My first Oklahoma Snake

I went to pick up an old piece of sheet metal today, in hopes of using it to skirt the south side of the house. I was completely non - tactical, and didn't really have my head in the game.

I lifted a corner of the metal and realized that it's attached to something. At the same time I realized the entire underside was crawling with - well you know - FIRE ANTS.

I dropped the piece and jumped back - just as a huge black snake shot out from under it toward me. I had just tossed a good sized rock off the road and was standing there thinking frantically "where's that friggin rock?"

Fortunately I DIDN'T find that rock, and he went his way and I went mine. After some digging on the internet, I'm pretty sure that I ran across a Kingsnake.

They eat copperheads and rattlers, so I'm happy to have him around. BTW, may be why this is the first snake we've seen.