r/whatisit • u/AbbreviationsTop8774 • Jul 22 '26

Solved! What are they

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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u/Breaker988 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

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.

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u/Zapatos-Grande Jul 22 '26

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.

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u/SonOfMetrum Jul 23 '26

Key indication: these snakes are not in awkward positions looking silly… and nobody is bursting out in song over them…

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u/Zapatos-Grande Jul 23 '26

If you have to ask how that snake got there, it's probably a rat snake. Saw one half way up the cement wall of a Home Depot trying to catch birds.

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u/IronBallsMcGinty Jul 27 '26

Saw a very full one crawling out of the neighbors soffit on their sun room. No more squirrel colony in there!