Help Identifying, Please?

[charpontier]

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.

[SnoopySnake]

This is a ratsnake, completely harmless/non-venomous Good to have around.

[charpontier]

Thank you, SnoopySnake. Poor guy... I didn't know snakes could die like that (assume it was from the heat); especially since we have a small brook in the back. Since it was gone the next morning I'm assuming he was a midnight snack for someone else. Good to know he was beneficial, though, as there are probably more below. I can never quite distinguish the head shape - to me, this looks more triangular then oval. Glad I found this forum.

[SnoopySnake]

It's possible he wasn't dead, rat snakes will often kink their body like that, its very typical of them. Head shape isn't really good to go by, since harmless snakes can flatten their heads into a triangle shape in order to look venomous, and coral snakes are venomous but their heads may not appear triangular. The best thing to do is get familiar with the snakes in your area, preferably the venomous ones so you know what to leave alone. Don't touch anything you can't identify.