Large Snake Captured Off South Candler
Decatur Metro | July 1, 2011 | 8:50 am
James writes in…
I live off of South Candler Street in Decatur. I had to run back to my house this morning and saw several neighbors standing in my driveway. It turns out that a pretty big snake was hiding in my bushes. An Agnes Scott police officer, a Decatur police officer, and a Decatur animal control officer were at my house within a couple of minutes, and the snake was gently taken into custody. The officers were great (as usual) and one even snapped the attached pic, which I think is hilarious.
Anyone know what kind of snake that is?
Which one’s the snake?
Looks like a gray rat snake. I have a six foot long one living in my gutters.
just don’t ask me to come over and clean your gutters..
He’s a cold-hearted snake
Look into his eyes
Oh ohhh
He’s been tellin’ lies
He’s a lover boy at play
He don’t play by rules
Oh oh
Girl don’t play the fool–no
Can’t believe the only thing I could think of was Paula Abdul. Sorry, everyone.
Sneaky Snake by Tom T. Hall!
(Cold-hearted Snake is a good guilty pleasure song!)
At least you didn’t go with Sir Mix-A-Lot rhyming anaconda with Honda and Fonda…
Happy Independence Day, snake. IN SNAKE JAIL!
+1
Seems like a rat snake would be good to have around, keeping the varmints in check.
+1
Jesus H. I hate snakes.
Sounds like ‘Bama talkin’.
“snakes – why’d it have to be snakes” – indy
I don’t know why the snake had to be captured. Sounds like he/she lived there. There are snakes like this all over (well, mostly under). They should be renamed “rodent control” – and work cheap.
A snake in your driveway? Pfft, that’s nothin’. Talk to me when you find one in your living room!
(Yes, it happened to me. It was a very small snake. After some internet searching I decided that it was a worm snake. Which makes a certain amount of sense, because I’ve also found many a worm in the living room. They squeeze through the crack under my patio door to escape flooding after it rains, only to dry out and die on the carpet. I can only assume the snake followed them. With the aid of a broom and a cardboard box, I returned him/her to the wild.)
we had one in the living room once too- think it came in on our Christmas tree (yes, I have looked at each tree after that a little more carefully). I didn’t see him at first, turned around and there he was by my bare foot. My hubby has never heard me scream so loud- from the shock and eww factor. Logically I know it is harmless, but that just doesn’t always compute, particularly at toe distance…
The expression of the officer holding the snake is priceless! (Poor ol’ snake– he was just hoping for a juicy fat rodent…they’re not gonna kill him, are they?)
As the Wildlife Director at Chattahoochee Nature Center and a state-licensed reptile rehabilitator, I can tell you that it is a non-venomous black rat snake. They are the second largest snake in GA (only the Eastern indigo in middle and south GA is larger) and are FANTASTIC rodent controllers.
@Beth – very close, but gray rat snakes aren’t found this far north.
Glad to hear that it was captured safely!
Every time my exterminator tells me about capturing one of these at another customer’s home, I tell him to bring it by and let it loose in my crawlspace. He thinks I’m joking! I’d love to have a live-in anti-rodent security force.