A friend of mine LOL-catted my snake! :D

Hmmm...that's an interesting looking snake for your area.

I went to your blog and the first snake in the bucket is indeed a brown snake, but the snake in your pictures on this thread appears to be a racer.

I say its an interesting snake because it is very lightly colored for an adult racer from your area and yet it also lacks the blotches of a juvenile racer.

But despite the odd coloration and lack of juvenile patterning, it really does look like a racer.

Fascinating snake. I think it's technically a Northern Black Racer even though there is nothing "black" about it.

ThatÂs an interesting thought, Wayne. However, the snakeÂs scales are keeled. Brown snakes have keeled scales, and racers donÂt, according to the UMass site. (And I just learned something new about snakes, thanks!) A couple of other details: this snake wasnÂt all that fast, and also it and another very much like it were both hanging out under leaf litter, which sounds like the preferred habitat of brown snakes.

It is the same snake in both photographs, by the way. :) The bucket picture was insanely orange, so I tried to fix the color of the photo.

I keep calling it an "eastern" brown snake out of habit, but IÂm starting to think I misremembered the name I learned as a kid. I guess itÂs just a "brown snake".

Another website: http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/stodek.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: UMass snake ID site

Well if its the same snake in both photos I have to agree with you. Stripeless morph of a garter snake also crossed my mind as a possibility, but I think you're right that it is a Brown Snake. The tongue flick is awesome!

You don't mention how long the snake is??

They're are two species of brown snake in the U.S..

Yours looks like a southern Brown Snake.

Dennis

Hi Dennis. The snake was less than a foot long. That's a dried up maple leaf in the corner of the photo, for scale.

I don't think there are southern brown snakes this far north. I'm in Massachusetts.

Yeah...that is definitely a brown snake (Storeria dekayi) - keeled scales give it away...