. Son kept a machete at hand when in the yard and in hand when the dog started barking or one of the things was spotted. Got a lot of use out of that machete while he lived there.

[Jim Tobias]

My wife and I saw this one sunning last summer near the deck. This photo was taken from about 15' above. It was around 5-6' long. It's been around for years as I find the shed skin nearly every year in the same place....just under an overhanging edge of the siding on the house where it uses the siding to help pull off the skin I suppose.
Left him alone and we have no mice, rodents. I have killed a couple of copperheads along the street in front of our house over the last 2 summers.

Jim408083