Thursday, September 2, 2010

Black Rat Snake seen in PTW Margin Garden is harmless and good for rodent control

This morning at about 8:15am, as I passed the margin garden on Park Terrace West, I saw a three to four foot long black snake fully extended among the plants. The snake looked healthy.  After informing the other Volunteers about the siting, Steve sent a link to a photo of a Black Rat Snake http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/images/snakes/blackrat.jpg

Also here is a link to a fact sheet about such snakes:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Blackratsnake.cfm

They are non-venomous and good for rodent control. 
So we hope no one tries to do away with it, as we benefit from its assistance with controlling rats and mice.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Black rat snakes can be considered as a friend for the farmers and are very useful to the environment because they eat rats and pests which carry diseases, and destroy crops.

Rat snake