This creature was basking along the side of a road.
Luckily, it wasn’t a main highway.
In West Virginia, the “redneck” tradition is to swerve to run over any snake that happens to be basking in another lane.
It’s a tradition that has always bothered me.
Black rat snakes are not venomous.
Indeed, it’s a very close relative of the corn snakes that people regularly keep as pets. If you look closely at black rat snake, you can see where the corn snake’s spots would be. It’s just like what one sees with melanistic leopards and jaguars. The animal is black, but you tell where the spots would be.
I guess if you’ve never seen a black rat snake, the best way to describe them is as a very large corn snake with melanism. When they are born, though, the hatchlings of this species are spotted. As they mature, the grayish area between the spots disappears, until the snake looks almost solid black.
I’ve never understood the hatred that some people have for this species. It’s about as dangerous as a bunny rabbit. If you come across one, the tendency for the snake is for it to try to slither away, but if you get too close, it assumes a defensive posture.
Note that I said “defensive.” The snake does not attack people. It bites only when it feels threatened.
And there is no venom.
It’s just an animal that people persecute out of fear and superstition. When I was a child in elementary school, I was shocked to hear my classmates say that the snake was Satan incarnate and that the best thing to do when you see one is kill it as a way of warding off evil.
Of course, most of the people who like running over rat snakes in the road also swerve to hit box turtles, and that particular tradition makes about as much sense.
Box turtles were my “summer pets” that I’d catch and keep for a few weeks, and then I’d let them go.
People just have weird traditions in regard to animals.
They usually don’t make sense.
But I think you could do a little better than going out of your way to run over a relatively defenseless animal.
***
I’m not touching the taxonomy of this species. It’s far more contentious than wolf taxonomy. I’m calling it a black rat snake because that’s the traditional name for the species, but some scholars would call it an “Eastern rat snake.”
Of course, in West Virginia, it’s just a “black snake,” another name that is destined to cause confusion with American and Australian snakes. American copperheads are vipers, and American black snakes don’t have venom.
Yeah, we call ’em Black Snakes here in MD too. While they’re not aggressive they can get testy. Earlier this year I was getting some pots out of the eaves of my potting shed when I felt something repeatedly hit my hand. Turns out that I had disturbed the resident Black Snake (a 4 footer) while it was shedding. Needless to say I left him/her to shed in the shed in peace. (Note that though it struck me multiple times it never actually broke the skin.)
Addendum, I often have piles of wood chips courtesy of the utility company. Its not unusual for Black Snakes to lay their eggs in them. The young snakes, which look like a completely different species, hatch out in the fall and immediately start looking for places to hibernate.
I’m new to Central Florida, living in a settlement too small to be called a town. I have a large resident blacksnake. My neighbors told me that was good, that the blacksnakes keep the cottonmouths away. Maybe having a large university nearby results in more enlightened attitudes.
We just call them black snakes here in South Carolina, too. I like them, they eat the hell out of some rats. There is a big guy on my property that is 3 or 4 feet long at least that suns himself in the road in front of my house. He’s a clever fellow & always slithers away quickly when cars come. I would be really sad if someone hit him.
I am also disdainful of people who just kill animals as a matter of course without actually stopping to think if the animal is actually potentially harmful or not. Of course, I have been known to pull my truck across the road to block traffic while I pick up a box turtle out of the road. On my way to work yesterday I actually saw a family do something similar with their truck so they could haul what had to have been a 50 pound snapping turtle out of the road. So it’s not all southerners, at least!
When I was a younger woman my husband and I spent one summer working at a state park. One of our nature exhibits was a Black Rat Snake, the other was a Copperhead. We would take the Rat Snake out for visitors to touch and see that it wasn’t dangerous and explain about it’s habits. It never bothered us and we were gentle in handling it so it didn’t bite. One other person who worked there was the local “idiot” and tried to do the same thing, promptly getting bitten and peed/pooped on for his efforts, he deserved it! we also had a turtle but I don’t remember what kind now. After a couple of months all were let go out in the woods. It was great to be around them and let others see them up close. I handled Garter Snakes all the time as a kid, and lizards, these are fascinating and beautiful creatures who have a purpose if we let them be. The only truly malicious snake I can think of is Water Moccasins, they will chase you! My husband found that out.
I’ve always thought black rat snakes were gorgeous creatures, right since my Bronx Zoo reptile house volunteer days in the 1990s.
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Thank you for an intelligent post on this subject! Lately I’ve seen a lot of pictures posted on Facebook of people showing off the harmless snakes they’ve killed, and it makes me sick. I’m a little surprised I’ve seen so many, since it’s pretty hard to catch a snake. They’d rather flee than bite.
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