What's in my house!!! Snake skin found.

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Hubby went into the pantry to find the "old" phone (he left the new-fangled on in the rain) and found a HUGE snakeskin wrapped around it! Snaky would be about 4 INCHES around the thick part and close to five feet long! I could discern no pattern on back, but I don't know if snake skins keep any patterns when shed. It does appear darker on top, sorta brownish. Is this just some monstrous black snake or king snake, or could it be something venomous (I am under the impression that copperheads stay quite a bit smaller)? I live in central NC, for species ID purposes. The likelihood is that it has been living here for some time and IS STILL IN THE HOUSE! (I'm actually more excited than scared - I like snakes MUCH better than I like mice!)

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 06, 2001

Answers

If mice have been a problem then I would expect a Rat Snake, some places called a Hog Snake; I have seen them in the rafters, they fit the size mentioned, their only interest is micechops tar tar. Could be anywhere like between the walls, it the attic, usually somewhere warm.....

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), October 06, 2001.

when I lived in NC we had black rat snakes in the house. didn't see 'em much but found there skin in the attic all the time. My grandpa in remodeling an old house and he's got a ton of 'em in his place. Glad you aren't out for blood, since rat snakes are helpful.

-- Elizabeth (lividia66@aol.com), October 06, 2001.

When we rented a house in cental NC, we had quite a few black snakes around. One year they got into the pantry to "do it". When my cat came backing out growling, I knew it wasn't a mouse making all that racket!! After they left, hubby closed off all the holes he could find. The worse was getting into the car after grocery shopping with my then 18 month old and seeing one go under the driver's seat. If I was a real woman I would have just grabbed it but instead I drove all the way home (20 minutes) just waiting to feel something slithering around my ankle! Hubby had to come home and take the seats out but never found it. I know how it got in though...Hubby had left the cardoor open a crack the night before. It never did eat that mouse that lived in the glove compartment. We had a beautiful 6 footer that I was fortunate enough to see every spring when it came out of dormancy. I love them; just not IN the living space of my house or car.

Your snake could be long gone by now. Don't they usually shed their skin early to mid summer? Or it could be hunkering down for the coming winter. In that case, keep your eyes open this spring!

But it does sound like a black snake to me. My MIL had one in her house (in cenral NC) this summer and she used one of those grabby things on a pole to pick it up and put it outside. Had to do it again the next day. It was coming in the same hole the mice were using! Good Luck!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 06, 2001.


All I can say is YUK< YUK< YUK, I hate snakes. I would be shacked up in hotel till I knew it was gone. More power to you.

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), October 06, 2001.

I usually find at least one snake skin in the attic every year. I don't dare tell my wife cause we would have to move then. One time she looked in the attic and found a shed skin and asked about it. I told her that I placed it there to scare the mice away. She bought it!

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 06, 2001.


Where's your pantry? If near the kitchen, I'd check uder the refrigerater, if in a basement, check around water heater, ubder chest freezer. I don't care for snakes, myself, but having had to deal with them, I'd take a snake over mice anyday-I have some weird pathological fear of mice. Sounds like a black snake-or rat snake to me-my husband pulled a five footer out from under our fridge once- Luckily, we don't live in that house anymore! Copperheads are generally quite a bit smaller-heres an idea-if your worried take it (the skin) over to a local highschool/college bio dept and have them i.d. it for you.

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 07, 2001.

We've had some mice in the pantry, so it's probably a rat snake or black snake, from the sound of your advice. We live in a cinderblock house and the pantry used to be a closet to the previous tenants - there are holes in the cinderblocks at closet pole height on either short wall. This is probably where the snakes and mice live, and they are no doubt using the holes to come and go. I bet if I looked in the attic, I'd find it up there. Let's not and just say we did, shall we. If I leave him alone, he'll no doubt leave me alone. I actually think it's sorta neat, all things considered.

PS What does snake-poo look like? I saw some unidentified poo in the pantry several months ago and now I am wondering if it coulda been Snaky.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 07, 2001.


I also found some unidentiable poo-like substance in the house where we had snakes under the refrigerator- husband said-yep! so I bet thats what you found.

-- Kelly (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 07, 2001.

It's a black snake skin, and 5 feet is just a small one, but don't worry, they don't bother people at all, but they absoultely love to eat rodents of all kinds, and are mortal enemies of copperheads and rattlesnakes, and will eliminate both in their territory.

I have gently "relocated" a few blacksnakes back outside with no further incident, I don't mind sharing the territory with them.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 08, 2001.


Never really had any snakes in the house...only the ones our daughters use to keep in a fish tank in their rooms when they were home. One did escape one day and end up in the kitchen...disappeared and never saw it again. Guess homestead kids have different pets than city kids !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), October 12, 2001.


I'm guessing that a blacksnake would take a kitten, so if you have a kitten, better keep in protected. I don't think the snake could take on a full grown cat, but I am curious to know what cats do when they encounter a snake. Mine have never seen one.

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 12, 2001.

We've got a 5' plus black snake living in our house.. and possibly a friend or 2 of his. He's lived here longer than we have apparently. Our house is 140 years old, so it has a stone foundation... and apparently that makes for a happy snake. I find snake skins more frequently than I'd care to... I could be a perfectly happy and content woman never seeing a snake or snake skin. But I figure if I don't bother him, he won't bother me. 8 years and so far so good!

HOWEVER... a few years ago I was doing laundry and reached my hand into the washer... Oh my gosh, there was a snake in my WASHER. I about died. I was the 'typical' hysterical woman and went crazy. It was slitering around on MY CLOTHES!!!!! I refused to go down into our basement for over a month to do laundry - either handwashed or bought new clothes - but I was NOT going back down there!!

That was about 5 years ago - and every time I open the washer, I still look before I stick my hand in there - haven't gotten over that yet!

-- Shannan (JanuaryGem2@aol.com), October 13, 2001.


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