Snake ID help

Found this little guy on Saturday. About 12-14" long. Southern Indiana. I have a few ideas as to what it may be, but I am far from an expert. Google and my ID books have not yet provided me with a definitive answer.

Any ideas?

Milk snake?
Black rat snake?
Corn snake?

There's a lot of snakes with patterns that closely resemble each other.

Pretty one for sure!

My guess would be an immature milk snake. At first I thought a black rat snake but the markings seem to narrow.

ol'dad

I was inspecting a house yesterday and was standing in the breezeway talking to the realtor. I noticed these two black rat snakes hanging out in the rafters above her head. We were discussing the weather and if the morels were popping up. She was telling me how much she liked hunting morels but was scared to see snakes. Was terrified of them. I didn't have the heart to tell there there were two of them about 1.5 ft above her head...Also didn't want to explain to the buyer why their realtor had a heart attack prior to closing. lol





ol'dad

It looks like a young Eastern rat snake to me. The marking don't look right on the head, for it to be a young Eastern milk snake. Milk snakes usually have a distinct bar spot going across behind the nostrils and one more going towards each of the eyes.

Keith

It's not a rat snake.The blotches are too smooth edged and the tail markings aren't distinct enough.I thinkitmay be a juvenile racer.

When I first saw it, my first thought was blue racer due to how it moved, but the coloration seemed off (I've only seen a few, so I didn't have much to comare to.) I thought there were some similarities with a fox snake and Massasauga rattler, but not enough to convince me. After searching for pictures of Taximan's juvenile racer, I think we have a winner. Thanks for the help.

Looks like he is ready to take a shot at you which makes me think racer also. Used to have one that hung around my driveway. Little turd would chase me when I was grading it with the skid steer...cracked me up

He was a bit aggressive.

google eastern yellow belly racer juvenile

That would be a coach whip snake. Had more than one after me, they are (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) lol