Posted by Patti Ramey on October 15, 2005

Q: I just found a snake in my garage. I am hopeing I set a harmless "good" snake free instead of a poisenous one. HELP> It was very thin like a pencil or slightly thicker, about 18 inches long, very thin tapered tail that ended in a point and the head seemed to be normal shaped, not diamond shaped. The color was black with what I thought were yellow lines running up and down the snakes body, but upon closer inspection it had small dots in a line up and down the snakes body. I live in the mountains of Western NC and we do have rattlers here and copperheads and wondered if it was a baby one. Its cool here now and it was moving very slowly so I trapped it in a glass jar and threw it over the fence into the back woods of our house.

Do you think I freed a "bad snake"???

Habitat: forest/open woods

State: North Carolina

Habitat: forest/open woods

A: I'm glad you put "bad snake" in quotes since there really aren't any bad snakes! But no, you didn't release a poisonous snake. From your description, I think you had an Eastern Garter Snake. These are very common snakes and are often found around peoples' homes. In the fall, as the weather cools, snakes begin looking for places to overwinter where they won't freeze. As they move around, they're more likely to be seen and more likely to get into places like your garage. I'm glad you released it without hurting it. Keep your eyes open, you may see more of these snakes as they look for places to hibernate. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( October 16, 2005)