Found this snake in urban basement. Can anyone please ID?

GZED · 08-11-14, 09:50 PM

Hi everyone!

We just found this snake in our recently deceased Grandmom’s basement. She lived in a very urban, inner city setting and we know that snakes are certainly not common in the area, we never heard of there being snakes, and we even think there would not be any snakes at all in the dense city area so we were quite shocked to find one. A mouse, pigeon, roach, or sparrow would not be so surprising, but a snake?! Sadly, the poor little guy met his demise but we would love it if someone can please tell us what kind of snake it is just because we find it fascinating. Also, can anyone offer any possible theories about how a snake would end up in a such a dense urban basement mid-block row home? (There isn’t even any dirt or grass around…everything is cement!).

Thanks for any help or insight.

Gregg & Leslie

FWK · 08-12-14, 01:10 PM

It's a Milk Snake of some kind, the colors are very strange. An escaped Ghost Honduran Milk maybe? Where exactly was it found? What city?

Jim Smith · 08-12-14, 01:17 PM

I'm with FWK on this one. It looks VERY much like the two Ghost Honduran Milk snakes that I have. As far as how it got there, most likely it was a pet snake that escaped from someone's house and ended up in your Grandmother's basement. It's really too bad how it died getting stuck on that sticky mousetrap and dying of thirst.

**EL Ziggy** · 08-12-14, 02:57 PM

I'm very sorry for the loss of your grandmother. That definitely looks like a ghost honduran milk snake to me as well. It's sad he had to die like that

. They're really beautiful snakes. .

pdomensis · 08-12-14, 03:00 PM

Says right on the label it catches snakes. Too bad. That was a nice looking animal.

LiL Zap · 08-12-14, 06:51 PM

That snake would have been a much better way to keep rodents away rather than an actual trap...

I agree with the other members. A milk snake.

GZED · 08-14-14, 09:08 PM

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge (and for the kind words about our Grand Mom).

We checked out photos of Ghost Honduran Milk Snake and we are certain you are all correct just because there were a few photos where the match is 99.9% spot on. It is sad it perished that way and we certainly would have saved/rescued it had we found alive. Poor little guy. Probably was someone’s pet.

To answer FWK’s question, her house was in Philadelphia. We read about this type of snake since you all provided us with the solution to this mystery, and it’s a really cool snake.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge