Help ID Snake in Attic

[dboranch]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and not exactly sure how to maneuver around in it but I was wondering if you could help me. I went into my garage and kept hearing a hissing sound over my head so I looked up above the door and saw this snake dangling down at me. He kept hissing and when I walked by, he try to strike at me from up there (very brazen snake). My house and garage are connected by a breezeway so I am guessing that this snake has full access to the attic in my house. I live out in the country in Central Calif east of Fresno and I have seen plenty of gopher snakes, King snakes and Mtn King snakes. I raise chickens and have an abundant rodent population so snakes love to hang out (which was fine with me) but so far they have always been on the ground. My husband thought this was a gopher snake but I took the 2nd picture of another snake inside my chicken pen which I was told was a gopher snake and the two do not look alike to me. I tried to investigate on the internet and read that there are Rat snakes that can climb walls into attics but the only Rat snake I saw that lives in CA is black colored. Can you help me ID this snake that would live in my area and give me any information you can about it? Sorry it's not a better picture but just like Bigfoot & UFOs, the pictures never come out clear!

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[FWK]

Hi dboranch! Very sorry for the slow response, your post only showed up today and I just got home from work. New posters have to be approved. The second snake is definitely a Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer), and the first appears to be as well. Gopher Snakes are not the skilled climbers Rat Snakes are but they are still very capable in their own right, though they do tend to stick to the ground. Genetically Gophers are not far removed from Rat Snakes, you could think of them as first cousins. The only Rat Snake species ever recorded in Cali is the Baja California Ratsnake (Bogertophis rosaliae), only a single specimen has been officially recorded near the Mexican border and its validity is the subject of much debate. A good clue as to this critters identity is the fact that it hissed at you, Gophers are well know for their ability to hiss. Rat Snakes do not hiss. Californiaherps.com is a great source of information for all things herps (reptiles/amphibians) in Cali, here is their page on Pacific Gophers (http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/p.c.catenifer.html). Note the variation in color, but the pattern mostly stays the same. If you have any more questions or get any more pictures please do post, now that you've been approved your posts should show up much quicker.

[toddnbecka]

Not generally being climing snakes the one that was hissing was probably feeling a bit out of his/her usual element. Nowhere to escape quickly or easily like when on the ground, so feeling nervous and defensive when you walked past. Harmless in any case, gopher snakes are famous for hissing and bluffing, but not for actually biting.

[dboranch]

Thank you all for the help. Since it is a gopher snake then I don't think it would prefer to hang out in my attic then but hopefully it will eat more before moving on. I forgot to mention that when I first saw it and it was hissing, the last remnants of a rat's tail was going down it's mouth. I guess they can hiss with their mouth full!

[LiL Zap]

Beautiful snake. Consider him nature's pest control. Also, thank you for not killing him. It's really disappointing when a lot of these snake ID threads are from recently killed snakes.

[dboranch]

I appreciate the beauty of a snake and their benefit to my out of control rodent population but I must admit, I never expected to see one dangling down over my head and hissing at me. It gave me quite a scare to say the least! Once when I was shoving a hose down a gopher hole in my garden, I had another big scare when suddenly out from the water sprang a huge gopher snake!

[toddnbecka]

Thank you all for the help. Since it is a gopher snake then I don't think it would prefer to hang out in my attic then but hopefully it will eat more before moving on. I forgot to mention that when I first saw it and it was hissing, the last remnants of a rat's tail was going down it's mouth. I guess they can hiss with their mouth full!

I'd rather find a hissing snake than the rat it was swallowing roaming the attic. Ya, they can hiss (and breathe) while swallowing their meal, would be pretty tough to hold their breath long enough to get a big one down. He/she was probably telling you to go find your own rat, lol.