I walk out the front door and sure enough a four- or five-foot long, thin, beautifully marked snake is heading across our drive and into our front flower bed. I'm thinking it's another water snake, but this one's brownish, not grey, and much more clearly marked. Pretty, really. I got my snake handling tool, a rake, and tried to coax him back the way he came. He wasn't having it, but instead of striking out, he wound himself up in a knot with his head on the bottom.
Since he looked more afraid than angry, I slid the rake under him and picked him up in a lump. He decides that's his cue to move, and slithers slowly off. In a fit of unaccustomed bravery, I picked him up by his tail and used the rake to keep his head pointed in the right direction, i.e., away from me. He was fine with that. I dragged him across the yard and over to the wooded lot next door to us.
Double-checking online after the fact, I learned I was correct that this was a non-venomous snake -- not a water snake though. He was a picture perfect Texas rat snake. They can grow to six-feet long. They're distinguished by their markings, particularly the grey stripes on top of their head. They also have a bright orange tongue, which is easily distinguished in the video below. Normally they're cranky, but this one certainly wasn't. They're also called 'false rattle snakes' because sometimes they'll rapidly shake their tail against grass they're hiding in to mimic the sound of a rattle. They eat mostly mice and rats, though they'll eat birds eggs if they can get them. They're pretty good climbers. They kill their prey by constricting, and I could really feel that when I was holding him -- strong. He posed for a couple more pictures, then we let him go. My rake was 4-1/2 feet long, so he was certainly four-feet long, and maybe five. Here are a couple pictures and a video of our adventure.
