I live in central Wisconsin and lately I have had a ton of these snakes in my yard next to my buildings and all over the place. Please help; I have kids and need to know. The color is about same for both pictures, grayish, lightish blue brown. I even thought I saw one that was reddish with the same pattern though. They have no rattles on their tails. They are aggressive when I approached them with a stick. The snake on the bucket was mowed up. The one on the concrete was going into a hole in an old barn structure. I have seen a ton of snake skins around same area.
Thanks in advance for your help. And if there is any way to get them out of my yard please let me know. My husband keeps the yard mowed almost too low as it's turning brown. He weed whacks every time he mows.
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It looks like a fox snake, which is native to your area
It could be a massasauga.
This is a Eastern Foxsnake (Pine) (Pantherophis vulpina). The snake is not poisonous, so this is good. However, you have a lot of them living in the rocky area in your yard. You might need to contact animal control in your area and have them loan you a trap so that you can catch them and remove them from your yard. You can read about the snake here:
This does appear to be a fox snake and since there are Eastern and Western fox snakes it seems you may live where it could be either one as they are very similar. They also resemble the Massasauga but this venomous snake has entirely different markings. Since you seem to have so many snakes it is possible you have both species of fox snakes and may even have the milk snake. All of these are non-poisonous but it may not be wise to have so many around your yard. They generally have 8 - 27 babies once each year so you can see why you are seeing so many.
Fox snakes breed once each year. Breeding occurs in June and July. Range number of offspring 7 to 29. They hatch in late August or early September. There may be a little difference in Eastern and Western fox snakes as to breeding time table.
Most counties do not have traps for snakes available for the public to use (and they do not trap snakes on private property). If a landowner cannot remove snakes then they would have to hire a private company to remove them. They do sell snake traps and some snake repellents but most experts say home "remedies" do not work (i.e. moth balls, plastic snakes/owls, most snake repellent products).
Here is a link that has excellent photos and description of snakes in Wisconsin.
Is a fox snake poisonous?
Neither (Eastern or Western) poses a threat to humans, but is killed by many people who mistake it for the venomous massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus), which shares parts of its geographic range with both species of fox snakes.
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