It would be pretty hard to tell without visible evidence, GoldenPond. If you find tiny punctures around the head or body, it could be a visiting cat. Was it an adult snake? (Like 3 feet long or more?) Maybe it was just its time. You know, nothing lives forever, and sometimes you find critters that have just laid down to die. Or maybe it ate something toxic. Or perhaps a hawk did catch it, but dropped it for some reason.

Poor snakie! Hope the others in your yard are all safe!

Marcia

Not as large as some ,perhaps a teenge snake.
What about a raccoon? We have one that has been getiing in our porch. I know they eat fish,not sure about snakes.

I don't know if raccoons are fast enough to catch a black racer or not, GP. Never saw it or read about it, though I know they can sure catch fish. As for whether or not they would EAT one if they did catch it, or find it injured somewhere, all I know is that they will eat most anything they can dig out of a garbage can, so I can't imagine they would turn up their noses at a snake. The puzzling thing about your snake is that nothing else ate it, either. Of course, maybe you found it right after it died.

I don't know that you will have a satisfactory answer to this question. But if you start finding more of them lying around dead, I'd worry about locating what's wrong in the garden. Just one, and I wouldn't fret much.

Marcia

Dogs will kill them and leave them.

Never thought of dogs mine are pretty wimpy and stay close to home. A neighbor cat sneaks under the fence but I can't imagine the snake not outslithering it. I will keep my eyes peeld though.

Dogs generally leave a lot of tell-tale mangling of their snakey victims. Not always, but mostly. No visible injuries makes me think something different. Cats often leave puncture wounds so small they don't show without a close inspection. Potter kills by grabbing and shaking hard enough to break the back or neck of his intended victim, but there are usually some tooth marks left, big enough to see.

Keep an eye peeled, as you say, to be sure you aren't losing ALL your garden snakes to some critter or other. This might just be the only one, or it might be the beginning of something you don't want.

Marcia

My oldest cat, Rascal, used to catch snakes and bring them home alive and unharmed except for scuffing up their scales. Cats are more then fast and sneeky enough to catch black racers. I remember that there was one particular black snake that Rascal kept catching and bringing home over and over again. Whenever she did we would lock her inside the house and walk into the woods to release the snake. I'm not sure if the snake just kept coming back or if she was just that good at finding it but it would never take her long to relocate that poor snake. We could tell it was the same snake by all the scuff marks all over it's scales and the fact that it wouldn't put up any kind of fight when we picked it up. Eventually we had to drive several miles away to release the snake!

My cats bring in live snakes all the time, too. Mostly the little red-ring-necked ones. Occassionally a racer, but they usually fight a little harder. Don't know why the cats always try to put the snake in a shoe, but they do. I love my cats but I honestly don't think I want to know how their little feline brain works...

One time I saw a mockingbird going after a black racer, I'm guessing it was near the birds nest. He kept swooping down & pecking at it. He didn't kill it though.