Found this little dude in our garage today! We very carefully moved him outside into the shrubs so he is safe, but I’d love to know what he is.
I was thinking Eastern Milksnake but there are a few that look similar. We are in SE Ohio.
He kind of looks like my corn snake.
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Looks like Eastern Milksnake to me based on that V or Y pattern on the back of the head/neck, but there are a few with similar patterns.
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In Florida we call that a corn snake
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Looks like a plain old rat snake to me. 
Compare to the second to last photo down the right hand side https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/elaobs.htm
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Here’s the milk snake. apparently they look banded from the top, rather than the splotches of the rat snake. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these.
https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/lamtri.htm
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It was weird when I looked at identification sites some looked banded and some looked patchy so I didn’t feel like I could make a call!
Thank you! We have rat snakes but thei have always been black. I didn’t know they came in other colors.
I’m really hoping it is one of the snakes that eat venomous snakes.
Do you know how long it was?
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Baby rat/black snakes are blotchy, to hide in leaves.
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Just a little guy! No more big around than a penny and maybe 14-16”
That is great! I’m really hoping rat snake as they will eat venomous snakes and we have a few of those! Plus anything that eats mice is always welcome!!
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OP, thank you for posting. And all, thank you for your educated input. I hope many read this.
Around here it seems most people are proud of killing any snake they see - and we don’t have anything that’s even close to dangerous. I hope those that aren’t killing them are just not mentioning seeing snakes.
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Black Rat snake- it is a juvenile. Great snake to have around as they will keep down the rodent population. If you have chickens they will eat your eggs and even young chicks as well. They can get fairly large, 3-4 feet, but the average is about 2 to 2.5 feet. Generally they don’t consume venonmous snakes as a rule, like Indigo snakes, which they are often confused with.
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We have some big rat snakes!
Pulled this guy out of the shed we were tearing down so he wouldn’t get hurt. I didn’t realize they weren’t black as babies!!
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Oh Yea, rats snakes are great to have around. Just be aware, when threatened they have a ferocious bite despite their small size. I got caught by one when I stuck my hand in a bag of feed, one dark morning. Yowsa!!
When I had chickens I could tell how many snakes lived in the barn as they each ate one egg per day.
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Nice looking adult Black rat! We don’t have Black Rat snakes here in FL.-in my area just Red and Yellow Rats. Funny thing is the difference in temperments between them- I can pick up a Red and restrain it for few minutes, then release it’s head and it won’t try and bite me- Yellow Rats, on the other hand, way more aggressive, even ones that are captive raised.
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Good eye! I didn’t realize the babies were blotchy.
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That’s a little baby! Probably a few more around too then.
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