I can't quite make a garter snake or a ribbon snake out of this. The snake crawled out of a salt marsh on to the grass verge of Fort Pulaski's access road, then crawled back in while I was taking its picture. It was about 3 to 3 1/2 feet long.
I vote eastern ribbon which is up to 6" longer than garter. Also, the Ribbon snake has distinct stripes whereas the garter snake is a little more variable and 'sloppy' for lack of a better term
Looks a little like a striped crawfish snake, but it's a little too far north and a little too long. Doesn't look like a garter snake to me. A ribbon snake has more of a difference in shade between the top and bottom of its head, I think. I like Dan's suggestion of yellow rat snake. Lotta guesswork on my part.
The third picture down on the right on this page (yellow rat snake) looks like this snake, I think. There are two. One is lighter but the other one looks just like this one. Really pretty snake.
Definitely a yellow rat, though it has some unusual grayish tones in it. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a bit of an intergrade with the other southeastern subspecies, the gray rat snake. Very handsome animal. Good job getting the tongue flick.
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