A Harmless Milk Snake

I knew it all along

I did some research to find out what kind of snake it was that turned up dead in my basement yesterday.

I found what I was looking for on the Commonwealth of PA, Fish and Boat Commission website. (Fish and boat?)

From the website:


In particular, the harmless milk snake most often ends up at the wrong end of a garden hoe or shovel because it was believed to be a copperhead. Telephone calls to the Commission from homeowners with a snake in their basement, yard or garage usually begin with the person excitedly declaring, "we have copperheads!" In the end, after some information has been exchanged in all but a very few cases, the unexpected visitors are determined to be a species other than the copperhead.



The checkerboard pattern on the belly of the harmless eastern milk snake is another characteristic that can help people distinguish copperheads from nonvenomous snakes.

Luckily, my photo captures both the top, and underbelly.