The Black Rat Snake
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
Canada
December 20, 2015 10:17am CST
Years ago when my daughter moved to boonies of Ontario she became acquainted with an endangered species of snakes called the Black Rat Snake.
In her first home she found sake skins in her attic after going up to find out why the noisy squirrels in the attic were so quite. The were gone, eaten by a large Black Rat Snake that climbed trees and found a way into her attic.
Then with no more food he crawled down in the walls and landed up in her compost pail under the sink in her kitchen. She locked the doors under her sink and the snake eventually moved on and left the building.
I was visiting while the cupboard under the sink was locked. It gave me the creeps.
Sometimes I think my daughter was birthed by another mother. I am and have always been terrified of snakes.
While in the car driving on the dirt roads near her house we often see a black Rat Snake sunning its self on the road. She gets our and shoos them off the road. They are an endangered species so she does what she thinks in the right thing to do. Even that gives me the creeps.
The attached video she showed me and put it on YouTube so I could use it on social media. A group of friends were at the farm and burning brush getting ready for winter. The snake in this video slid by my daughter who videoed this with her cell phone.
When I asked why it would come so close to humans her response because it was a cold day and the snake was lured by the heat.
A warm and toasty snake that eventually got into the farm house and removed every mouse in there and then stuck around waiting for more...
Just walking in the farm house gives me the creeps even today. They think he's moved on.
14 people like this
14 responses
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Dec 15
The good news is he's harmless...to humans, he eats critters.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Dec 15
I though it was pretty impressive too, I can watch them on TV and Videos, I get the creeps when i see them eye to eye,,,
2 people like this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
20 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate Out here on my property, I get several different varieties including the poisonous ones. I make sure when I reach for a bale of hay, that I'm paying attention.
4 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Dec 15
@nanette64 That would be scary. I truly and afraid of snakes so it would be on my mind at all times.
2 people like this
@BelleStarr (61101)
• United States
23 Dec 15
Sorry I can't watch it snakes freak me out, I would have moved out of the house I would rather have the mice!!
2 people like this
@BelleStarr (61101)
• United States
23 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate I looked them up and we have them here in Connecticut too, oh joy!! lol
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
23 Dec 15
I won't be sleeping in that house until I know its gone. it will be renovated soon and then maybe.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
23 Dec 15
@BelleStarr They are harmless so don't worry about them.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Dec 15
it is harmless to humans but loves to eat small wiggly things.
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
20 Dec 15
I don't like those critters either. I get the creeps from that too. Thankfully I don't see snakes around here much. The one in the video is huge. I would have been running for the hills.
3 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Dec 15
it was the biggest I've ever seen, most are only 4 feet...this one went on forever...
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
20 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate Just what I said to my husband it just keeps coming.
2 people like this
@sgbrown (1638)
• United States
20 Dec 15
He was huge! We find snakes that look just like this in our chicken house from time to time. Hubby calls them rat snakes or chicken snakes. I am very cautious when I enter the chicken house and NEVER put my hand in a nest that I can't see in first! OMG!
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Dec 15
I would imagine they would kill a chicken but I'm not sure. It is an endangered species ... My daughter has chickens too but I don't think they have been visited by the Black Rat snake.
2 people like this
@sgbrown (1638)
• United States
21 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate I'm not sure they are the same snake, as these are very common around here. They would kill a chick, but mainly eat the chicken eggs.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Dec 15
@sgbrown I can't see the markings of your snake, if it has the same pattern as the snake in my video it would be a black rat snake... They really are harmless to humans but I can see they would eat baby chicks. I just looked on line for photos and there are many different markings, The only one I know of is the one in the video. You are in the mid south arn't you. Warmer than here in Canada...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Dec 15
I;'m glad it was the snakes that gave you the creeps and not my writing.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (168209)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Dec 15
I have found that becoming a mother has aleviated many fears I previously had.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Dec 15
After having two children and adopting another Snakes still scare me.
@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
20 Dec 15
interesting that the snake would get so close - it was probably just as scared of you as you were of it
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
21 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate are the rat snakes poisonous? not a species I know about
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
22 Dec 15
@arthurchappell No they are not poisonous, no thread to humans at all. Just a threat to small critters...
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Dec 15
He doesn't appear too be afraid, He's just taking a stole by the fire pit.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
26 Dec 15
I don't like them either but my daughter is not afraid of them.
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Dec 15
The farm house was empty but my son lives there with his dogs when he is in that area. You won't catch me sleeping there ever...
2 people like this
@simone10 (54187)
• Louisville, Kentucky
30 Dec 15
@PainsOnSlate I could just imagine one climbing in bed with me if it was in my house and I think I would probably have a heart attack...lol.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
30 Dec 15
@simone10 I don't think they crawl in bed with you but that certainly would ferrify me. That's a picture in my head now that hopefully go away soon
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
24 Dec 15
My daughter has never been afraid of snakes, she used to bring them to her grandmother who was terrified of them when she was a child - I felt the same way and i got that dislike (fear) of them from my mother.Just one of the reasons i call my daughter Mother Nature.
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
28 Dec 15
OH my goodness gracious me. If I saw that you would not see me for dust. Are they poisonous? I am petrified of snakes I would not get out of the car in Nevada in the mountains. When we went to Niagara I was told it was too cold for snakes in Canada. We pulled into a hotel I happened to look out of the window of the bus and what was the first thing I saw. A SNAKE. They said oh its ok its just a black snake. I told the driver I don't care what bloody colour it is, it is still a snake! (Shuddering just at the thought of it).
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
28 Dec 15
Ha ha ha ha ha sorry but I'm laughing now. I'm afraid of snakes too but the Black Rat Snake is not poisonous and is endangered, it eats rats, mice, and other small critters. It usually avoids humans, my son in law said it stopped by their bon-fire because it was cold out that day.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
20 Dec 15
Wow, that was one big snake @PainsOnSlate . My mother loved snakes. She would put them around her neck and let them crawl under her shirt. Me? Uh-no!! Can't stand 'em. But they do have a purpose as is obvious by your story.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
20 Dec 15
They might have a job but I can't stand to see them either.
1 person likes this