The vines on my muscadine are so long I have to lift them to see how the fruit is growing. I sure got a surprise. Is this a welcome guest or one to beware of?
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beautiful!! (coming from a snake lover)
I never like to state things in absolutes, so let’s just say I’m 99% sure it’s non-venomous.
Looks like a black racer or rat snake.
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Bill,
A flutter? Mine would likely stop or skip a few beats 
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Definitely a welcome addition to my garden! I love snakes 
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I’m trying hard to tell myself that he is guarding my favorite muscadine (Black Beauty) from birds, raccoons, and opossums. My guess is that it is a Black Racer but the two snakes look a lot alike to me. Nice to know both are not poisonous. Below is some googled info of the candidates.
Racers are black or blue- black with a pale belly and measure 3 to 5 feet long. They are not venomous . Racers are active during the day, when they hunt down and eat insects, lizards, small rodents, other snakes , and birds and their eggs.
Rat snakes are not venomous. Rat snakes usually hunt and kill mice by biting with their teeth and suffocate them by constriction of its own body.
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I went back out today to see if my new friend was still hanging around. Yes. Found an empty bird nest so I guess that is why he was on the vine.
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Sad in a way but makes a lot of sense. Definitely will help deter birds from eating your fruit if he hangs around!
I feel like I’ve had some success putting rubber snakes on my vines.
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Saw one just like him in my front yard earlier this week. We don’t kill them but I prefer them to keep their distance. Looks like he is smiling for his closeup in that last pic! I ordered some of the herbal snake repellent to put around the areas where I don’t want to see them. I am always watchful when picking berries but this is a good reminder that they go unexpected places.
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Gotta love that one. I have a number of the rat snake variety around our property. I’ve seen their molting remnants. I also have chipmunks, voles, moles, and squirrels along with rabbits and all kinds of hungry birds. The last live sighting of a rat snake showed a length of about five feet and body circumference equal to that of a silver dollar…a pretty healthy specimen. Hopefully had some prodigy nearby.
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