Snake! X-post to General

Scary!! A few minutes agon my hubby called me to the hallway and there was a snake! I don't know HOW it got in the house as everything was closed up and we don't live near woods or anything. Earlier today we did have the patio door open and in fact hubby was laying out his hunting tent....he never saw anything and worked on the tent for quite awhile...hmmmmmm

I have tried to find a snake that looks like this in my snake book and on the internet but nothing looks familiar except maybe a Missauga? We see snakes in the gardne now and then but they are just garters and this was no garter snake - same colors pretty much but marked with rings/spots and not long stripes.

It was about 10-12" long, small diameter about like a woman's pinky finger. It was vividly marked in dark and light - maybe black or brownish/maroon and a cream to yellow. The marking were small but numerous and distinct - sort of like a series of small bands like a ringtail though some may have been splotchy. It reminds me of a rattlesnake though very small - and I don't think we have many rattlers in western Ohio much, if at all.

This snake was also VERY fast moving as we tried to catch it. At one point it was cupled up behind a cabinet and picked it's head up a couple inches like a cobra would. Kitty Robbie stuck his nose into the crack behind the cabinet and the snake STRUCK fast and hard at him. I am not sure it bit him but I don't think so - Robbie jumped backwards and away and seems fine though the snake actually struck him :(

Do any of you know what kind of snake this could have been?? Does it sound familiar?? Do all snakes coil, raise and strike if they feel cornered?

Well, I have no idea what kind of snake it is. If you don't live near woods or anything wilderness, it could be someones pet that got out of the house. You never know what kind of pets people have these days.

Was it a milk snake? We get those around our house. We find some in our garage and they will coil back like a Rattler and even shake their tail in an imitation.

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issu.../a8290_15c.jpg http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/co...lk%20snake.jpg

Quote:

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The Eastern Milk Snake grows to the length of about 92 cm. There are two forms that occur, one is the blotched form, and the other is the banded form. The banded form is a white/yellow color with narrow black bands around wider brick red bands, this pattern continues for the whole length of the snake , and under the belly the bands never meet. The blotched form has a "Y" pattern on the rear portion of the head. There are reddish brown blotched outlined with black. When females lay eggs they are in a clutch of up to 12. They lay their eggs in rotting logs, under wood, and in sawdust piles. The eggs are long, white, and slender, and they may adhere to one another. The Eastern Milk Snake spends a lot of time burrowed under ground, or hiding in stumps, rocks, and logs. Their diet mainly includes lizards, mice, small snakes, earthworms, frogs, and insects

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