[Phantom]

While out on the prowl last evening, I almost walked into this snake sitting by our garage. It was about 3 feet long. I took a few pictures, but it was dark. Can anyone tell what kind of snake this is?

[SteveZ]

Looks like the broker who advised me to buy Enron and GM stock.

All kidding aside, the following link provides a decent set of photos for most FL snakes:

http://www.southalley.com/snakes.html

[Boomer]

Phantom,

Could you ask it to come back for a retake? It's hard to see much. Can't see its head. In the last shot, is it in motion or did it just have dinner? (several courses) I guess both.

Hey, thanks for sharing! (Ug!)

Boomer

[Cassie325]

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology...nlineguide.htm

You can try this....used it before when we found a snake....yuk!

[CJ]

Why are there snakes lurking in the villages to begin with. There is so much activity, they are supposed to be scared. Where did this snake call home? These questions are bothering me....anyone want to buy a brand new lantana? I can't handle this!!!!

[GMONEY]

Hard to say, resembles a Cotton Mouth. but not sure. photo to dark. was the head shaped like a heart? could be a black snake.
alot of help i am huh??

[Aceskaters]

It looks very much like a cottonmouth, dark on top, pattern on the bottom, fat.
If it is, it is very poisonous. If you poke at it with a broom and it turns to you with a big wide open white mouth, then it's a cottonmouth. Oh, wait, don't poke at it...the dangerous snakes don't run from you...they don't have too!

[jojo]

What part of Amelia? I'm going to look carefully when I step out.

[JAV0108]

Ok, don't everyone panic. First of all, it is NOT a cotton mouth, they are only in and around water. It looks like a king snake. Did it have a black head? King and coral resemble each other but the coral has the black head and is poisonous but is usually so small that it can't get it's mouth around anything and will retreat and not attack. Unless cornered, all snakes will retreat. It was probably trying to warm itself. They usually are trying to find warmth this time of year. I know it's not fun to come upon a snake and they scare me to death too but please don't harm it and please don't panic. I really think what you saw was a king snake, (oranges and yellows and blacks in color) very harmless.

[graciegirl]

OH rats. OH no. Oh......otherbadwords. I hate snakes. Oh NO!

[The Great Fumar]

Looks like a common Mud Snake to me.......Harmless but I'll have to admit that this one is pretty big for a mud snake.........She's probably an old timer..
Snakes like to lay on cement this time of year as its warmer ...

fumar

[BMill]

My husband says it might be an Eastern Diamondback but the tail looks wrong. He said the way it is sitting it looks like one but he didn't see any rattlers on it.

Do you see a lot of snakes at The Villages?

I am so petrified of them. We live near the coast (SE Florida) so we don't see too many.

[graciegirl]

I copied this from that guide Cassie linked. Maybe it's just a ..............

Mud Snake

Kenneth L. Krysko photo.

Scientific name: Farancia abacura.

The following key will separate the two subspecies of mud snakes that are found in Florida. If you are unable to distinguish between the subspecies based on the characteristics in the key below, you probably can do so using the geographic location alone.

1a The ends of 53 or more red to pink bars from the belly extend onto its sides; found throughout Florida, except the Florida Keys. Eastern Mud snake,
Farancia abacura abacura
1b The ends of 52 or fewer reddish pink bars extend from the belly onto its sides; extreme western panhandle.

However, the belly marking look more like splotches than bands.....I am not going to ask it to sit for a painting....!

[GMONEY]

We caught a Cotton Mouth last week on 466a by colony plaza, should say caught, but hit one. Not a King unless it is a MExican King, but not around here. i believe Steve had a weblink that will help.

http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/sempyg.htm

http://www.dcnr.alabama.gov/watchabl...nakes/nfss.cfm