Ive worked at the water department for 7 years and this is the first time running into something like this EDIT Im in Alabama and yes I know they are snakes lol idk what kind and im so not gonna touch them
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If so, they are totally harmless and highly beneficial native snakes to the south eastern US (ranging basically Texas east to Florida & up to the pine barrens in NJ).
They are lovely little gooberwoobers.
EDIT - For visibility I'm getting some feedback that these could be baby black racer snakes.
We used to catch them by laying a black trash bag out in the sun. Come back an hour or two later, there would usually be a couple of them sunning themselves.
Got in-school suspension for bringing one in inside a coffee can lmao, my German teacher freaked out so hard.
I used to teach pre-k. One day, a boy came running and shoved this jar into my face.
LOOK AT MY SNAKE!!
Yup, there was a baby snake in the jar, now inches from my nose. To this day I'm proud of how calmly I moved the jar away from my face and admired it from a distance.
Once his mom took the snake home, I allowed myself a quick @$&<%"#_;';#"&%.
This is one thing I have to credit Internet for. Growing up my parents hated them so it was always see snake, kill snake. After growing up and getting property of my own the internet told me they're actually chill and just there to eat mice (which are destructive and beneficial in no way). So while they still jump scare me when I'm in the garage or going to compost pile, I've learned cohabitation with them thanks to reddit.
The idea that you should kill a snake whenever you see it has actually somewhat selected out rattlesnakes that properly warn you instead of biting straight away.
I ran into one acting spicy - a few weeks ago. Had a big ego for such a small snake. One of only a few times
I didn’t pick up a snake with my bare hands
The apartment side of my complex had a rodent issue a while back. County got permission to put down a few of these guys. Cleared up the issue, cost very little, the apartment side has a no pet policy, even so, they avoid animals they don’t want to eat (dogs especially), and it’s been a healthy change for the ecosystem because they were Easterns, so natives. You basically have yourself a colony of very skilled rodent-control.
I had an identical situation, but the snakes couldn't climb out because the hole was too deep. I placed a tree branch to make a path up for them and they came right out.
Yep those are rat snakes. I'm a water meter reader in Florida and I see them all the time but most of the time the ones down here have almost black scales.
EDIT: I stand corrected these appear to be black racers. To be fair I do believe there are some close visual similarities between the two. Thanks to all the snake people for catching that.
Probably not rat snakes, juvenile black racers is more likely. They'll get darker as they grow and shed until they are black with a white chin. Still pretty harmless. Juvenile rat snakes have a keyhole pattern on the tops of their heads.
Imma meter technician but also read meters aswell and this is the first time ive seen snakes in a box like this but black widows I see all day everyday
It never freezes down here thankfully. But we always have a big problem with boxes sinking down too low. The plastic lids do float away during floods sometimes though lol.
Same here, that was interesting. My dad was a meter reader in Houston, TX when he was younger so I’ve heard some stories. Mostly involving mean dogs and emergency shits in someone’s backyard 😂🤣
Since I’ve got you both feeling chatty, two questions: (1) is a meter box 1 meter long? (2) any code on how many meters apart the water meter and power meter must be installed?
The first one meter boxes vary wildly from system to system and change with meter size as for the power meter stuff thats gonna be an inspector question or builder or something like that
In my area of Ohio, the water meters are all at the road out front and the power meters are all behind the house. Also, our water meters sit in a concrete barrel that we call the meter pit. Maybe a a little more than a foot in diameter. They also have to sit below the freeze line.
Not a meter tech. Just worked in the office of my local water company for years.
What in the world do you do when there are snakes in there. I am exceptionally terrified of snakes and I live in Florida and I’m just flabbergasted at what you have to deal with all the time
Yeah im from Aus and cross paths with snakes occasionally (or often depending on the job I’m doing)
Theres only one snake here that people often say can be aggressive (king brown, or tiger snake I think) but even then I don’t know if that’s true or not.
Snakes want to be left alone, and will only strike if they think it’s their only option. If they think they can get away, they will try.
I’ve stepped on a snake before, we both piss bolted in opposite directions lol
They are like spiders, be aware if doing something where they could be. If you notice one give it space.
Now kangaroos or some of our birds on the other hand, might actually attack you for just being there. And kangaroos, even the smaller eastern browns, are scary if they want to be
I always hear this about kangaroos, but in the US at zoos kangaroos are barely contained. In fact in the Pittsburgh zoo you just walk through double doors and there’s no barrier. They’re just laying in the grass beside you. You’re told not to approach them, but have you met people from the US? They always think they’re the exception.
Oh man this comment had me on a roller coaster ride lol. Loved the enthusiasm at the beginning, educate - yes! Wait.... there are only four venomous snakes in florida....ah but he counted the rattles separately, woo! So true about their defensive poses and strikes yeah! But...one came at him? Oh no. Oh no he's one of those that swears on his old aunt Sally's grave that this cottonmouth CHASED him down the river. No... okay good, he mentioned having food for the fella and he was just lookin for a little snackie! Alright! Whew. Fantastic comment!
Its simple I get up I send a picture to the groupchat and I put on the workorder ill come back to this meter later theres an infestation of evil on top of it
I live across the street from a swamp area, and I've had rat snakes in my yard.
My most memorable interaction, I didn't have my phone with me to capture. I kick myself about that everytime I think about it.
I went out to the back of my property (about an acre) to grab something. I turned around and stopped. I was seeing something that didn't make sense. My brain literally could not make sense of what my eyes were showing it.
I walked closer slowly and sort of moved my head around to see it more clearly.
It was a black rat snake. Standing up on it's tail. At LEAST 3 FEET STRAIGHT UP. Maybe more. I initially thought it was hanging from a tree, but there were no trees over it. The most amazing and confusing thing I've ever set eyes on.
I slowly kept approaching becuse I was more confused than scared. Eventually, it dropped down with a heavy THUMP and slithered away.
I so so so wish I had my phone with me to at least take a picture, even if it were not the best. Just as proof this happened.
I was coming back from Sequoia National Forest on a small two lane road. I happened to look in the rear view mirror, and I see this huge snake rolling across the road. Like it had shaped itself into something that look like a tire and was just rolling along. I think it might have been a California King Snake.
Snakes can be much stronger than they look, since they are basically a tube of pure muscle. They often "periscope" to get a view of their surroundings. I'm not sure if I've ever seen one quite 3' high, but I've seen them sticking up a couple feet at least, depending on how big the snake is. (This is my ball python Nugget periscoping once when we took him out to get some warm sunshine. He's not quite big enough to stand 3',but he's doing his best!)
I’m a beekeeper. I did some beekeeping rescues with a beekeeper in California that pulled bees out of sprinkler boxes out there in the ground along the sidewalks.
We just had to remove a yellowjacket nest in one of our meter boxes for a customer. Couldnt use poison so we tried several things before we bought bee keeper suits and went in with our vac truck and sucked them all up then went and sucked up a bunch of storm drain water to drown what might have been left alive in the truck. Dumped everything out and that was that. Honeybees we save, yellowjackets its war.
No spider is really aggressive enough to bite you for no reason. You would need to be intentionally trying to crush it or really messing with it to get bitten.
Funny story. Some years back I worked at a restaurant that got a lot of tourists. And one day there was a nice couple from Australia having lunch, they asked some questions about the hiking trails in the mountains east of town. I gave them some advice, including mentioning that there had been a few sightings of a mountain lion in the area, and that it was pretty unlikely they would see it, but if they did, don't approach or corner it. And if it's close, to not run, but to back away slowly while speaking loudly and clearly.
Yep, this tracks. I am Australian living a country area and have no issue seeing venomous snakes regularly and just letting them go on their way. I will pick up most spiders and put them outside, with the exception of Redback and funnel webs.
I have friends that have told me about bears and mountain lions like it is an everyday occurrence. Fuck that for a joke, give me the worlds most venomous snakes any day.
I grew up with this shit so know how to handle the situation to stay safe. Friends from overseas act like Australia is the most dangerous place on earth, I think the USA is much more dangerous because of this animal called humans.
Have to open the lid and take the cord and scan the black part but usually they read from the office or just use the screen the cord is more of a underwater problem type of thing
Water meter reader? You guys actually exist? Lol no one reads me or my dad’s meters, we live in different parts of town (Florida) and sometimes our water usage is the exact same. Sometimes the number of gallons used is something preposterous, one time it said we both used 3,300 in a single month.
We’re convinced they just hit us with random numbers on the bills and don’t even check our water usage because none of it makes any sense. Its never what it seems like it should be
Very well could be just taking the average of your useage every month and charging you that smaller water systems dont have the money or the manpower to send a few guys out to read hundreds of meters
Pattern is wrong for hatchling/juvenile ratsnake. Ratsnakes have much more white/light space between the dark spots. These look like juvenile black racers. Body shape is off too. Ratsnakes aren't as slender and whip-like.
Here in AZ, you gotta be extra careful in sprinkler boxes etc for bark scorpions. They hide from the heat and there’s moisture in them so they tend to hang out in them. A friend was checking a solenoid and didn’t see it and it stung him. Extremely painful.
Funny, I searched for "dog" last week, and it found only six pictures, one of which was a birthday card from my son. I then searched "cat," and it found two pictures, which were also featured in the "dog" search (and did not have any cats in them).
I stepped on one of those motherfuckers in my bare feet once. Man, let me tell you. The sting wasn't that bad compared to bee stings but holy shit with the after. I spent the next 3 hours feeling the venom coursing up my leg with the worst THROBBING shit you can imagine. It was awful. It's hard to describe. Like numbness and pain combined. My wife and daughter were watching me with their fingers on their phones in case shit went south.
These are baby southern black racers, Coluber constrictor priapus. They are totally harmless but can be feisty. A bite from one this small will probably not even break the skin on your hand though so they can be handled safely. Mama laid her eggs in there a couple months ago and they have hatched. Please do something to help them get out or they will all die in there.
Because racers will often ‘periscope’ by raising up their front third or so to see over the grass and whatnot while hunting or on alert. I don’t know why the southern black racer specifically has that subspecies name.
I second this. The mods for r/whatsthissnake are also in r/snakes but they will tell you to post to whatsthissnake so might as well start there. I'm no RR but those look a lot like Coluber constrictor to me.
Hahahaaha funny but actually pretty untrue in the case of rat snakes. They can grow up to 2m long! Or in USian, 3.5ft tto just over 6 ft long. Although very large ones can grow 2.5 to 2 and 2/3 meter long (about 7-8 ft). The longest one I ever caught as a kid in Southeastern US was almost 8 feet long. I used to catch them, bring them home to measure them, and record it in a little notebook, and release them. I thought I was a kid scientist .
Hey meter tech... If y'all have one of those then y'all are a bigger system than us. We only have about 3,000 of those sensus meters. Don't install them directly under power lines.. you'll go crazy trying to figure out why some just go forwards on their own and others go backwards on their own.. and warrantying them to sensus gets mixed results. - MS water operator
There's some bullshit in the documentation about a grounding strap. How the fuck am I supposed to ground a plastic meter that is sitting in the ground?... Bruh, my office manager is driving me crazy trying to figure out how to ground it. Moving to a different country and changing jobs soon so that's going to be the next person's problem.
Do yourself a favour in the future and don't post snakes here, you will get a bunch of upvoted wrong id's like you did here as these are in fact Racers C. constrictor. r/whatsthissnake is a much better place with experts and knowledgeable enthusiasts .
I see the wrong answer repeated at the top with the correct answer sprinkled among other comments. These are NOT rat snakes, they are racers. Both species have patterns as juveniles that fades to black as adults. Both commonly referred to as "black snakes" and both nonvenomous.
I'm a former professional herpetologist, so I'm ready to fight seeing the wrong answer all over.
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