The old-timers say that if you've got blacksnakes they'll keep the copperheads away.
Black rat snakes are calm, peaceable creatures and if I didn't have chicks/eggs at risk I'd welcome them. A big girl like that could eat an AWESOME amount of mice if she would stay over by the storage shed...
I'm not afraid of blacksnakes.
I wouldn't let one wrap around my neck, because they are constrictors, but as long as I'm wearing leather gloves the worst they can do is blop some horribly smelly poop on me.
This one wasn't even upset by being carried away.
I wasn't actually looking, but I think it was a white belly.
I was more being annoyed at having to traipse through the woods in a skirt without bug spray than thinking about the snake itself. 🤣
I found it before it found the open door.
Relocated to the very back edge of the property in the woods.
Big one. I didn't take time to measure it, but probably between 4-5 feet long.
Unfortunately, it will probably be back. Unless I can get permission from whoever owns the woodlands back...