# Snake ID??



## Killdee (Sep 13, 2009)

He was in the road today in Troup and looked  have been run over but still alive. Im not sure what it is. King snakes around home looked different from this one. What do yall think? He shure looks poor and skinny too.About 4-4-1/2' long.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 13, 2009)

Tony, it`s an oak snake. Some refer to them as a white oak runner. True name is gray rat snake.


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## Killdee (Sep 13, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Tony, it`s an oak snake. Some refer to them as a white oak runner. True name is gray rat snake.



Thanks Nick, I turned him loose in our wood pile at camp, maybe He'll recover and get to work.


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## danmc (Sep 13, 2009)

UGA has a really good web site about the snakes of georgia.  

http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/

They have guides for other reptiles and amphibians there too.

The same group has a snakes of the southeast book which is pretty nice.

-Dan


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## Butchhe (Sep 13, 2009)

Thanks for the link.  It gives me a idea on what to look for once I get out in the woods.


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## GaDawgs79 (Oct 6, 2009)

danmc said:


> UGA has a really good web site about the snakes of georgia.
> 
> http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/
> 
> ...



Great website   Thx


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## E_Catron (Oct 6, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Tony, it`s an oak snake. Some refer to them as a white oak runner. True name is gray rat snake.



Never heard em called Oak snake or oak runners only rat snakes...BTW not trying to be argumentative, just my .02


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## bfriendly (Oct 7, 2009)

> True name is gray rat snake.



That is what I was thinking.........Good Save!

I remember seeing a snake with a similar pattern, but it was BLACK with Bright Yellow lower trim.
I stopped the car & grabbed my 2 yo out of the car seat and showed it to him   lol..........ahh what a moment.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 7, 2009)

E_Catron said:


> Never heard em called Oak snake or oak runners only rat snakes...BTW not trying to be argumentative, just my .02



No problem. Those are just local nicknames. Down here in South Georgia, lots of stuff has regional nicknames.


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## shortround1 (Oct 7, 2009)

Killdee said:


> He was in the road today in Troup and looked  have been run over but still alive. Im not sure what it is. King snakes around home looked different from this one. What do yall think? He shure looks poor and skinny too.About 4-4-1/2' long.


rat snake, you would look poor too if u had been ran over by a car!


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## Killdee (Oct 7, 2009)

shortround1 said:


> rat snake, you would look poor too if u had been ran over by a car!



Hey I always been poor and skinny, but I aint been run over yet!!!

Yeah lots of regional snake names, like copper belly's, and pilot snakes.


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## Lane Morrell (Oct 7, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> No problem. Those are just local nicknames. Down here in South Georgia, lots of stuff has regional nicknames.



I never knew of them being called anything other than a White Oak Snake.


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## Steve Thompson (Oct 7, 2009)

Grey, Black are the same rat snake.
I saw a grey and a black mating in our garden this year.
  I've never herd of a oak snake. Never seen it in a book.


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## mbhawkins123 (Oct 7, 2009)

*snake*

gray rat snake and black rat snake are 2 diff species


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## Nicodemus (Oct 7, 2009)

Steve, I kinda doubt you`ll see that in print, other than maybe here. Rural folks down in this part of the state, have their own names for a lot of things. Trees, fish, snakes, varmints, all kinds of things.


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## germag (Oct 7, 2009)

mbhawkins123 said:


> gray rat snake and black rat snake are 2 diff species



Same species, 2 different geographic races (subspecies). There are 5 recognized races of that species and where the ranges overlap they intergrade.


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## germag (Oct 7, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Steve, I kinda doubt you`ll see that in print, other than maybe here. Rural folks down in this part of the state, have their own names for a lot of things. Trees, fish, snakes, varmints, all kinds of things.



White Oak snake or White Oak runner is actually a recognized common name for the southern populations of the gray rat snake. There has been talk from time to time or giving it it's own subspecies, but the idea really hasn't caught on. The lighter colored southern populations are known in the herpetological community as the "white oak phase" of the gray rat snake.


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## shakey gizzard (Oct 7, 2009)

germag said:


> Same species, 2 different geographic races (subspecies). There are 5 recognized races of that species and where the ranges overlap they intergrade.



Dang Hybrids!


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## timgarside (Oct 8, 2009)

bfriendly said:


> That is what I was thinking.........Good Save!
> 
> I remember seeing a snake with a similar pattern, but it was BLACK with Bright Yellow lower trim.
> I stopped the car & grabbed my 2 yo out of the car seat and showed it to him   lol..........ahh what a moment.


Sounds like you were looking at a king snake. I saw one eating a copperhead one time.


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## tullisfireball (Oct 8, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Tony, it`s an oak snake. Some refer to them as a white oak runner. True name is gray rat snake.



Nic, you are my new answer man! I believe you may be the smartest person on here! I thought it was a king snake


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## Nicodemus (Oct 8, 2009)

Tullis, Germag is our resident snake specialist. If there is ever any doubt, check with him.


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## wozbean (Oct 10, 2009)

Found this in my yard today.  Brown snake right?


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## germag (Oct 10, 2009)

Yep. Brown snake (_storeria dekayi_).


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## wozbean (Oct 10, 2009)

cool thanks.


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## oldman 45 (Oct 11, 2009)

Just being curious, what snake do South Georgians refer to as a pilot snake, up here in N GA the older generations called some rattlers a pilot said it was a female


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## germag (Oct 11, 2009)

I've heard people refer to black racers and black rat snakes as "pilot snakes".


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## NCHillbilly (Oct 12, 2009)

Up here in the mountains of NC, some of the old-timers call black rat snakes "pilot blacksnakes."


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## great white (Oct 14, 2009)

I think the rat snake is the wrong name for them, they should be called chicken snakes. In dublin i have killed 7 of them in the past 5 months. The longest being a little over 6'. These things must love chickens and eggs cause they have killed 9 of my chickens. I guess they eat the little ones and kill the big ones sitting on the nest to get the eggs. Last night my girlfriend found "red" half hanging out of her nest dead, looked like she had been squeezed to death and all her eggs missing. The snake was right above her head in the coop inbetween the tin roof and the rafter.


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