What kind of snake is this?

[Mr. Sandman]

While walking the dog in the woods, I nearly stepped on this guy. I know nothing about snakes. I don't see many snakes out here. Can I cast this?

[Swimmer]

Looks like a Garter snake. My golden loves terrorizing them in the garden. Pretty harmless.

[spence]

Looks like a regular gartner snake...you could cast it, but it will squirt a load of smelly goo all over you as you rig it up

-spence

[leptar]

brown snake and no.

garter has stripes... and you can handle a garter without getting smelly

[MakoMike]

Can't see the head too well, is the belly light yellow or orange colored? Did it have a thin orange or yellow band just behind the head? Looks like a Dekay's snake, not a garter snake. garter snakes are striped legnthwise. Dekay's snakes are harmless and most will not bite even if you pick them up. Garter snakes will bite if you pick them up, but the only risk is from infection where they bit you.

[fishpoopoo]

tastes like chicken.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Asps....Very Deadly.....You Go First.

[Rappin Mikey]

The deadly One-eyed trouser snake.

[Bronko]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Can't see the head too well, is the belly light yellow or orange colored? Did it have a thin orange or yellow band just behind the head? Looks like a Dekay's snake, not a garter snake. garter snakes are striped legnthwise. Dekay's snakes are harmless and most will not bite even if you pick them up. Garter snakes will bite if you pick them up, but the only risk is from infection where they bit you.

Dekays

[Mr. Sandman]

Here are a couple more photos...
Dekays...never heard of a that kind of snake...is it pretty common ?

[spence]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Looks like a Dekay's snake, not a garter snake. garter snakes are striped legnthwise.

Not always...even the Eastern Gartner can be brown with spots and very subtle stripes.

Looks like it might have the Dekay's stripe behind the head, although it looks a little big for a Dekay.

-spence

[missing link]

? when you approached the snake did it flatten it's head out and coil kinda like a wimpy cobra and then play dead if so I call them Hog head snakes , my wife is scared Sh1T of snakes , they come up out of the bog and sun themselfs in my back yard ,we had a lab that would seek and destroy them but he is gone now ( fried by LIGHTNING) poor Scrappy.
Link

[leptar]

http://www.snakeladyri.com/

[basswipe]

Definitely a Garter.Got one livin around the fish pond.Kinda like a mascot.

[ReelinRod]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

Here are a couple more photos...
Dekays...never heard of a that kind of snake...is it pretty common ?

My first thought was a DeKay's but now I'm seeing faint banding / blotching in these two photos and leaning towards Northern Water Snake. The size is a bit big for Dekay's gauged by the Oak leaves.

[spence]

Originally Posted by ReelinRod

My first thought was a DeKay's but now I'm seeing faint banding / blotching in these two photos and leaning towards Northern Water Snake. The size is a bit big for Dekay's gauged by the Oak leaves.

Duh, I think that's exactly what it is. Heck, I've even housed the damn creature before as a kid

The pattern is a bit dull, but it fits the profile perfectly.

-spence

[gf2020]

Look here...

http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/

[EricW]

The kind that would make me sell my house and move. (I don't really like snakes).

[basswipe]

The two most beneficial animals to humans are snakes and bats.Both are the number one eliminators of the two animals(rats and mosquitos) that spread the most deadly diseases among us(rabies and malaria).