Please Help ID this Snake

[Jimmie14]

Can anyone help ID this snake? I did not see the snake myself, and my wife took this picture of it yesterday. I live in central Ross county, Ohio (outside of Chillicothe in south central Ohio). Our property has roughly 3.5 acres of grass yard with a small pond loaded with frogs, and is bordered by forest.

I have looked at ID references for snakes in Ohio, but can not seem to get an obvious match. My best guess is the Eastern Hognose Snake. My wife was too scared to get too close to it, so the picture I have is from across the driveway and zoomed in the best I can. She mentioned that the blotches on the snake had some pinkish-purplelish color to them.

Any help would be great. I'd like to know what it is when I see it again.

Thanks.

[IW17]

Hard to say. My guess would be Eastern milk snake. But could be a kingsnake.

[eminart]

Appears to be a rat snake. I'm not sure which subspecies you have in Ohio.

[FWK]

My knee-jerk is gray Rat Snake, though the colors are throwing me a a bit. It is to far north to be a Corn. My money in on a Gray Rat, I think the lighting is just a bit deceptive. It is totally harmless whatever it is.

[sharthun]

From it's body shape, and long slender tail. it may be an eastern rat snake. Also, it shows the typical rippling effect of the body lengthwise that rat snakes commonly exhibit.

[FWK]

Originally Posted by sharthun

From it's body shape, and long slender tail. it may be an eastern rat snake. Also, it shows the typical rippling effect of the body lengthwise that rat snakes commonly exhibit.

I agree 100% on your description of a Rat Snake Steve but the exact subspecies is still stumping me. How big do you figure the animal to be, three, maybe three and a half foot long? By that size wouldn't an Eastern Rat Snake be darker? My sense of scale may be way off. It is definitely within range though. I'm still hung on Gray Rat.

[CosmicOwl]

I'm gonna guess it's a corn snake.

Never mind. I didn't notice you were in Ohio. Maybe gray rat snake, but the coloration seems off.

[sharthun]

Originally Posted by FWK

I agree 100% on your description of a Rat Snake Steve but the exact subspecies is still stumping me. How big do you figure the animal to be, three, maybe three and a half foot long? By that size wouldn't an Eastern Rat Snake be darker? My sense of scale may be way off. It is definitely within range though. I'm still hung on Gray Rat.

Yeah, I agree on the approximate length and I'm not totally sure on subspecies. It could be a Gray Rat. I'm still trying to learn the Texas snakes! lol I'm sure it's a Rat Snake.

[IW17]

We only have Grey rat snakes in Ohio. Recently Odnr changed our species list from Eastern rat to Grey rat. But as said above if it is a rat, either it's a color I've never seen or its the picture playing lighting tricks.

[Jimmie14]

Originally Posted by FWK

I agree 100% on your description of a Rat Snake Steve but the exact subspecies is still stumping me. How big do you figure the animal to be, three, maybe three and a half foot long? By that size wouldn't an Eastern Rat Snake be darker? My sense of scale may be way off. It is definitely within range though. I'm still hung on Gray Rat.

Thanks for all the replies. I was out-of-town all week for work. Just now checking-in.

She stated it was about 4ft long. Your assessment of size is right-on.

[Jimmie14]

Originally Posted by IW17

We only have Grey rat snakes in Ohio. Recently Odnr changed our species list from Eastern rat to Grey rat. But as said above if it is a rat, either it's a color I've never seen or its the picture playing lighting tricks.

I researched numerous websites, and I narrowed it down to Eastern rat snake. I see on the ODNR website for snakes, it now has it listed as Grey as you have mentioned.

I will be on the look-out for it. If I see it myself, I will make sure I get some good pictures of it and post it here. Hopefully, it will make another appearance.

Thanks to everyone for the replies!