snake identification

[judy f.]

I've seen this snake three times in the last ten years and don't know what it is. My neighbor had one in her house, then there was one in my yard by my house, and yesterday there was one in my kitchen. Each one i've seen was under a foot long, with a white bellie and either black or real dark brown and white stripes. Just a tiny little thing. Can you help me find out what it is. I didn't get a picture as i shooed it out the door.

[roadrunner]

It sounds like a white striped house snake.

Probably a garter or northern ribbon snake.

[RoadToad]

Here's a link to an excellent publication from KDFWR for identifying snakes:
http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/kysnakebook.pdf

It sounds like a garter snake to me.

[judy f.]

it sounds like a white striped house snake.

Probably a garter or northern ribbon snake.

that's what my father in law called it. Do they really live in the walls? And how come i can't find any info about it in snake books and such?

[judy f.]

Its not a ribbon snake the stripes go around the body, and the three ive seen over the years were not even a foot long.

[judy f.]

Its not a ribbon snake the stripes go around the body, and too small to be garter. House snake is what i was told before, but cant find any info on it.

[stratosjoe]

take it out in the street and run over it a few times and make it a GOOD snake

[kyfanatic]

You'd have to put a picture up to properly identify it,there is no such thing as a house snake and it is most likely harmless and probably eats insects that are pests or rodents.People that kill snakes just because they are infeminately in fear should grow a pair and realize that if you remove the food source the snake will look elsewhere.

[eddie_m]

The good thing is that there are only four poisonous snakes in the US--cottonmouths (also known as water moccasins), rattlesnakes, coral snakes, and copperheads. None of them have stripes of any direction. Beyond that, I'm no help. Good luck!

[Brad273cts]

I had what you are describing in my driveway a couple weeks ago. I assumed but don't know for sure that it was a baby black snake as I have frequent visits by black snakes.

[lilmule]

While only 4 venomous species they each have sub species.
Several snakes come to mind,mostly non venoumous but not all.
northern ringneck snake, the eastern milk snake or very young ringed water snake and the eastern massasauga rattlesnake and pygmy--have scales that form white ringlike patterns
The northern ringneck is like the decay that likes house foundations not inside and has but one ring at neck often slate or dark grey
Pit vipers even young have ace of spades shaped head,and pupils in eyes that are slits versus round.They are however limited in both those sub species to a narrow band of land like the trace and lbl extending up into ky.
Small and non aggressive yet place themselves where one places feet like steps.
Best guess the eastern milk snake is most likly the culprit unless by a body of water.
Most non venoumous attempt to immitate the venomous somewhat as a defence mechanism like shaking tail etc.no rattles however.
Place the two side by side the differences are easily seen,shape of head ,thickness of body,and when the real thing is viewed you dont wonder if it is,you know it is.

[Jabbo]

With the limited information you have given, the odds are it is a small garter snake. There are approx 20-30 subspecies of this snake, all with a little different markings. some are darker with rings, some have stripes that can be yellow or blue a lot of people call these reacers, but ultimately they are garter snakes. The other option could be a ring neck king snake.
One of the prior posts said it was too small to be a garter snake, but these too are born small and have to grow up