New Snake Owner

[GaryWelsh]

Hello, I am a new member. I found a snake a few days ago in a basement, and put it in a bucket. I've been keeping it in my room and since it's room temperature, I think I pulled it out of brumation. I put some water in a lid and bits of chicken to eat in the bucket, and a tiny towel for the snake to crawl under. Its about 6-7" long, so I guess it's only a few months old (first winter). The snake is black and has yellowish diamond markings rather than rings or stripes. The snake has been mostly dormant, but today it was the most active I've seen. When I was looking at it, it rose up as if to strike, and the tip of its tail rattled even though it has no rattle. It opened its mouth and lunged, but I was nowhere near it and didn't have my hand in the bucket -- I was just looking down at it.

I'm not really sure what to do with this snake, so I joined this forum. I suppose I should take some pictures of it and post them here. It's still too cold to put it outside (I live in Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh). So, I am looking for some advice on what to do with it until it gets warm enough to release.

Thanks,
Gary

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard, Gary.

If you don't know what snake it is, you might want to keep your fingers well clear. Don't bother trying to feed it either, but water is okay. Pictures would be good to have right now. Is the head triangular or more oval?

A bucket is not really okay either, but I suppose you'd already keep it in a terrarium if you had one. If it's too cold outside to release it, I'd recommend getting some form of enclosure that is well enough ventilated and escape proof.

[Sid]

Welcome to the forum. Good advice so far from Stefan. With a good clear photo, I'm sure someone on the forum can ID it for you. In the mean time below is a link of the snake native to your state. You may be able to identify it from that.
Snakes of Pennsylvania

[enigma200316]

where at do you live?? I live in Elk county...........

oh sorry and welcome to the forum........

[adamanteus]

Hi Gary, and welcome to the forum.

[enigma200316]

I was just thinking about it and some black rat snakes have been known to be dark brown or black with yellowish diamond markings, and they do flatten there heads and shake tails like a rattler, but pics would be best, and that would also fit the area and location to........

[Stefan-A]

My guess is a juvenile black racer. What do juvenile copperheads look like? I know cantils do to some degree fit the profile and they belong to the same genus.

[Sid]

Guessing a baby Black Racer myself. The young Black Rats are normally gray with dark colored blotches.

Stefan, the JV Copperheads are just like the adult except their tails are yellow.

[drache]

can't help you with ID
but welcome to the forum

[Stefan-A]

So if it doesn't have a rattle and doesn't look like a copperhead, then it's probably not venomous.