Found this little fellow beside a fig container.
I accidentally killed his mother or aunt with the lawn mower so will make sure to release him in a safe space far away.

Any suggestions as to what it is?

 

Hey Pino, looks like a milk snake. It's harmless, pretty specimen.

That is a hatchling Lampropeltis t. triangulum, an Eastern milk snake. Completely harmless, this beautiful snake will get about 40"  or even larger if all goes well. It will feed on lizards and baby mice and gradually take more and larger rodents as it attains adult size.

 I will confirm with a friend whom is expert on this genus if my ID is correct, if you can tell me where you found it, nearest city or major feature, that would be helpful, I can view a range map.  If you have a photo of the mortality, repugnant as it may be, send it to me PM or post it, and I will easily confirm the ID. Juveniles a little more difficult, as they look like similar and closely related species.  Juvenile colors are different than the adults.  Milk snakes are a large and diverse genus, and they vary in appearance depending upon where they live.  Hence my interest in geographic location it was found.

Lucky you, finding a gem like that would make my day.

Vic Herrick
Hereford, AZ. 
Zone 8B

Vic's right, a Milksnake it is! They're harmless rodent-eaters.

Yup, milk snake. Nice animal. I walked into my shed once and a milk snake found a mouse nest and I guess he was gulping down the little pinkies. Free exterminator.

Pino, given your location in Canada, it is most surely an Eastern milk snake. Adults will lose the reddish and whitish, and become more earth tones of brown, grey and black, , still handsome but not nearly as contrasting with colors.  You are outside known range of corn snake, but not a bad guess, they somewhat resemble the juvenile milk snakes.  I am always happy to see wildlife within my garden, and unlike some, (fig beetles, raccoons, rats, ants, etc.), non-venomous snakes are welcome.  Anything that eats mice is a friend of mine.    I think you are lucky to have them on your property.  

This was an unusual but fun post on this forum, I wonder what other snakes folks commonly see in their fig groves?  I see Mexican hognose snakes, Sonoran gopher snakes and Sonoran desert king snakes.  

Vic
Zone 8B

Interesting find. It reminded me of the coral snake except that yours had no Yellow. Perhaps the following applies to your snake too:

"Red Touch Yellow Kills a Fellow
Red touch black, safe for Jack".

It's beautiful. I get mostly black rat, black racer and eastern garter snakes in my yard. They are encouraged and when one gets up in the trees the birds freak out. I'm thinking of wrapping a couple of rubber snakes around the branches in my fig trees.

Thanks to all for the neat info on eastern milk snakes!  
Great to see so many people understand this valuable wildlife.

Will they get big enough to snatch a fig rowdy raccoon? LOL!

"Will they get big enough to snatch a fig rowdy raccoon? LOL!"

No, but we can send you a Burmese Python from Florida if you like.  :)

That'll work! Thanks.

Vic--the most common snake around my fruit trees & yard is the California kingsnake (5 so far this year), with the western diamondback in second place--two this year, one of which got stuck in a wire fence and died before I could rescue it. (Now though, looking at the rattlesnake photo again, it looks more like a Mojave than a western diamondback.)   

Both beautiful looking snakes. Shame about the diamondback, but how the hell do you save a snake caught in wire???

You gotta love king snakes,down south speckled king snakes are very common at least in my backyard.

Yes, I love having kingsnakes in the yard, but would prefer not having rattlesnakes right in the neighborhood. My wife stepped on one last year and fortunately wasn't bitten. I've saved a couple rattlesnakes trapped in chicken wire (one at my house, and one at a friend's) when the sun hadn't gotten to them yet, but I don't recommend it for anyone not experienced in handling them safely. In both cases, head movement was severely restricted by the wire, so I could safely cut out the whole section without risk of getting bitten. Once the snake & wire section was free of the fence, I used one hand to immobilize the head & neck with a close-fitting plastic tube, and snipped the wire away with the other.   

Ken, interesting finds, that is a really handsome "Yuma" morph (dark with thin bands) California common king snake.  Tucson area king snakes are highly variable with gene flow from Cal kings, Black kings and Sonoran desert kings.  I get Sonoran desert kings down here, about 120 miles south of you.   I would love to see photos of the kings from your area should you be inclined to send them.  Do they all look pretty much like the one you posted?

I think that is great you release snakes when you can, and I won't use nylon/plastic netting anywhere near the ground for that very reason, it is a real wildlife killer. Snakes are so vulnerable, they get caught and do the worst thing, twist and turn and the nylon becomes a ligature, cutting into them.  As you indicate, when in the sun, the merciless sun rays finish the torture and they overheat and die.  Nothing deserves such a fate...  I did not know they would entangle in poultry galvanized type wire fencing material.

Regarding the mortality rattlesnake, I think your original ID is best, I think it is C. atrox, diamondback.  Most, not all, mojaves's are a greenish brown tinge more so than grey, but if you are close and can look at top of the head, you will Mohave rattlesnakes have large shield like scales between the eyes, rather than the fine small scales between eyes of diamondback. Either one are serious, don't get bitten...especially by Mojave.

Using the tube to restrict movement of snake is what many biologists do in mark/recapture/telemetry studies with rattlesnakes.  Please be cautious, a mojave bite is just too serious.

Thanks for posting, that is a really nice king snake (although I never met a snake I did not like)

Vic
Hereford, AZ
Zone 8B, Chicago Hardy, Excel, and big plans for the future

Vic--rather than post more shots here, I'll send you a PM.

I'll have a heart attack if I see one in my garden.

We spotted this 3-4 foot long king snake gliding through the grass recently. This snake is especially welcome now that roof rats have invaded our yard since it is one of the few predators that can reduce the rodent population. 

 

While watering my potted fig under the apple tree for partial shade I saw this fellow with his mouth full so he couldn't tell me his name.

Not sure what kind of snake but probably a garter there are many different striping.  The big frog in his mouth looked at me as if asking for help but nothing I could do except take a photo;