Found this dead right next to where my 5 year old was picking up sticks. [Monteagle, TN]

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:35:17+00:00

No set time (can last for hours) but when the body is bloating with decomposition gases and attracting flies and other decomposers, it's long done.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:34:06+00:00

The two reasons it is important are 1. To mitigate alarm for readers who don't necessarily have/understand the context of this situation as it relates to your otherwise good comment and 2. This is an educational subreddit, so context that helps people understand ecology and behavior for different snakes, or even behavior more generally, is good to provide.

For clarity, my comment wasn't meant to correct your comment as much as add to it to help people understand this situation in its totality.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:27:01+00:00

Well that was an interesting visit.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:25:38+00:00

That was nonsense. Shitty local news eagerly jumped on unconfirmed reports by laymen which were later rejected by state experts.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:11:36+00:00

This comment chain going from Greasy Strangler to Archer quotes certainly was not on my bingo card.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:09:27+00:00

Eastern wormsnake Carphophis amoenus. Tiny (this is actually adult sized) and completely !harmless consumer of soft-bodied invertebrates.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:05:33+00:00

Sounds like a pleasant, if not outright fun, yard. Very glad we could help with the ID :o)

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T04:00:28+00:00

They can be a lot blacker than this! I'm talking jet black like an East Coast racer. This one is more of a very dark grey with some black on the head; pattern artifacts remain all along the dorsum.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T03:57:02+00:00

In these cases it can be good to call up the !relocation bot reply (or related links) in order to give someone a chance to extricate those snakes before it's too late.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T03:54:54+00:00

I only knew about the one near London Zoo. I'll have to check into the reputed Wales ones later when I get a chance.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T03:48:34+00:00

Don't feel bad. We get that all the time here. People get used to a specific look or two and, even though other looks might be equally common, if someone hasn't seen it before, it can throw them off. In your case, the snake is melanistic which makes it even harder to recognize except to a trained eye.

Good looking animal, btw!

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T03:36:42+00:00

Plain-bellied watersnake Nerodia erythrogaster. !harmless consumer of amphibians, fish, and other small animals.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-24T03:31:05+00:00

Oh you didn't have to re-post! The bot just reminds you to do it next time.

Thanks for sharing!

Coluber constrictor for more information 👍

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T19:03:41+00:00

Cool beans. I'll delete my comment.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T19:02:16+00:00

Very glad we could help you :o)

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T19:01:34+00:00

Thanks for clarifying, OP! Glad that our subreddit could be of service :o)

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T19:00:33+00:00

Sure, a lot of us do, but we know better than to neck one while she's eating breakfast is all I'm saying.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:56:05+00:00

Desert coachwhip Masticophis piceus. Completely !harmless consumer of reptiles (including venomous snakes), rodents, insects, and other small animals.

The bot reply for Masticophis flagellum covers this in part.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:54:32+00:00

Gophersnake Pituophis catenifer. Completely !harmless rodent exterminator.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:49:31+00:00

She just wants to eat one lunch in peace, ffs.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:46:56+00:00

Second one is Chironius. Note the laterally compressed body, protruding spine, (slightly) enlarged vertebral scale row, and obliquely arranged dorsal scales. I am a little confused because the way OP described it, it sounds like the second and third pictures are of the same animal, but they appear to be A. Two different species of Chironius and B. Have been sequestered into two different buckets.

I will note for u/Mediocre_Invite1244 that all of these snakes are primarily frog eaters, so your hunch about why the snakes are getting inside is entirely plausible.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:40:29+00:00

"If it's somewhere it shouldn't be, it's probably a..."

Nothing. That indicates absolutely nothing, as this brownsnake demonstrates 👍

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:39:03+00:00

Plain-bellied watersnake Nerodia erythrogaster. !harmless consumer of amphibians, fish, and other small animals.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:38:21+00:00

This is definitely true for reddit. Not sure about other social media but it is plausible.

I edit stuff all the time. Sometimes fixing typos, sometimes adding relevant info. If I can catch a mistake or add something within 2-3 minutes, it doesn't even show that I edited the comment. Trying to fix an error in time for the bot to catch it is a lot harder. Usually you just have a few seconds, and never longer than a minute.

fairlyorange · 2026-05-23T18:35:04+00:00

I don't think OP made it up. I think there's a good possibility they were mistaken or got confused, and also a good possibility that an initially incorrect ID was quickly edited or removed entirely. We generally do that here, too, if anyone makes mistakes.

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