Gazebo Designs

Is this snake poisonous? Pictures included?

Hiya all! Over the last year, we have had issues with our next door neighbor. He's a good friend of ours but he completely neglects his back yard. He allows his grass to grow over 2 feet tall and does absolutely no maintenance to his yard. Normally this wouldn't be our business but his back yard is a PERFECT nesting ground for snakes. Over the last year we have had at least 8 snakes come into our yard from his. We have pets which do not like the snakes as well. He also has a gazebo which he has completely neglected, so it's starting to fall apart. I believe the nest is under the gazebo due to the fact that there is so much snake shed skin all around it. Every now and then I will cut his grass for him as a favor. He has allergies, so lawn care isn't so good for him. Almost every single time I am back there cutting his grass, I always end up killing a snake with our trimmer unintentionally. About 40 minutes ago I was out there trimming his yard, and again I ran into a snake, but this snake looks different from the previous ones. The previous ones were all black, but this one has a particular design and has a white belly (Which you can see in the pics I uploaded to photobucket.) We live in a high-end gated community here in Tampa, FL. In the 10 years I've been here, I haven't seen more than 2 random snakes in our community. Though, just from his back yard alone, we've seen lots of them. All over his back yard you can find all of the snakes shed skin. I know for sure that the mother is at least 3 to 4 feet long due to the skins we keep finding. But again, this baby snake looks different then the typical black ones. He's given me the OK to cut off parts of the gazebo to gain access to the snakes nest to get rid of them, but I sure as heck am not going to blindly confront these snakes. Here are a few pictures I uploaded to photobucket. I took these pics about 30 min ago. Thanks in advance! By the way, the snake is dead. The trimmer sliced his neck :( http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/sageuvagonyx/DSCN1233.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/sageuvagonyx/DSCN1234.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/sageuvagonyx/DSCN1235.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/sageuvagonyx/DSCN1237.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/sageuvagonyx/DSCN1238.jpg Wow, you guys are incredibly awesome! Thank you so much for the incredibly fast response! Thumbs up for all of you! By the way, I had killed the snake by mistake. I was simply trimming and didn't realize I had killed it until it was too late. I am not kidding when I say this guy's grass is REALLY tall!

Public Comments

1. No, it is not venomous. There are actually only a few venomous snakes in the world. The ones I can remember off the top of my head are rattlesnakes, coral snakes, water moccasins, cobras, and sea snakes.
2. No, doesn't look poisonous. It's hard to tell for sure for me, because I'm not from Florida and know my area better, and because the snake you took a picture of is young so it could be different from a grown snake. Every poisonous snake has a diamond shaped head, and fangs. Look at a picture of the top of the head of a cobra or rattlesnake--the poisonous snakes have a different shape. Also, the lack of fangs makes it a 'not-poisonous' snake, unless the snake is young and waiting for them to grow in. In my area (and I believe for the US east of the Missisippi), there are copperheads, water moccasins, and coral snakes to be worried about. This doesn't look like any of those, which is another reason I think it's ok.
3. No snake is poisonous-all are EDIBLE. SOME are venomous.-that is NOT.
4. That is a baby black racer, which is a completely harmless nonvenomous species. They have a pattern when they're first hatched and then they will fade to black as they age. They are usually very quick to escape if they see a person, and are in no way dangerous. They feed on lizards, frogs, and rodents and can be useful pest control. Here's a picture: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3180/3072341077_99099aa56b.jpg And the adult: http://www.mpcer.nau.edu/gewa/images/black_racer.jpg Also, snakes do not stay in "nests." Baby snakes depart as soon as they are hatched, and do not stay in any sort burrow where they are laid. Occasionally multiple snakes will hide in the same area, but black racers definitely don't den the way garter snakes and rattlesnakes will. In any case, these are harmless snakes and there's no reason to try to exterminate them which would be cruel. The wildlife is probably appreciating the small habitat considering the destruction in the surrounding suburbs.
5. It looks like a juvenile black racer to me. It would have turned into one of the normal black snakes you are used to seeing if it had been able to mature. Here is more info: http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps_of_NC/snakes/Colcon/Col_con.html If you look at the picture of the juvenile snake on this page you'll see it matches your snake very closely. Especially the eyes. Black Racers are non-venomous and eat things like mice and rats and insects so they aren't a bad snake to have around.
6. nope of course n ot
7. Baby black racer. Harmless.