A Rat Snake Extraction From A Pool In Orlando

A customer called today about a snake with stripes hanging out around their pool today.  They were very worried that it was venomous because of the stripes.  I got to the house as quickly as possible and asked the customer what the snake looked like and where they last saw it.  I like to have an idea of what I’m dealing with.  They said it was a yellow or orange snake with dark stripes running down its back from head to tail, an immediate sign that it was not venomous.  Anytime stripes are running vertically down the snake instead of across the width of the snake, it’s nonvenomous.  Knowing what I was dealing with, it was time to find the snake.

It had been twenty or thirty minutes since the customer initially called and nobody had been outside so there was a good chance the snake was still very close, probably somewhere in the pool enclosure.  I looked under planters, in the pool filter, and several other areas I typically find them with no luck.  I noticed the customer had a built in stainless steel corner grill and sink with cabinets underneath.  I opened one of the cabinets and looked around and didn’t see anything so I crawled in a little so I could get my head around the corner to see the area where there are no cabinets and voila, there was the snake.  It was a little too far for me to grab it with my hand and too tight an area to get my snake tongs in to reach it.  So I crawled out, grabbed my snake tongs and banged on the end the snake was under to scare it my way.  Once it came around the corner I swung the tongs around and nabbed it.  It was exactly how the customer described it, a harmless rat snake.

Snake Facts To Ponder

A lot of snakes look very menacing and dangerous if you don’t know what to look for.  Most people, whether they’re scared of them or not, know that a black snake is nonvenomous and essentially harmless.  Most people also could also spot a rattle snake because of its distinctive rattle and know that it is a very dangerous, venomous snake.  Beyond these two snakes, a lot of people don’t have the ability to tell whether a snake is venomous or nonvenomous.  A bright or multicolored snake, a snake with stripes, or a snake with rings or patterns down its back can very easily be mistaken for a venomous snake when it’s not.