This was a snake in the grass until Fred Cole chased it up a tree in his front yard. After a while Fred and his wife Misty convinced the snake to come down from the tree. By this time the Cole’s neighbor, County Commissioner Melvin Boshears, had joined the reptile containment effort, and identified the large black snake as a chicken snake.
Chicken snakes are not one particular species or type of snake. Instead, chicken snake is a term applied to several different kinds of reptiles that are nonpoisonous and tend to feast on eggs, rats, and small birds. Along with referring to this group of snakes as chicken snakes, there are several other common names applied to the group, including rat snakes, corn snakes, and pine snakes.
Some species of the chicken snake are relatively small in length and diameter, although it is possible for a chicken snake to grow to over seven feet long. Some types of the chicken snake will constrict their prey before consumption. Most will coil and attack when they feel cornered or threatened in any way. While their bite is not poisonous in most cases, it is usually extremely painful.
Concerned that some of their 16 rabbits, 6 chickens or 2 dogs might be on the snake’s menu the Cole’s turned to Commissioner Boshears who has some experience with grabbing snakes by the tail. Commissioner Boshears captured the slippery and by this time agitated serpent, took it down near the shoreline of Norris Lake, and let it go.
photo by Fred Cole
