Large Black Ratsnake in the Kitchen...

William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

Tuesday, 2:57 PM - Spring and summer months bring frequent, urgent calls across the 911 radio system for snakes inside people’s homes. One particular snake was quite large and worth some photography. 

Animal Control Officer Nancy Hall was called out to a Church Street home in Monroe, Georgia by a frantic woman that had a snake in her kitchen. When she arrived, ACO Hall found this long, thick Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis) stretched all the way across the kitchen table! They are typically about 3 to 4 feet long, but this one was every bit of six feet, if not a foot longer. The two bulbous lumps in his belly showed he had just enjoyed a meal of some sort.

Black Rat Snakes make up about 90% of the snake calls we receive at Walton County Animal Control. Except for giving you a heart attack, they are completely harmless to people. They love to eat birds and birds eggs straight out of the nests. Therefore, they are agile climbers and can scale the side of a sheer brick home or straight up a tree’s bark.
 
The babies and juveniles have a beautiful, distinct black and gray pattern that fades to black as the snake ages. The pattern can sometimes be faintly seen on the adults as well.

This big boy must have had a long life and story to tell. There were several scars along his girth. He was also quite the feisty fellow… perhaps that is how he survived a long life.

​At one point during the photoshoot, as he tried to slither off the stump into the leaf litter, I gained a stinging strike to my hand as he sunk his teeth into my fingers as I grabbed him mid-body.  I released him in the woods behind the shelter after his photo session to continue his happy, rat-eating life. ​​​

​Walton County, Georgia
Sunny, high 90°
Sunrise 6:21 AM, Sunset 8:45 PM
14 hours, 23 minutes