Hello, all. New to the forum and looking to the experts for some assistance. I'm in need of some identification, please. My husband and I recently bought an older home in Western North Carolina. Last week we thought we spotted what appeared to be a black racer trying to climb up the side of the house into a bird's nest. It got away before we could snap a photo. However, beside a work shed, we found this one day. Looks like it died from the heat wave we've been having, not sure (it was gone the next morning). Is it a baby? Can someone please ID this as friendly/dangerous? I'm sure there are a lot nesting under the work shed. We don't want to kill them.. but now I'm scared to walk around the back yard.