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Black Snake

Twolunger

New member
I was riding my bike around looking for the python? spotted in my area, and noticed a small black snake coming out of a ditch. A guy was driving a golf cart coming from the opposite direction and I tried to get him to stop before he hit the snake, but unfortunately one of his tires clipped it. I have never seen such a snake around here, and was wondering if any of you have an opinion if I describe it? The snake was about 14 inches long and it was solid black with no pattern on the back. The belly was solid yellow. The head was small and the nose was straight and slightly pointed, black on top, but the cheek area was almost white with small bright blue spots. The body was somewhat thick, much thicker than any small garters, racers, or kingsnakes I have seen. Others have told me it could be an indigo snake, but they don't usually have yellow bellies.
Anyone have an idea, so I can look up pictures online? I have researched all the Florida snakes and see none that resembled it.
 
Apparently the black rat snake is not found in southern Florida. There is mention of the gray rat snake, but its range is northern Florida. What I found unusual was the light colored cheeks with almost iridescent blue spots. I have not seen that before. Wish I could have saved it alive to investigate further.
 

Been on that website many times, unfortunately none of the snakes shown fit the description of the snake I found. This one had a somewhat thick body with no pattern on the upper body, and a yellow belly with no pattern. Since black racers, kingsnakes, and other varieties I've found typically show blotches or patterns when young, I am wondering if that one was an adult snake specimen, although only about 14 inches long. I have found water snakes in that area, but all had patterns and were thinner than that snake. I went home and got my camera, but something already took the body away.
 
Did it have a ring around its neck
I was thinking ring neck 14” would be a big one but I think they max out around there



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I've caught several ringnecks, but this one was much larger and thicker in the body than that. No ring neck either. I'm starting to wonder if it is just a black colored morph of the Florida Green Water snake. I've seen pictures of those that don't look green at all.
 
That's probably as close as I can get on an identification. I found yellow bellied swamp snake pictures from Louisiana that look like the snake. None of the pictures show the cool blue spots though.
 
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