Can anyone tell me what snake this is....?

Question

I saw a snake sitting in the shade and it was:

all black with a yellow stripe down its back

it was small about 1 foot

Answer 1

Assuming you're in North America, garter snake would be reasonable - and they're harmless.  There aren't any venomous snakes north of Mexico that fit the description you provided.

If you're not in North America, all bets are off.  There are "garter snakes" in Africa, but they're unrelated to North American garter snakes and, unlike the garter snakes here, venomous. (They don't look much like North American garter snakes, either - but there are lots of snakes worldwide that are black with a yellow stripe along the back.  In North America, most are garter or ribbon snakes, and a ribbon snake is really just a small, slender kind of garter snake.)

Answer 2

Might be a garter snake

Answer 3

Most likely a garter snake or a ribbon snake (There are many many many subspecies of garter snake, so linked images may not match your snake exactly)

Garter: http://webspinners.com/coloherp/geo/spec...

http://www.sacsplash.org/cimages/GarterS...

http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/P...

Ribbon: http://www.kbs.msu.edu/ACWA/natres/natrg...

http://michaelcravens.com/sitebuildercon...

http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/thasa...

But to be 100% sure without seeing a picture and/or knowing where you live? Impossible. Your best bet would be to either take a look in a field guide or do a search on "<your state> snake identification" and go from there.

Answer 4

Sounds like a Garter Snake to me.  They are completely harmless, gentle, shy creatures that do our environment a great deal of good.

They feed on tadpoles, fish, slugs, salamanders, and frogs.  When a predator or human grabs them in the wild they get scared and use a fear response that causes them to defecate on their captor.  It smells bad so the thing that grabbed them drops them and they get away.

They usually live near water and they can swim and dive beautifully.

They are preyed upon by hawks, shrews, and other wild animals.  Very unfortunately, they are also caught and killed by domesticated dogs and cats that are NOT kept in doors at night where they belong.

A Garter Snakes scales are ridged so they feel a little rough.

Answer 5

need a picture or need to know where you live. could be black snake, corn snake, garter snake, or others

Answer 6

it was a garter snake

Answer 7

I believe it is a GARDEN SNAKE.

Answer 8

Could be a Garter snake.  Here is a website with some picturse of the North American Garter snake.  http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...

Answer 9

OMG, it is a fish!!!! No a garter snake.

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