One thing we do not lack for in Maryland is Rat (aka Black) snakes. Although they are not poisonous, the can be aggressive. For someone like me who grew up in a rattlesnake infested area, the can still generate a bit of an instinctive fright when stumbled upon.

We find their shed skins all over the place, including in our garage and in our shed. We also occasionally find them around the house like this guy who was fascinating our cat by taunting it through your front window.

I don’t really mind them around the house as I know they do exactly what their namesake implies, kill rats and mice. However, what I don’t like and what this guy almost certainly was doing is that they climb all the trees and bushes to get at birds nests. If we could train them to only go after house sparrow nests that would be fine; but wishful thinking that is. The only other qualm I have with them is that when fully mature they could give a pretty solid bite to our cats who like the mess with creatures outside. Is what it is I guess. Likely a high rat snake population means less room for cottonmouths so that’s a huge plus.