While working on my barn today I noticed this guy 1 foot from my hand. That'll wake you up It was just sitting on a barn beam watching me, not moving.

Always heard Black Rat Snakes were good climbers. Over the next couple hours it made its way around the barn climbing around the timbers looking for mice. It was pretty fascinating watching him climb down the inside of the barn with nothing to wrap around, it actually made it's body into a square and worked it's way down by pushing out against two beams. Glad he's in there, maybe he will get rid of some of the mice! Mice run back and forth on the rafters all the time.

Looks like a coppermouth rattlemoccasin to me, but then, they all do.
Lou

The bands are not apparent in the photo but resembles the Florida banded watersnake

I'm thinking it's a Rat snake!

http://snrs.unl.edu/herpneb/snake/basicsnakekey.html

I have an old storm cellar and I have to duck to not hit my head on the top beams. One day I looked up and here were three of those rat snakes all balled up just looking at me, from about 6 inches away. I still have too many dang rats running around.

As for their climbing ability, I once watched a 5 foot snake climb a tree with the first limb about 4 ft off of the ground. They are amazing climbers.

I thought it was a King Snake at first but it's definitely a Black Rat Snake. They are well known to climb trees and barn rafters. This is a small one, about 4' long. They get a whole lot bigger!

Black rat 101%. They get up to 8' long, but not very heavy-bodied. Best mouser you can possibly have!

This guy slipped into my camp Saturday night, I kindly showed him my laser sighted .40 S&W, he didn't care for it much

Looks like a juvenile copperhead. Hope you weren't drinking Coors Light while shooting that .40

I musta been tired last night - I didn't see the bottle cap OR the hole in the C-Head! :rolleyes:

I get rat snakes in the bird houses all the time. I love watching them climb trees it is amazing. But the one that got in the basement and planted itself in front of the washing machine didn't make the wife very happy! I had to go rescue a poor snake out of the neighbor living room the other day here it the poor snake under a 5 gallon bucket! But to live in the country it is well worth it most get relocated except for the one's that look like eastlands they get the same treatment with a 12 gauge hate to miss em!